large printings from low res source image

[emacrisema]

Hi.I have a small slaughterhouse , and I would like to print a picture with a little meat and salad etc on my truck .
I assume the printing will cost me a lot so I thought of taking the picture myself to save some money.
Will a 5mp compact digital camera do the job considering the truck has about 5x3 meters ?

Thanks a lot

 

[Jeff]

Personally, I would hire a photographer or at least get a photographer friend to work with you -- regardless of resolution, the print will only be as good as the input (colors, lighting, preparation/staging) and it's not that easy to photograph food until you have some practice. If you have already gotten the type of shot you're looking for, print a small crop at 100% of the size it will be in the full output and and view it from the viewing distance you expect and see if you're happy - what you can get away with depends a lot of what's exactly in the shot.

 

[emacrisema]

thanks

I do understand art is complex , but I hope art will not be needed for this , I just want to convey the message that there is meat in that truck
And I was curious what are the "pure technical" limitations for the project .
The only technical limitation I know is resolution , if you know others please tell me .

 

[diversedisplay]

Resolution

Do not confuse image resolution (input) in Photoshop with printer resolution (output). They do not directly correlate to one another. Though your image is set at 240-300ppi, you will print that image at a setting of either 720 dpi to 1440 dpi. The numbers 720 and 1440 do not refer to the size of the image file. These numbers refer to how many "dots" of ink are placed on the paper per square inch of space. Higher dpi produces a higher print quality. It also, however, prints slower. You may have to experiment to determine what number dpi is high enough to produce a quality print, while printing in a reasonable time.

To print a quality photo image, a resolution of 240-300 ppi is generally optimal. It provides for a high quality print (output) without excessive data, which needlessly increases file size and inadvertently slows printing. It doesn't hurt to print a higher resolution file, but beyond a certain resolution, there is little or no increase in print quality. The increased file size simply slows down the whole printing process and consumes an excessive amount of disc storage space.

We suggest sending a pdf to our art dept., ai, cdr, eps, are also accepted.
*if in doubt 1/4 size at 400 dpi is good for a large file project

Please send any other questions or concerns to info@diversedisplay.com

www.diversedisplay.com

 

[MegaPrint]

I have successfully resampled images 300-400% in Photoshop to do jobs like this. Frankly, if you print at 50 dpi nobody is going to notice on the side of a truck. But, Jeff gives you good advice about the photo- if it is small and lousy, making it big is going to be awful, and you want your truck to attract a customer! It's great advertising to have your vehicle show your product, and you want a nice, sharp, yummy looking steak on the side of it. Spend the $ to have a photo taken, or even better, go to dreamstime.com and pay $15 for a good stock photo. We have a discussion of photo resolution on our site.