printed picture size

[deerhunter_98520]

I took a picture this fall that I want to get enlarged for a Xmas present..its 3000x4512...how do I figure out how big of a picture I can print before it gets distorted

[Bean Counter]

What is the intended viewing distance? This is important. Highway billboards aren't shot with a 100 megapixel camera. their acceptable detail coupled with it's viewing distance and size means you can cover it with an 8-10 megapixel camera easily. Next time you're in a Wells Fargo Bank they have those huge stage coach wall murals just walk up too one and watch the details get uglier the closer you are.

By your given dimensions I Assume it was shot in portrait orientation and not landscape? If the image is intended to preserve/show off lots of fine details you will need more ppi, or pixels per inch. Could need as many as 300ppi, or 10x15 inches. If it's a portrait of a kid  or something of the like then 150ppi or even less could be plenty and allow a much larger print. That would be 20x30". 

Did you shoot the photo in RAW? What photo editor are you using? I can cheat when I use Lightroom. It upsamples quite impressively. Pardon the pun but need more details. 

[deerhunter_98520]

I ended up just going with a 14x20 and it turned out pretty good....my better half doesn't have much patience and wanted to get it done    I didn't use the highest setting for image quality...I didn't realize it till I got home after I took all the  pics  I'm very new to the DSLR and still have so Much to learn....I don't have a photo editor....its just a pic I took out lookin for elk and wanted to blow it up for a Xmas present....and I have no idea what RAW is 

[Bean Counter]

To shoot in raw means to capture every single pixel worth of data that your sensor records. Ever wonder why your 14 megapixel camera puts out 2-3 megapixel photos and not 14 megapixel photos? Jpegs are compressed files that will sample a large field of consistent values, say a blue sky, and just define that field with the same one color. By shooting in RAW you literally preserve details you didn't know were there, such as detail in the shadows that can be recovered in post processing. With Jpeg they will often be gone or have tons more noise upon recovery.

If you don't have time to figure any of this out and don't plan to buy a photo editor in the near future, you could shoot RAW + JPG. Every time you slam the trigger you will get both a RAW file and a JPG. That way, if you shoot a real keeper from now until when you chose to learn more, you can always come back to it when you get the chance and in the mean time will continue to have your camera do your sharpening, saturation, etc all for, one nice benefit of jpegs (in camera processing).

[deerhunter_98520]

Thanks for that explanation...makes a lot more sense now...I just need to find someone around here that knows a lot about them to show me how to use all the settings...I'm slowly trying to learn and would love to get into editing and taking some nice wildlife photos...I went up during the rut looking for elk in the Olympic national park and it was just as much fun as hunting for them

[runamuk]

Oh heck you dont need to learn all the settings just the ones for what you are trying to shoot.  Thats an awesome picture and you might look into lightroom for editing to start its actually not too bad even though I still dont really like its handling of files in my computer.  Lightroom has a great feature for preparing an image for printing its even better when you have your own printer or in my case I had access to the printer in the photo lab.  It was fun 11x17 is pretty standard for the high quality prints.  Other places use the old standby print sizes 11x14 8x10 etc.  You can also alter the image size using the white border.  have fun and be prepared to need a computer upgrade if you get hooked photo storage and editing uses a ton of space and your life is easier if your computer is set up for it.

[huntnphool]

Oh heck you dont need to learn all the settings just the ones for what you are trying to shoot.  Thats an awesome picture and you might look into lightroom for editing to start its actually not too bad even though I still dont really like its handling of files in my computer.  Lightroom has a great feature for preparing an image for printing its even better when you have your own printer or in my case I had access to the printer in the photo lab.  It was fun 11x17 is pretty standard for the high quality prints.  Other places use the old standby print sizes 11x14 8x10 etc.  You can also alter the image size using the white border.  have fun and be prepared to need a computer upgrade if you get hooked photo storage and editing uses a ton of space and your life is easier if your computer is set up for it.

 Just be aware that your camera does not shoot 11x14 or 8x10 format, so if you use Costco, KMart, Target or Walgreens type places for printing, your image will be cut down to fit their formats. If you want your entire image printed you might try places like http://perfectposters.com

 They will print your full image, the way it was captured with the camera and appears on your computer screen, without cropping off the ends.

[runamuk]

Oh heck you dont need to learn all the settings just the ones for what you are trying to shoot.  Thats an awesome picture and you might look into lightroom for editing to start its actually not too bad even though I still dont really like its handling of files in my computer.  Lightroom has a great feature for preparing an image for printing its even better when you have your own printer or in my case I had access to the printer in the photo lab.  It was fun 11x17 is pretty standard for the high quality prints.  Other places use the old standby print sizes 11x14 8x10 etc.  You can also alter the image size using the white border.  have fun and be prepared to need a computer upgrade if you get hooked photo storage and editing uses a ton of space and your life is easier if your computer is set up for it.

 Just be aware that your camera does not shoot 11x14 or 8x10 format, so if you use Costco, KMart, Target or Walgreens type places for printing, your image will be cut down to fit their formats. If you want your entire image printed you might try places like http://perfectposters.com

 They will print your full image, the way it was captured with the camera and appears on your computer screen, without cropping off the ends.

yeah I guess I left off a bunch of how to edit and prep for print.  I am not a photographer so I only use that info when I am actually making something like a print.

