Upsizing: start or end of workflow?

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

01/26/2013 09:00:49 PM · #1

So I have an order for five 40" X 60" glossy prints to aluminum. This kind of printing looks awesome, but is very unforgiving. Bay Photo will be doing the printing and they recommend preparing files to actual printing size at a minimum of 240dpi and preferably 300dpi. They say I need to upsize myself before sending to get the best result as they don't do it themselves. One image will be especially tough as the customer wants a portrait crop of something I shot in landscape orientation- so I'm really going to have to pump up the size.

I haven't ever printed on metal larger than 30" X 45" so this upsizing (except for a few images for stock) is new to me. I am just wondering when would be the best time for me to upsize? I expect probably first thing after I do any noise reduction, but I am hoping I can still expect a good result after I have done most of the processing? The reason I want to do it later in the flow is to be able to compare the results of using both CS6 and the OnOne Perfect Resize plug-in.

Anybody done much upsizing and can give me some tips?

Thanks for any advice offered :)

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

01/26/2013 09:42:55 PM · #2

I think you should do any color adjustments and other touch-ups at the native size. When you're all done save a composite as a TIFF, upsize that, and then apply any sharpening at the final print size.

FWIW I recommend (and use) the same procedure when downsizing (e.g. for DPC) -- edit at native size, then resize a composite TIFF and sharpen as needed ...

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM

01/26/2013 10:30:19 PM · #3

Thanks Paul :)

That will work well to do as I plan. Now it will be a contest between CS6 and Perfect Resize to get the best result upsizing. I think for CS6 I will try upsizing in other modes besides the one that states best for upsizing. At least with downsizing; depending on the image one mode or another sometimes work better- especially to avoid halos. Took me a while to figure that out :P

Skip

Canon EOS-1D X

01/26/2013 11:13:14 PM · #4

pm'd ya. and by the way, a HUGE CONGRATS! i am so excited for you!!

BrennanOB

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

01/27/2013 12:49:53 AM · #5

Hey Skip, that ain't fair. There are plenty of lurkers on this thread that would love to know the answer from those that have it.

mrchhas

Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max

01/27/2013 03:27:08 AM · #6

i'm lurking and just tried resizing an image to that size and it looks like crap. granted i just woke up but still. so no pm's mister ;)

Skip

Canon EOS-1D X

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM

01/27/2013 04:26:01 AM · #7

i don't have answer, yet, but when i do, i'll be glad to share it ;-)

Originally posted by BrennanOB:

Hey Skip, that ain't fair. There are plenty of lurkers on this thread that would love to know the answer from those that have it.

Giles

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

01/27/2013 05:13:32 AM · #8

photoshop tells me a 16 bit 150mb tiff exported from aperture is in landscape

77.778 x 51.847 at 72 dpi

but at 300 dpi

18.62 x 12.413

big difference.

i just enlarged a raw at 300 dpi to 60x40 in photoshop bicubic smoother and it looks ok to me on my 27" macbook at 100% yeah its a little smoother but thats gonna happen,

there are those genuine fractals now perfect resize and fractals 5 software but you have to buy them, a quick google shows a lot of resources, i cant remember where i read it but i read once about going up in stages rather than going straight to the full size

//www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1072189

i have a 60x40 canvas! print and it looks amazing and that was from 5d original, i know canvas is more forgiving, the one of the hole with the rushing water and it looks boss

love ot see how this turns out, top work brent. was this the new apartments block inquiry?

Message edited by author 2013-01-27 05:25:09.

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

01/27/2013 11:31:10 AM · #9

Well glad we have some lurkers here as they can come up with solutions too ;)

Thanks for the FM link Giles, I only read the first page but it seems there could be some good information there. Yes, these will be going in the lobby of a new apartment complex. There will be two in portrait flanking a fireplace and on the opposite wall three more in landscape nestled into a lighted niche. I'm really excited for this opportunity to see my work at this scale, but it's a little overwhelming at the same time :P
I do own Perfect Resize (formerly Genuine Fractals) and that might ultimately be a big help to me here. I plan to watch some videos on their site today while it is raining and be sure I know how to use the software well. I have mostly used it to add mirrored edges to canvas prints to cover the sides- very handy for that.

I have printed a couple of 30" X 45" metal prints from my 5DII without upsizing even and they looked pretty good, good enough in fact that one sold a couple of months ago. So this is possible with careful processing I'm sure.
I also own sharpening software form Nik I have never used and this "might" be a good time to use that resource.

