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Question about large scale printing.

definitive

definitive

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Aug 4, 2008
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I have a client who needs a large poster which is about 5x6 feet. The problem I'm having is that I need a photo that been as the background, but I can't seem to find anything that size at 300dpi or 150dpi. Would a 72dpi be ok? Most online printers seem to only want 300-350dpi files, so I'm a bit stumped here.
 
72dpi is definitely NOT ok for the file that you deliver to the printers. Does this background need to be a photo or can it be a graphic? If you need a stock photo then you can always buy them in hi-res from iStockphoto or any other stock photo sites. If you're taking a photo then I'd find the highest resolution camera you can get to take the photo. If a graphic works: Use vector graphics for the background. You can either draw them in a program like Illustrator or you can go to a stock vector site like vectorstock.com. Since vectors don't have a resolution you can re-size them however you wish without losing quality. Hope this helps!
 
the background has to be a photo, and istock doesn't have anything remotely close to the size i need at 300dpi. same with shutterstock, and the rest of the stock photo stores who just copy each others' photos.
 
definitive said:
I have a client who needs a large poster which is about 5x6 feet. The problem I'm having is that I need a photo that been as the background, but I can't seem to find anything that size at 300dpi or 150dpi. Would a 72dpi be ok? Most online printers seem to only want 300-350dpi files, so I'm a bit stumped here.
Click to expand...
You are confusing issues. For a poster of that size, you want vector text and vectors for line art and such like. For photographs, however, you do not need (300 dpi)^2*(60 in)(72 in) pixels. Your poster will not be viewed from 10 inches away. It will be viewed from several feet away. When viewed up close, it is perfectly acceptable to see the CYMK screen structure of the photograph. You do, however, not want to see the pixellation of the photograph. You may need a Photoshop fractal plug-in such as Perfect Resize to enlarge a photograph by as much as 1000% without apparent pixellation and with minimal blurriness.
 
I've done 10 feet posters at 72 dpi and it came out fine. As others said, you are not looking at it up close. If you look at any billboards / huge posters, the photo is pixelated.

If you want it 300 dpi at 6'x5', you'll need a 324+ mega pixel camera. ;)
 
if you want 300dpi, that is a Huge/slow file. unless you have a rockstar computer. lower res image with vector font. $.02 from a very infrequent poster :) good luck
 
kevinfulton.ca said:
72dpi is definitely NOT ok for the file that you deliver to the printers.
Click to expand...

Not strictly true.

I do a lot of large format advertising work. A lot of it has moved away from screen printing and over to inkjets of various sorts. In the past for screen printing you would have artwork at 300 dpi but at one third size. (That makes a big difference). Remember if they ask for 300 dpi at one third (which some still do) That's only 100 dpi at actual size.


I strongly suggest you talk to your printer. Ask them the minimum dpi at actual size. You'll be surprised - most of the ones I deal with ask for anywhere between 72 and 90 dpi. Depending on my files - if possible I try and provide 150 ish. The results are great for posters. 72 dpi is normally perfectly fine though.


There is a particular process (Can't remember the name - think it's Lambada???) that is generally used for cosmetics backlits in stores that needs 300dpi in RGB at actual but that's a bit of a weird one.
 
this is the issue: i've spoken to several local and online printers, and they are all claiming that i have to provide 300dpi images for them to print anything, which i find ridiculous since i know for a fact that it would be possible to use a large 72dpi photo (provided it's not stretched beyond what i scale it from when it's in its 300dpi form). i just don't get why none of the printers want to take up the print job.

the poster is basically a photo background with vector text over it.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

What format are you sending them? Just send them a PDF full size and tell them to print it. Don't ask or tell them anything.
 
heehee said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

What format are you sending them? Just send them a PDF full size and tell them to print it. Don't ask or tell them anything.
Click to expand...

that's the issue i'm having. i've sent a pdf with a 3.25'x2.25' jpeg at 72dpi, with some vectorized text in some areas to list phone number and address of the place, and they sent me an email back saying they can't print it because it's not 300dpi. i told them that's it's close to impossible for me to find a 300dpi file that big, but they didn't want to hear it.
 
Been there, done that...

While the advice being given here is 100% accurate - you only need ~72–150 dpi for large-format printing. What no one has suggested is a trick you can use when printers are rejecting your files at their "automated" preflight stage because your images are not 300dpi.

Open the file and upscale it without resampling until the file is around the physical size you need and not less than 60 dpi. Then, in a second step, resample the file to be 300dpi. The preflight software will accept it then, and the printshop operator will have no idea you are cheating - sounds like he may not have any idea what he's doing in the first place. Yes, your file will be HUGE - but it will get printed, and there's no way you can see the difference.

Done deal.

:apple:dmz
 
I finally got someone from another print shop to show me what was going on, and how to set the file up (even though I think that its quality won't be that good compared to what I was originally set out to do).

I opened up Photoshop > image size > unchecked resample image, changed the dpi to 150 (that's what they said they used). Then I checked resample image back, and unchecked scale styles. After that I resized the filed to proper dimensions.

Like I said before, I don't think it will produce desired results, but it will "get the job done."
 
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