[deerhunter_98520]

Here's another I printed out...I used Walmart to print it and I did have to crop it...I'll look into lightroom....I keep seen that name come up so I'll give it a shot....I'm mostly going to be taking wildlife pics and pics of my kids so whatever settings at best for those is what I need to learn....I need to get a bigger lenses also I only have the 18-55 that came with the camera

[deerhunter_98520]

[huntnphool]

Nice shot, look up "the rule of thirds"

[deerhunter_98520]

Thanks....do you use manual focus over auto focus? I found myself going back and forth and had some great shots out of focus and didn't realize it till I had them on a big screen...I'll loom hat up now thanks 

[runamuk]

I only use manual focus and I constantly mess with f stops and shutter speed but I am always experimenting.  I dont own a dslr but do have a raw shooting ultra zoom and I only shoot lets just call it portrait style.  no landscapes no wildlife really.  I make art I dont claim to be a photographer.  Lightroom works seemlessly with photoshop but is much cheaper and offers all the basic editing so unless you want to work with layers and effects its a good starting point.
My last photography professor loved it and how it catalogs images I hate it makes me nuts and I end up with everything triplicated so I can find stuff. 

[boneaddict]

Both.  It depends on how busy it is around your subject.   Depth of field etc. or where you want your focus point to be.   I usually keep on auto then switch to manual.   Faster on pulling the trigger that way

[deerhunter_98520]

I think that was part of my problem...if you see in the first pic there's some roots in the middle of the pic out of focus....I was hiding in a huge root wad of a fallen tree taking pics through little openings and the camera kept trying to focus on that instead of the elk

[boneaddict]

Never gets any easier.

[deerhunter_98520]

I found that out real fast.... out of the 300 pics I took about 30 were good  I found out don't be stingy with the button

[boneaddict]

That will improve some.      Can you imagine what it was like in the film days?   

[kentrek]

While in high school I worked for a "professional wild life photographer"....I remember he got back from an Africa trip once with nearly 50,000 photos all on film....

Cool shot btw 

[Bean Counter]

I found that out real fast.... out of the 300 pics I took about 30 were good  I found out don't be stingy with the button

Don't be stingy.. With the delete button. Get rid of those 270 Junkers. You only want to keep and show your best. Btw that ratio sounds about right--a significant portion of my time in front of the computer is just deleting the crap photos. I find wildlife far more cooperative than a 2 year old. 

[deerhunter_98520]

That will improve some.      Can you imagine what it was like in the film days?

I know first hand what it was like..my grandpa had a nice SLR when I was around 10-15 yrs old and I went through ALOT of film  we would go out almost every weekend for a drive around  lake quinault to look for elk and I just took picture after picture 


I already deleted all the crappy pics a d kept the good ones...I have a feeling I'm going to need an external HD for these....the best part about this was I got the camera for my wife and I use it more than her 

Wildlife is more cooperative than my 11 yr old...my 5 ur old loves his pic taken

[runamuk]

I found that out real fast.... out of the 300 pics I took about 30 were good  I found out don't be stingy with the button

Its kinda funny I am in the camp of planning each shot not just shoot and pray.  One of the National geographic photographers I met 2 years ago compared digital picture taking to masturbating, simply because one can so easily click off 300-500 pics doesnt always mean one should or has to.  The other photographer she was a firm believer of setting up a shoot then shooting as much as possible because you never know.  I still like using film but its spendy so again I prefer to set it up when I experiment.  A lot of shots for me would be 20.

[Bean Counter]

Here's another I printed out...I used Walmart to print it and I did have to crop it...I'll look into lightroom....I keep seen that name come up so I'll give it a shot...

Lightroom will go on sale several times this Christmas season. Normally it's $120ish but will go down to $50-75 but often only for a day at times. You can download a free 30 day trial.

Photoshop elements is on sale at B&H until midnight tonight. I had a sample of it and you can do everything in it that Lr does and them some, but I found the layers to be a royal PITA. Watch some pros on YouBoob and all the time you'll hear them make comments about how they like to just get it done in Lr and "avoid trips to photoshop" as if it's a big hassle. Lr does 98% of everything I want to do and it does it very fast but that's just me being lazy and stupid. 

.I'm mostly going to be taking wildlife pics and pics of my kids so whatever settings at best for those is what I need to learn....I need to get a bigger lenses also I only have the 18-55 that came with the camera

I remember being there. although the long lenses are tempting, I would recommend getting into the Plastic Fantastic ASAP. It's only $100 if you have Canikon, and along with Lightroom  will be the best bang for your buck as a newbie.

[huntnphool]

Here's another I printed out...I used Walmart to print it and I did have to crop it...I'll look into lightroom....I keep seen that name come up so I'll give it a shot...

Lightroom will go on sale several times this Christmas season. Normally it's $120ish but will go down to $50-75 but often only for a day at times. You can download a free 30 day trial.

Photoshop elements is on sale at B&H until midnight tonight. I had a sample of it and you can do everything in it that Lr does and them some, but I found the layers to be a royal PITA. Watch some pros on YouBoob and all the time you'll hear them make comments about how they like to just get it done in Lr and "avoid trips to photoshop" as if it's a big hassle. Lr does 98% of everything I want to do and it does it very fast but that's just me being lazy and stupid. 

.I'm mostly going to be taking wildlife pics and pics of my kids so whatever settings at best for those is what I need to learn....I need to get a bigger lenses also I only have the 18-55 that came with the camera

I remember being there. although the long lenses are tempting, I would recommend getting into the Plastic Fantastic ASAP. It's only $100 if you have Canikon, and along with Lightroom  will be the best bang for your buck as a newbie.

 I'm still a CS fan.