Photography podcast #122 features an interview with Royce Howland where we discuss how large we can print our photos. These days cameras of all kinds are everywhere and if we want to make big enlargements from those cameras we need to know how big we can print the image before it starts to look bad. Royce offers up tips on how to make ‘the best enlargement’, ‘a better enlargement’ or ‘a good enlargement’ based on the camera, the printing material, the subject matter and some other factors.
Thanks to The Camera Store (The largest camera store in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) for sponsoring the Photography.ca podcast!
To recap the math in this podcast the best images get 300 pixels per inch. 200 pixels per inch gets you better enlargements and 100 pixels per inch yields good results. To get an idea of the possible enlargement range, we divide the image pixels of our camera by the PPI to get inches of print size.
Our theoretical 6 megapixel camera produced images of 3000 x 2000 pixels. So a good enlargement could be 30 x 20 inches, better could be 15 x 10 inches, and best 6.7 x 10 inches.
If we look at a 12 megapixel image (from a Canon 5D for example) the pixels are 4000 x 2666. So a good enlargement could be 40 x 26.7 inches, better could be 20 x 13.3 inches, and best 13.3 x 8.9 inches.
If we look at a 24 megapixel camera the pixels are 6000 x 4000 so we could have a good enlargement of 60 x 40 inches, better one of 30 x 20 inches and best one of 20 x 13.3 inches.
Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
The Digital Negative by Jeff Schewe
Perfect Resize
Qimage Ultimate
September regular assignment — Shoot from a high perspective
September level 2 assignment — Shoot into the light
Illuminite — Photography exhibition by Marko Kulik
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Marko & Royce thank you again for making all this knowledge public for all of us. As usual, this was very inspirational.
Marko I very much like the new pace you are taking since the last 3 podcasts. It feels like in the old days again when you started this; always something interesting to listen.
Enrique, you’re most welcomed! Glad to share…
Thanks for the comments! We did our best to make the topic clear and useful.
There are a lot of things to be concerned about in photography, but the #1 priority always is — is it a good photograph? Great photography transcends the mere technicals. When you realize the interplay of the image itself and things like how much detail the eye sees at typical viewing distances, this why we sometimes have a bit more latitude to push a print than simple technical concerns might suggest.
We don’t want bad technicals just out of being slack, or not understanding good craftsmanship. But great photographs will impress people unless our craft execution becomes bad enough to detract from the imagery. The proof of the image I think really is in viewing the print…
This episode is a classic, VERY good ! Not something that seemed to be discussed too often. And it re-assure me that ‘loving’ to print my own pictures, is ok ! LOL !!!! Well done, keep up the excellent work Marko !
Marko, I always enjoy the interviews! This was a great discussion. After hearing Royce explain what the eye is actually capable of perceiving, I’m a little more comfortable blowing up some of my older photos.
I so needed this type of explanation on how big I can print.
Thanks Royce and Marko for another amazing and clear interview.