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Printing BIGGGG!!!!!

Fatbirder's Top 1000 Birding Websites


I used to regularly print my bird pics to 12" x 15" size, from 300D, 350D, 20D and 1DM2 captures. If the shot is pixel sharp, I can get away with crops as small as 4 MP (about 150 native PPI before upressing) and feather detail looks very good even at the eyes' MFD (about 10 inches away).

Recently, I've been getting more and more keepers with no need to crop. This allows me now full use of 8 native MPs. I just sent to my photo-lab a couple of bird photos for 20" x 30" prints, and these used only 117 native PPI before being upressed to 300 PPI. The prints turned out very well - feather detail is very sharp up close! I'm even tempted now to push the limits and try 24" x 36"....:)

Here's my general workflow for printing 20" x 30" bird photos:

1. Convert RAW to 6144 x 4096 16-bit TIFFs in ACR, no sharpening.

2. Perform adjustments in PS - levels, contrast, curves, etc. but no sharpening yet.

3. Resize up to 10800 x 7200 using bicubic smoother, then perform local and global sharpening (a bit on the aggressive side).

4. Resize down to the final 9000 x 6000 using bicubic sharper, apply some more local sharpening where needed.

5. Save as 8-bit TIFF for printing.
Here's the uncropped full frame resized to 800x533. [20D + 500 f4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, bean bag]
IMG_3881-FF-800x533.jpg

Here's the uncropped full frame resized to 800x533.

[20D + 500 f4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, bean bag]

Crop from ACR-converted RAW with zero sharpening, 3504x2336 output size. [20D + 500 f4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, bean bag]
IMG_3881-RAWCROP-1.jpg

Crop from ACR-converted RAW with zero sharpening, 3504x2336 output size.

[20D + 500 f4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, bean bag]

Crop from the upressed 9000x6000 photo after processing and ready for printing.
IMG_3881-100crop-1.jpg

Crop from the upressed 9000x6000 photo after processing and ready for printing.

 Another crop from ACR-converted RAW with zero sharpening, 3504x2336 output size. [20D + 500 f4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, bean bag]
IMG_3881-RAWCROP-2.jpg

Another crop from ACR-converted RAW with zero sharpening, 3504x2336 output size.

[20D + 500 f4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, bean bag]

Another crop from the upressed 9000x6000 photo after processing and ready for printing.
IMG_3881-100crop-2.jpg

Another crop from the upressed 9000x6000 photo after processing and ready for printing.

The 20x30 prints still hot from my photo-lab. For an idea how big a 20x30 is, I included a framed 12x15, as well as a Canon 50 1.8 II, in this snapshot. Glare from the overhead lightbulb washed out the nearer print. But in real life, the colors were vibrant and spot-on, according to my color consultant. We compared the prints with what appears in my LCD (calibrated with Monaco Optix XR) and everything matched. I also got the sharpening well in this first attempt at a horrendous size. It's amazing that such a huge, detailed image (508 mm x 762 mm) came from a sensor whose size is just 22.5 mm x 15.0 mm (20D). The image was magnified almost 34x linearly! This means that the area of the final print is about 1147 times the original sensor area.
IMG_5199-800x600.jpg

The 20"x30" prints still hot from my photo-lab. For an idea how big a 20"x30" is, I included a framed 12"x15", as well as a Canon 50 1.8 II,
in this snapshot. Glare from the overhead lightbulb washed out the nearer print. But in real life, the colors were vibrant and spot-on,
according to my "color consultant." We compared the prints with what appears in my LCD (calibrated with Monaco Optix XR) and everything matched.
I also got the sharpening well in this first attempt at a horrendous size. It's amazing that such a huge, detailed image (508 mm x 762 mm)
came from a sensor whose size is just 22.5 mm x 15.0 mm (20D). The image was magnified almost 34x linearly! This means that the area of
the final print is about 1147 times the original sensor area.

comment | share
andy 30-Jan-2009 17:19
Great info here. I bookmarked this for future printing projects (currently 20D + Epson 2200 combo = 13"x19" print)
Dave 11-Mar-2008 04:03
Thanks for posting this, now I'm curious what size I can print from my 1Ds II with the same quality that you got. Pretty impressive what you've done here.
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