5d mk 3 - enlargement question

[Ellis Vener]

Yesterday I had a local lab print a 50% crop version of an ISO 800 5Dmk3 image at 20 x14 inches. The lens was Canon's latest 24-105mm f/4L. I needed ISO 800 for the situation to get the depth of field I needed and a short shutter speed (outdoor group portrait of school kids in dappled but mostly shady light - location dictated by circumstances beyond my control).

I followed Jeff's recommendations about nr and resolution settings and used my eyes to fine tune the settings in Lr4.

The results were very fine. Lots and lots of fine detail and and very large dynamic range. Excellent color saturation and pleasing "accuracy" of skin tones. Virtually every shade of Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic, Negro, and mixed heritage skin tone was represented in the group along with all shades and textures of natural hair color and eye color.

Printing was done on a current large format Epeon on Epson's Ultra Premium Photo Luster paper and the Raw file had been processed as a DNG in Lightroom 4 and retouched in Photoshop.

[Adam L]

Just a shout out to Jeff - I really want to thank you and Michael R for the tutorial videos.   I give the two of you major credit for improving my photo skills.   Kudos to the forum members who always provide excellent guidance and take time to answer my questions; you all have made this site a very positive experience for me.

While I'm still very much a newbie to printing, seeing a large printed copy with detail and correct color is a very motivating experience.   It brings home all of the proper in camera work necessary to create an optimal photo.   The limits of viewing an image on a monitor has never been more clear to me.

Now that I better understand dpi print settings, one more question if I may:  Is there a point between 360 and 720ppi where it would be best to down rez the image to 360? 

[Tony Jay]

Adam why would you want to downrez the print?

Seriously, use all the resolution you can.
If the resolution for the particular print size is between 360 and 720 then uprez to 720 for best results (straight from Jeff Schewe).

If I am missing the point of question I apologise.

Regards

Tony Jay

[Adam L]

Hi Tony,   I'm really trying to understand what takes place with a resolution change.   My thought was perhaps a down rez of 1 or 2 % would produce better results relative to an uprez of 98%.  It seems the answer is hell no. 

Thanks.  BTW I'm extremely happy with the results I am getting.  LR4 rendering is helping a lot.

[Tony Jay]

I guess for the purposes of experimentation you could do both and then compare.
It is possible that one would need a good loupe to see the difference.

BTW I recently printed a large panorama (multiple stitch HDR) that printed 50" by 22" on my Epson Pro 7900, where the native resolution was about 180. I requested the print be uprezzed to 360 (as per Schewes suggestion). The result was extraordinary even with a viewing distance limited only by the length of my nose (OK I lie, only because I am a little long-sighted these days - even with glasses corrected for reading).

I am considering printing the same panorama on a 9900 where again I would uprez to 360 no matter what the native resolution was. In this case I would only enlarge the print to about 60-70" with appropriate width. I anticipate a really good result.

Regards

Tony Jay

[shadowblade]

Does anyone know what resolution Bay Photo's MetalPrints are made at?

I normally submit files at 300ppi (using AlienSkin Blowup for output sharpening), but don't actually know what resolution they print at.

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

Not in my view. Never downrez, downrezzing can produce a lot of aliasing and throws away information. Not saying that it is bad, but why throw away quality that you have?

I have written a small article on the effects of sizing up or down with some illustrations and MTF measurements. It's not really complete, but may be worth a look: http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/index.php/photoarticles/62-scaling-up-or-down

Check also this discussion: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=60585.0

Best regards
Erik

Now that I better understand dpi print settings, one more question if I may:  Is there a point between 360 and 720ppi where it would be best to down rez the image to 360?