Forums > Photography Talk > Best workflow to create HUGE prints.. (settings)
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Photographer

HBA 1

Posts: 112

Kansas City, Kansas, US

If I want to create LARGE LARGE prints (think 3-4feet) what is the best workflow to retain the best overall look?  Shoot RAW, color correct in LR, edit in PS then when saving/exporting what should the settings be?

Oct 17 14 02:25 pm Link

Clothing Designer

GRMACK

Posts: 5436

Bakersfield, California, US

Ask the lab that is going to print them what they recommend.

Some may take a TIFF in Adobe 1998 color space.  Some will want a JPG for some odd reason even if it is a large image.  Some will want 360 dpi for Epson, and maybe 300 dpi for Canon.

Not too many take ProPhoto as a color space.  They'll likely convert it to Adobe 1998.  I suspect none will want it as a RAW file, unless you also pay them for the conversion and possible retouching, etc.

Sometimes the online labs want JPG as it isn't as limiting on bandwidth in sending and downloading over some huge 360,000KB TIFF or whatever.

So, back to "Ask the lab what they prefer."

Oct 17 14 03:28 pm Link

Photographer

Leighsphotos

Posts: 3070

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

He talks too much for my liking but otherwise good info.

http://youtu.be/30wUedTXg-Q?list=UUyaDD … RXOx6LPsYQ

Oct 18 14 06:06 am Link

Photographer

PhillipM

Posts: 8049

Nashville, Tennessee, US

Shoot LF....

Ok,,,but a thought anyway....

Oct 18 14 06:16 am Link

Photographer

Kool Koncepts

Posts: 965

Saint Louis, Michigan, US

PhillipM wrote:
Shoot LF....

Ok,,,but a thought anyway....

I would agree Phillip except I do not see 3-4 feet (36-48 inches) as being a large, large print. I have had a billboard off a 5D MkII. Although I wouldn't want to look at it close smile

Oct 18 14 08:48 am Link

Photographer

Chris David Photography

Posts: 561

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

My workflow for a large pring from capture - load into lightroom. Process RAW in DXO. Send to stitching or HDR software saving as 16bit TIFF or PSB. Retouch and tweak in Photoshop anything thats needed.
Then I use Qimage for printing and let it handle any sharpening and colour profiling needed.

I do a lot of large prints off my Epson 44" wide printer. Longest so far would have been 6 metres long from a 2 Gigapixel photo. Having my own printers I can tweak and print using what quality settings I want without time issues. I generally downsample a copy to the print size at 360dpi and save as 8bit TIFF for the best quality without killing the software.

When it comes to photolabs you do need to check what files they can handle.

Oct 18 14 09:12 am Link

Photographer

Blue Cube Imaging

Posts: 11883

Ashland, Oregon, US

There are a couple of additional questions that the answers to would be helpful:

What will the viewing distance be?

What was the native resolution of the camera used to create the image?

(Although not as important, what camera was used? Some yield better prints than others.)

Oct 20 14 02:00 pm Link

Photographer

Michael Fryd

Posts: 5231

Miami Beach, Florida, US

Hazem Giballi  wrote:
If I want to create LARGE LARGE prints (think 3-4feet) what is the best workflow to retain the best overall look?  Shoot RAW, color correct in LR, edit in PS then when saving/exporting what should the settings be?

I am assuming you want a large print that will be viewed from a close distance.

If the print will be viewed from a large distance, it probably will have the same apparent size as an 8x10, and I assume you know how to make a good 8x10.


As a general rule, if you have a quality image from any modern DSLR, you should be fine.


I have 72" prints from images taken with an 8 megapixel Canon 20D.  If you walk right up to the print, they are not as sharp as I would like.  Once you step back 2 or 3 feet, the image looks great.


Here are some tips to keep in mind to help maximize sharpness in any print (including large prints):


When you print large and have a close viewing distance, your depth of field will be less than the same image printed at 8x10 or 4x6.  Keep this in mind.  You may want to stop down a bit more than you typically shoot.


You probably want to shoot with your better lenses.  If you don't have great lenses, then stop down a few stops.  Most modern lenses yield good sharpness when stopped down 2 or 3 stops from wide open.


Maximize pixels in the final image by cropping in camera, rather then shooting wide and cropping in post.


Use a tripod to minimize issues with camera shake.

Use low ISO to minimize noise.


If you are going to post-process, then shoot in RAW.

If your image fits within the sRGB colorspace, then use sRGB.  At 8 bits per channel sRGB yields smoother gradients.

Oct 20 14 03:00 pm Link

Photographer

Don Garrett

Posts: 4984

Escondido, California, US

Viewing distance definitely does factor into the equation, but, for practical purposes, start with a high resolution, clean image making camera. You can, then, look at the images closely, and enjoy all the details, (if you have shot them well).
-Don

Oct 20 14 03:12 pm Link

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