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Couple questions re: printing digital pictures.

  • A few questions about printing digital photos in NYC, and tangentially, the legality thereof. One of my photos was selected for a small gallery group show, and I have some questions as to how I should go about getting the print made. (I'm used to putting my pictures online, and have never printed them out beyond snapshot size.) --The photo was shot with a 3.2MP camera, and measures 1536x2048. How big can I reasonably make this when printed? The show organizers are asking that all photos be 16"x20", but say that adding white space around it will be fine. (They suggest that I increase the "canvas size" in Photoshop.) I want to make it look both as big and as good as possible -- what's a good size that will satisfy both aims? --Can anyone recommend a photo printer in NYC (because I need to get this printed quickly, ideally in the next couple days) that can do this? (The http://nyc.photobloggers.org/ group tends to love http://www.adoramapix.com, but they are closed this week and next...and 12x18 seems to be their maximum size anyway.) --Part of my photo includes part of a painting by another artist. Will I run into any kind of copyright or other hassles by printing/exhibiting/selling a print of this?

  • Answer:

    Check out http://www.digicamhelp.com/what-is-a-megapixel/megapixels-and-print-size.htm for megapixels, resolution and print size rules of thumb. Unfortunately, you're woefully short of the resolution required to print 16" x 20".

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I'd take the CDR containing the picture or on a memory card to http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ on 34th Street and 9th Ave. They appear to have all the best equipment to get the best quality prints made from your photographs.

riffola

Erg, didn't mean to sound like I was talking down or lecturing no worries. that is a significant correction to what I assumed, so I'm glad you brought it. so you'd want to print a 300 ppi image at 1200 dpi, assuming a 4 color printer?

fishfucker

Caviar

Erg, didn't mean to sound like I was talking down or lecturing - I rewrote a section of my post, and submitted it before I realised that part of the rewrite is now little more than just repeating myself. :-/

-harlequin-

Fishfucker: You seem to misunderstand DPI and PPI somewhat: The important central concept is that while a pixel is a colour at a location (obvious), to actually print that colour at a location, you need a lot of ink dots (and space between them), because a DPI printer (eg CMYK) only prints four colours either full on or full off, wheras a pixel can any of milions of colours. In other words, they are not interchangeable at all - in order to print 300 PPI, you'll want 4-figure DPI. Printing a 300 PPI image at 300 DPI is like playing a CD through a telephone - you're just throwing away most of the fidelity. One PPI pixel contains far more information than one DPI dot. They are not even slightly equal or interchangeable. (To further confuse things, some types of printers do not create an image by laying down CMYK dots, and likewise, other ways of displaying the image, such as monitors, may directly produce pixels).

-harlequin-

Given the potential legal issues, would the organisers not be willing to exhibit another one of your prints?

ceri richard

That's a relatively famous artist's painting (I'm not the artist in the family, but I recognized the style immediately). You really need to consult someone that has some more definitive knowledge of applicable law.

mmascolino

and does "ppi" = "dpi"? Sort of. Usually, ppi is the resolution of the source image, and lpi (lines per inch) is the native/maximum resolution of the printer. dpi refers mainly to the kind of printers that only leave a dot or don't, and aren't capable of tones without dithering, etc etc

cillit bang

B&H is also closed for the near future. It's the price you pay for them being open on Sundays.

smackfu

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