Printing very large

Someone has approached me wondering if one of my photos could be enlarged to somewhere around 6-8 feet wide. It's a 12MP file, full frame, shot at base ISO. Even at that, I have serious doubts over whether this is even possible.

I've been trying to find a print shop locally, but in the meantime, is there a printer anyone would recommend? There is a chance I could reshoot the scene with my 5DII (maybe stitching frames), but it's probably very difficult to replicate exactly.

Their use would be to put the photo in their house, as opposed to something like an outdoor sign where viewing distances would be farther, and thus PPI wouldn't matter as much.

Hi Greg,

A few of my images were enlarged to 4'x6' as part of a gallery show. The printing was done here in Toledo, OH and was quite expensive. The files were all from my 20D and all had been cropped to some degree. I just checked one of the images, my initial edit was a 19mb 300 dpi tiff (ISO 400). The 4x6 is closer to square than my original so even more was cropped off the long side. For sure you wouldn't want to have your nose too close to the print but viewed at a reasonable distance they looked great.

Good Luck!

BZ

Hi Brian,

That gives me a lot of hope I'll see if I can find a printing company that offers these sizes and go from there.

Cheers

Greg,

As long as it is a good sharp shot and the viewing distance is going to be appropriate, I think you should be fine. I have had several billboards done from 10D and 20D files and from a normal viewing distance they looked killer. However, upclose they fall apart quite quickly. Biggest problem you will likely run into is a printer large enough to handle it. You may have to splice them from a couple 2 or 3 prints. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

I've only heard good things about using this program for making huge prints http://www.ononesoftware.com/products/p ... bAodNjkJdA .

For resizing I use genuine fractals which has now been upgraded to perfect-resize it does an amazing job.

My daughter-in-law wanted one of my images blown up to a large print. I resized the file using PS and gave it to my son. He found a place that did it in three sections on canvass for him (55" x 93"). They are thrilled with it (their words). I could find out where they had it done if you like.

If your going to make a print and re-size it to 8 foot and hang it in a house there is no question in my mind that picture would be way better looking if you re-shot it and stitched. The detail is only one thing --tonal separation is another. The difference is between a ho hum image and a dazzler. IMO. I stitch a lot and have the 9900 which prints up to 44 inches wide. I have printed 8 footers that were stitched(although from an 8 meg Mark II) and they are very impressive. I can't wait to turn my mark IV loose with my 600 and do some landscape stitching. This thread is a bit old now--have you moved ahead with a printer and/or resolved your problem?

Paul