Upsizing for Vehicle Wrap

[David Eichler]

I may need to upsize some images to be used for a large vehicle wrap. The images will need to be provided to the printer already upsized to the final dimensions, which will be 23' x 11'. I have done a trial upsizing to those dimensions in one step using Photoshop, at 300ppi, 150ppi and 75ppi, and they all look fine to me (really no difference at print size) for this application. Since the intended normal viewing distance is not at close range, I wonder if this process will suffice, or if I should use some other technique or software to do the upsizing. Any suggestions from people who have actually upsized photos for this application? I mean specifically for large vehicle wraps, since, unlike billboards, it is possible to view the images at close range, even if that does not give the intended effect, which can only be perceived a greater distances.

[Pictus]

2 free programs that achieve better results than Photoshop:

http://reshade.com
http://a-sharper-scaling.com

[Redcrown]

I'm surprised and doubtful that you, the photographer, need to upsize the image for the printer. I have very limited experience. Just one project where a clutural organization selected one of my images for a 15' banner to be put on city busses.

When I delivered the image to the printer (a local company) I asked for a tour. That got me a good discussion with their tech guys, who explained that they do all the color conversion and image scaling with custom software that goes far beyond what Photoshop and other 3rd party software can do.

Makes sense. Photographers need to upsize maybe a few times a year. The printing company does it 50 times a day. It's their business. If they are professional, they know better than you do how to best treat the input image.

That company is: https://www.beelineandblue.com/

[David Eichler]

I'm surprised and doubtful that you, the photographer, need to upsize the image for the printer. I have very limited experience. Just one project where a clutural organization selected one of my images for a 15' banner to be put on city busses.

When I delivered the image to the printer (a local company) I asked for a tour. That got me a good discussion with their tech guys, who explained that they do all the color conversion and image scaling with custom software that goes far beyond what Photoshop and other 3rd party software can do.

Makes sense. Photographers need to upsize maybe a few times a year. The printing company does it 50 times a day. It's their business. If they are professional, they know better than you do how to best treat the input image.

That company is: https://www.beelineandblue.com/

According to a tech rep for the company that produces the vehicle wraps, they need to be provided with a file already sized for the application.

[David Eichler]

2 free programs that achieve better results than Photoshop:

http://reshade.com
http://a-sharper-scaling.com

In my opinion, the differences are very subtle and really not worth bothering with for the kind of application that I mentioned. I would be interested in learning about (Mac-compatible) programs that offer more aggressive forms of adaptive interpolation.

[Ajoy Roy]

I use ON1 Resize and it does an excellent job of resizing and then sharpening.

I am just curious to know at what DPI do they want the image file.

[TonyVentourisPhotography]

They should be able to recommend a good minimum number of pixels that they need that works for that printing.  I use AlienSkin Blowup for resizing.  I have used this a lot and like the results in print.  Remember that the printing medium will hide some flaws too.  This is certainly not getting printed on the finest exhibition paper for critical inspection.  Being that vehicles get dirty too, that will also hide some "defects." 

30,000 pixels is the JPG maximum.  That yields your dimensions at somewhere between 100 - 110 dpi.  That is probably plenty.  I would ask what their recommend pixel count is to the long end.  You can get away with less DPI for larger prints in general.