Kelli

Canon EOS-D60

01/27/2013 11:59:53 AM · #10

Brent, I can't help you with the upsizing, but I recently tried out Pro DPI for printing (granted, only 8x10 luster prints) but they have in their guide that they prefer you not upsize anything, they do it for you because they have the equipment to do it well. You might want to check them out.

Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM

01/27/2013 12:27:54 PM · #11

Originally posted by Kelli:

Thanks Kelli! I have heard good things about Pro DPI but want to do the Metal Prints through Bay Photo since they have already done a lot of them for me with good result. And the technician there told me that they don't do upsizing on their end. In some ways it would be nice if they did to take that worry away from me. Ultimately though, it will probably be a good thing for me to do it on my end to have better control over the end result- in theory :P

cloudsme

Canon EOS R5

01/27/2013 12:45:45 PM · #12

For what it's worth, when I upsize, I do it in several steps. I find it works better than taking the upsize in one big jump.

Dr.Confuser

Nikon D800

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

01/27/2013 02:35:52 PM · #13

Originally posted by Brent_S:

Just as important as when, is what software you use to resize.I like OnOne's Perfect Resize much better than native Photoshop tools. As I recall, you can trial it for 30 days at no cost (and no watermarks) to see if you like it. Let us know how the project turns out! For the record - I have no affiliation with OnOne.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

01/27/2013 02:37:57 PM · #14

Originally posted by Dr.Confuser:

He says he already has it -- just needs to learn to use it!

Dr.Confuser

Nikon D800

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

01/27/2013 02:44:05 PM · #15

Originally posted by GeneralE:

Originally posted by Dr.Confuser:
Just as important as when, is what software you use to resize.I like OnOne's Perfect Resize much better than native Photoshop tools. As I recall, you can trial it for 30 days at no cost (and no watermarks) to see if you like it.

He says he already has it -- just needs to learn to use it!

Thanks, Paul. I missed that. Still like it and recommend it.

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM

01/27/2013 04:23:50 PM · #16

Yep, already do own Perfect Resize v7.0 :) They do now have v7.5 I could upgrade to, but it seems the expense would mainly gain me speed of use rather that higher quality output (at least that's how they present the advantage of the newer version).

Message edited by author 2013-01-27 16:24:24.

Skip

Canon EOS-1D X

01/28/2013 10:45:27 AM · #17

i talked the folks at my pro lab, and unfortunately, they can't print on metal at that size.

i asked them about the file prep and they said that they would recommend letting the lab handle everything - scaling, profile matching, etc. that way, if anything isn't exactly right, they - not you - eat the cost of getting it right.

i know you're a little pressed for time, but hopefully this won't have to be treated like a rush job where the money and possibility of error both escalate...

Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 L II USM Lens

01/28/2013 11:17:10 AM · #18

Skip, thanks so much for checking with your printing lab on this :) I've used Bay Photo many times before to good result, and for them they say upsizing exactly to size myself is what they want. So I'll do it. I just upgraded to Perfect Resize v7.5 just in case it does a little better job that v7.0. Even just some extra speed with the latest version would be nice when I need to do at least (gulp) twenty two images and they may have more :P

Only five are going to be 40" X 60" and the rest will be at a little more forgiving 24" X 36" size. In fact, several of them are panning motion abstracts which will be very forgiving. Still, if worse comes to worse and I need to eat the cost of reprinting one or a few I will still come out way ahead as my markup on my printing cost is 82% on the smaller ones and at the suggestion of the consultant who knows I've been working hard to shoot to their taste (only five come from my archives) the large ones are marked up 112%.

I have about a week before I need to have them all ordered, so I will put the time in processing them carefully. Unfortunately three of the large ones are not yet shot. I may have to shoot them a couple of days before the deadline when weather hopefully improves. I lost a little sleep last night thinking about that, lol!

Message edited by author 2013-01-28 11:18:33.

MarkB

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

01/28/2013 01:16:15 PM · #19

Just a thought... I would thing taking a crop from your up-sized imaged and having it printed locally should give you an idea of the final image quality and provide a level of comfort before sending them off for metal.

skewsme

Canon EOS-6D

01/28/2013 02:14:11 PM · #20

Say Brent... do you find you have to adjust your images to be a few levels brighter for Bay Photo? When I print there it comes out a little too dark and the tonal range isn't great. Metallic prints (paper) look nice however, but then I'm usually choosing contrasty images when I order those.