Cropped photo is "too low resolution" (Page 2): ...... A vague guide on the Costco site says 115 PPI minimum is needed for prints.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

GoofyNewfie wrote:

One thing to keep in mind: due to the material it will be printed on, a canvas print won’t need as much resolution as a glossy, which will resolve more detail.
How many pixels per inch to use, I don’t know, but it’s certainly not going to be 300ppi.

......
A vague guide on the Costco site says 115 PPI minimum is needed for prints.

blackest Loc: Ireland

3000 x 2400 = 7.2MB around the 8MB mark.
if you split the photo into thirds and use 4 of the 9 thirds(1.5x crop) (4/9 = 0.44) *24MPix = 10.66MP
cropping into 1/4s (2x crop)would be 6Mpix a bit too low really. and using 1/9th (3x crop) would be about 2.6MB of the 24MB.
I like these crops as they are easy to visualise.
They also help figure out better focal lengths to use.
since this photo was taken with a 200mm lens with about a 1.5x crop factor you can multiply the crops to get the lenses you could have used.
1.5 x 1.5 = 2.25 x 200mm = 450mm (as 200mm with 1.5 crop gives 300mm you could just multiply 300 x 1.5 and get the same answer)
so that 4/9ths view would be a 300mm lens on the d80
the 1/4 crop (2x) = 600mm (400mm on a D80)
and the 1/9th crop (3x) = 900mm (600mm on a D80)
So to fill the frame with the crop that was wanted around a 600mm lens at that distance is what was needed.
If you wanted to crop (and a 4/9ths crop is about as much as you would want to use)
that would be a 400mm lens.
I guess you might try a 2x teleconverter (losing 2 stops of light) on the 200mm lens and maybe get the crop desired but a 2x teleconverter would probably lower the IQ too much.

coolhanduke Loc: Redondo Beach, CA

genocolo wrote:

For the first time, I was experimenting with enlarging two photos for printing on canvas on the Costco site. The message I get is "too low resolution." Attached are the cropped versions. What am I doing wrong? Is the crop too much and it results in the low resolution?

I would appreciate any advice or ideas. Thanks in advance.

What was the resolution on your cropping tool set at?

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Try Topaz AI Gigapixel to increase the size and maintain detail.

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

genocolo wrote:

For the first time, I was experimenting with enlarging two photos for printing on canvas on the Costco site. The message I get is "too low resolution." Attached are the cropped versions. What am I doing wrong? Is the crop too much and it results in the low resolution?

I would appreciate any advice or ideas. Thanks in advance.

Have you yet printed the first pic yourself? Whilst I doubt you will be able to do a 10x8 (canvas or glossy) you could do what I have just done after saving the download- printed an acceptable 6x4.5. I used XnView to print it. I also printed an 8X8, which is ok at NVD. Better than nothing at all! Great pics BTW. It should also be possible to add a "canvas" texture, using PhotoFiltre (a freebie editor)

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

And to think 15 years ago they made poster size prints and covers of Sports Illustrated with less than 4mp cameras...

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

I have seen many beautiful enlargements printed at less than 240 ppi. 300 could be "the gold standard" but the larger the print and considering it is going to be look at least at a distance of 5 feet or further away the printing resolution is not that all important.
The resolution of the file is important.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Notorious T.O.D. wrote:

And to think 15 years ago they made poster size prints and covers of Sports Illustrated with less than 4mp cameras...

By using things called inter-negatives.
I've had a few inter-negatives made from slides back in the 70s.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

genocolo wrote:

For the first time, I was experimenting with enlarging two photos for printing on canvas on the Costco site. The message I get is "too low resolution." Attached are the cropped versions. What am I doing wrong? Is the crop too much and it results in the low resolution?

I would appreciate any advice or ideas. Thanks in advance.

How big a print are you trying to make?

As a general guideline, the requirement for ppi (pixels per inch) for an image diminishes with distance. You can blame human eyesight for that.

For a 4"x6", which will typically be viewed from 12"-16" you will need 300 ppi, or an image that is 1200x1800 px.

