Railfan Technology > Picture resolution question

I am interested in enlarging and printing a photo as a Christmas present, to be 24x36, and the person who will do the work says the resolution will be 20 mp (megapixels?) printed at 150 dpi (dot per inch?) . I am not very good with the digital stuff. Is this good, or bad ? LOL. TIA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/22 12:32 by wpdude.

It should be good!

Thank you!!

You're welcome, post a picture of your picture! lol

Depends on the unit of measure in 24x36.

One of the things I always consider is the viewing distance.  If you are looking at a wallet size or maybe a 4X5" photo, you're going to be looking at it at arm's length or less.  If you go to the mall and look at the very large pictures in the windows of Victoria's Secret, you're looking at them from at least halfway across the mall.  If you go up to the window and look at them, they are quite grainy.  Looking at a 24"X36", you're going to be at least 2 or 3 feet away.  That's too far away to even notice any extremely fine-resolution problems.  It would be a problem if you got really close to try to read a small sign in the background. 

John

Excellent point.

It's simple.

24 (inches) x 150 (pixels) = 3,600 pixels

36 (inches) x 150 (pixels) = 5,400 pixels

So your digital image should be a MINIMUM of 3,600 pixels x 5,400 pixels for that output device. The rule of thumb though is that it should be 1.5x the output device resolution. So for optimum print quality use 225 as your multiplier.

enlarging what?  if you are printing from a digital image, you are not enlarging,  you are making a large print which should be good  esp if you native pixel size is the size noted above.

If you are scanning a small print and printing an enlargement then the result will be questionable depending on size and quality of print.

If you are scanning a negative  or slide then the quality of the scan will be the determining factor.

Generally the quallity of the original(exposure, sharpeness) etc will be determing factor plus skill of preparation.

Just my thoughts.

I have mdae prints for an art show,  not usually that size but if it is a nice clean day time image getting a good result is pretty easy.  If it is low light, large contrasts, deep shadows then it could take me several tries.

Bob

My first proper digital SLR was like 6 megapixels...I have several 16x10's framed and hanging around the house and they blew up to that size fine. So if you are using a camera of even higher resolution you should get a very nice blow up. 

Another good point. This will be a print from a digital image, so, technically not enlarging. Thank you all for your answers, I think it will work out just fine!

engineerinvirginia Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My first proper digital SLR was like 6
> megapixels...I have several 16x10's framed and
> hanging around the house and they blew up to that
> size fine. So if you are using a camera of even
> higher resolution you should get a very nice blow
> up. 

For at least a few years in the early days of digital cameras, National Geographic magazine's minimum for digital images was 6 MP.