i posted this in the “Help With Photoshop, Etc” thread but nobody was answering. hopefully i won’t get dinged for this…
here is my issue:
i got an image that i want to make a poster out of. the picture i have is currently sized at:
27.042 x 8.333 (inches)
1947 x 600 (pixels)
resolution of 72
i need the picture to be 36 x 11.75 (inches)
my question is, what should the resolution be for maximum quality if i’m going to print it at a kinkos?
please help. thanks in advance!
Most people agree that 300dpi is an ideal resolution for print. Since it is a poster, and you aren’t likely to look at it real closely, you may be able to get away with a bit lower. For instance, some banner manufacturers request 100dpi.
Even at 100dpi, though, your 600px wide image is going to be pretty narrow.
ehhh. 72dpi is as low as anything really goes. if you stretch it out to 36x11, youll see artifacts for sure. its gonna be a 130% increase… so youre really only gonna get it to be like… 48dpi effectively. which is FREAKIN LOW RES. but if you really dont care too much about edge quality, then just stretch it. Adol is right, if its not something youre going to be looking at closer than 4-5 feet, no ones gonna notice. depending on the image and how graphic it is, i would suggest doing live trace in illustrator to get a quick vertorized version of it and print that instead. if its a photo, forget it.