However, the same image printed to 24x36, typically viewed at 6 ft, the minimum ppi required for an image to look sharp is only around 50 ppi or 1200x1800 px, which, not surprisingly, is the same resolution for the smaller print viewed at less than arm's length.

If you print the 24x36 at 300 ppi, you will get a print that will stand up to close scrutiny, but at "normal" viewing distances will not look any sharper than the one printed at 50 or 60 ppi. Why? The same reason why you can read newsprint up close, but if you put the newspaper 6 ft away you'd only be able to clearly read the headlines.

The problem with your images is that there are just not enough pixels.

If you use a fractal generating program like On1 Resize, it will give you more pixels, but it won't add more detail. There will be a small improvement in image quality compared to just resizing in Photoshop, Lightroom or other editor, that will mostly be antialiasing and local contrast enhancement. It won't do a thing for plumage texture or any other "high frequency" image content.

This is scientifically explained here:

http://www.scss.com.au/family/andrew/camera/resolution/

And summarized/tabulated here:

http://www.photokaboom.com/photography/learn/printing/resolution/1_which_resolution_print_size_viewing_distance.htm

You don't have to adhere to a 300ppi printing standard unless you expect your images to be viewed at 12", even if they are printed at 40"x60". That being said, I have made (and sold) numerous 40x60 prints from 6 mp images (what comes out of a D70S, or a heavily cropped image from a higher mp camera) - and no one ever complained about lack of sharpness.

genocolo Loc: Vail and Gasparilla Island

coolhanduke wrote:

What was the resolution on your cropping tool set at?

Sorry. I did not know there was a choice. How do I determine?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

It was nice of them to warn you of the low resolution, rather than to print a poor quality image.

Below are some links about enlarging and making an image look better. One or more might help.

https://petapixel.com/2016/10/14/free-software-can-upscale-enlarge-photos-better-photoshop/
https://lifehacker.com/a-sharper-scaling-upscales-images-better-than-photoshop-1787822740
http://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-resize-and-make-images-larger-without-losing-quality/
http://www.howtogeek.com/292081/how-big-of-a-photo-can-i-print-from-my-phone-or-camera/
http://a-sharper-scaling.com/
http://www.benvista.com/photozoomclassic
https://www.on1.com/apps/resize9/

genocolo Loc: Vail and Gasparilla Island

robertjerl wrote:

At full size and quality RAW the 80D is 24 mp, sam... (show quote)

I don’t understand when u say the original is cropped way down. How could this have happened? Did it happen when I uploaded to uhh?
Also, I thought I had the camera set at maximum quality setting. I don’t have camera with me this week, so I will check when I get it back in my hands.

Thanks for your other advice which I will attempt to use in future.

genocolo Loc: Vail and Gasparilla Island

GoofyNewfie wrote:

One thing to keep in mind: due to the material it will be printed on, a canvas print won’t need as much resolution as a glossy, which will resolve more detail.
How many pixels per inch to use, I don’t know, but it’s certainly not going to be 300ppi.

Thanks. I am going to work with it and may try one to see what it looks like. Costco does have a satisfaction guarantee I believe.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

For canvas a lower resolution relative to paper stock may be fine. But the higher the resolution the better the result. I would resize in Photoshop. While even 72ppi should work on canvas, GoofyNewfie said Costco wants 115 PPI, so set at least that as your output when resizing. I would also re-crop from the original to allow more image to accommodate the wrap around for the frame.

Tex-s

genocolo wrote:

For the first time, I was experimenting with enlarging two photos for printing on canvas on the Costco site. The message I get is "too low resolution." Attached are the cropped versions. What am I doing wrong? Is the crop too much and it results in the low resolution?

I would appreciate any advice or ideas. Thanks in advance.

I don't have any 'new' advice on the subject at hand except to say that, to me, shooting at the maximum file size and file resolution for your (or any) camera is akin to taking an umbrella out on a cloudy day. If you need it, you have it, and if you don't need it, no problem. One can always 'remove' data for restricted file size application, but trying to add information is a recipe for rapid quality degradation.