I've been printing some 16x20's of some 1DIII files, not a format I usually print in, I mostly do 8.5x11's. (I shoot mainly for newsprint, any inkjet prints are just for myself)
I've got some bothersome artifacting in shadows and gradations and I'm not blown away by the sharpness.
I was wondering how you guys prepare your files for larger prints?
I've tried upsampling, bicubic smoother, to 16x20 and 300dpi, upsampling in raw conversion to the largest file size, and just cutting the DPI to match the print size.
What methods do you use for resizing the file? How about sharpening?
I would think that the file size put out by the 1DIII would make 16x20 prints just fine with no up-resing. Be sure to open the RAW at maximum size and lower the dpi in the image size window to 240 or so to get to size if necessary. If needed, use Fred's SI Pro to enlarge cleanly.
If you are sending the file to a commercial printer, don't rescale or resize at all
Work hard to produce the cleanest file you can, and send them all of the pixels you have. The RIP’s used by today’s commercial printers do a far better job than anything you can do on your computer. Always leave the file in its native resolution and the let the system do its job of manipulating the file in order to send the printer what it needs. Talk to your printing company, they will tell you the same thing.
If you are not comfortable with this (because of the huge amount of misinformation circulating around the net) simply order two prints. One rescaled by you and other by them. You will quickly see the difference.
For your own inkjet printing, rescale as required. There are products that perform this specific function better than PS Bicubic. Try Fred's action, Genuine Fractals or my own favorite - S-Spline method used in Photozoom from Benvista Software.
Sharpening can be very subjective, but I find that a sharpening level that looks good on a big print looks overdone at 100% on screen. When in doubt, always back it off a bit.
16x20 is large, but it certainly isn't a huge print. Are you starting with a good clean, sharp file? Who is doing your printing? Post a file that didn't print well and we can take a look to see if we can help.
With my 1Ds2, I just print at native resolution down to about 160dpi without rezzing up. Prints are fine for portraits, etc. Probably not for landscape.
Not sure how large that gets you with the 1D3.
Are you starting with a RAW file? That is critical. Process in 16 bit. Use AdobeRGB, not sRGB.
Your sharpening is also important. You can use USM at 300/0.1/0 for your base sharpening. Skip any additional sharpening until you solve your issues. Or use nikPro, Photokit, etc. sharpening tools.
Print sections of the image at smaller sizes to test before you roll off a 16x20.
Marc Kurth wrote:
If you are sending the file to a commercial printer, don't rescale or resize at all...
Marc,
I am not sure that what you are saying is right or wrong all of the time. I think it can depend on where you send the prints and I am not sure that any RIP can actually do a better job of preparing a file for print than I can if I really know the printer and RIP the file will be going to.
Here's why...
It all has to do with the sharpening. If you sharpen a file at one resolution and a RIP does some kind of interpolation to expand your file to its optimum resolution for printing, your sharpening (the edges you have carefully added to your file) get expanded too. Sometimes I don't want this to happen. Sometimes I don't care. Sometimes I am OK with the automatic sharpening that some print services use.
I guess I am not saying that you are wrong, but I guess I am saying that your answer may not be right...for me...all of the time. This is a really complicated issue.
Good point, Sir. I’ve gotten into a pattern where I only use two printing companies and I know how the prints will look from each of them when I do certain things in PP – which proves your point even further.
I stand corrected in making it sound like a hard fast rule for everyone, all the time.
Good point, Sir. I’ve gotten into a pattern where I only use two printing companies and I know how the prints will look from each of them when I do certain things in PP –
Marc my friend,
Everything you say makes sense. Get to know your printer/RIP...whether it is the one in your home/office/studio or the service you use.
I don't resize at all. I just send my full size 5D files to the printers, crop as required in their ROES software and away she goes. 20 x 16 is no problem at all, and I just had a 36 x 24 canvas done. I was blown away with the quality on the canvas, having seen that I don't think a print of the same size would be any problem. Steve
You should be able to print at 16 x 20 with good results from a 10 mpix camera. As has already been said, forget about 300 dpi re-sizing. That's photography folk-lore. You can res down to 150 and never see a difference, so keep your pixels intact and just change the dpi. Never resize a file you're sending out for print if you have no idea of what they are doing to it to make that print.
I've tried upsampling, bicubic smoother, to 16x20 and 300dpi,
Epson printer native resolution is **360** PPI not 300, so your printer is having to interpolate your files to get them up to 360. If you're going to resample for printing on Epson, you should resample to 360 PPI, not 300.
