Resolution and maximum print size

A high resolution image has a large number of megapixels, a large digital file size, and is capable of showing great detail in a print. If your image looks sharp when expanded to fill your monitor screen, it will probably print to your liking (better: See screen test below). The table below provides some guidelines to help you choose the size of print to order based on the resolution of your image, but in the end you must make your own decision based on how it will be viewed. A large print viewed from a distance will be enjoyed even if it has lower resolution.

Digital camera settings

When planning for large prints, it is always best to set your digital camera to the highest resolution (largest pixel dimensions) and best jpeg compression quality. If you have an advanced camera, for even better quality, you can set the camera to raw mode (we can process your raw files). While you are adjusting settings, change the color space setting to from sRGB to Adobe RGB to give a larger range of colors.

Pixel resolution isn't everything

You will enjoy your large print most if you pick out your best photos. Is your image in focus? Is there a distracting background? Are the highlights overexposed (blocked)? Are the shadow areas underexposed so there is too much noise to reveal details? Are there harsh shadows from direct flash? Is everyone smiling? In a sharp portrait you should be able to see individual hairs.

Can you really enlarge a 4x6 print to 16x20?

Yes, but the question should be: "Will you like it?".  When viewed up close it will look blurry, as when you don't have your glasses on, but you won't see any pixilation effects. When viewed from across the room, it will look good. We have printed many of such low resolution images for our customers, and they are always appreciated. However, submit to us your negatives or digital files for better quality prints.

Print quality for various image resolutions

Image source size or Megapixels	4x6 print	Negative or slide	2 MP	4 MP	>10 MP
Pixel resolution or dimensions	300 dpi	2400 dpi	864x1152	1200x1600	2560x1920
Quality of 12x16 inch print	good	excellent	good	excellent	excellent
Quality of 16x20 inch print	fair	excellent	fair	very good	excellent
Quality of 24x36 and larger	poor	very good	poor	good	very good
Average JPEG file* size			500 kb	1000 Mb	>2400 Mb
Dial-up modem upload time per JPEG file*			20 sec	40 sec	>2 minutes

 *If you edit the image yourself, it is best to save as .tif or .psd in which case the file size will be much larger and you will need high speed internet to upload, or mail to us on a CD.

The screen test for judging maximum print size

You can read everything on this page, and you can ask for our advice, but in the end you will need to decide how large to print based on expected viewing distance and your tolerance for blurriness and noise. Here we describe a test that will help you make that decision using your computer monitor:

• Open your image in your favorite editing/viewing program (Internet explorer or Paint will work, for example).
• Find a ruler and adjust the zoom level (try the view menu) until the image is 10 inches across on your monitor.
• If you want to judge a print that is 36-inches across (for gallery wraps use the print size, not the mount size) set the zoom level to be 3.6 (=36/10) times larger. For example, if the zoom was 25%, now set it to 25x3.6=90%. If the image does not fit on the monitor, move the sliders to view the most important part of the image.
• Now stand back at what you consider a normal viewing distance. Does the image look good to you? If you see little squares (pixels), note that those will be smoothed out when we upsize in Photoshop. Although we use a special program for upsizing, Genuine Fractals, don't expect that to add additional detail that is not there in your image. If you see a lot of noise (little random dots like film grain) we can reduce that using Noise Ninja.