Pushing the printing limits

[Newidude]

With this image we were supposed to shoot a frontside stalefish on the mini ramp at Newcastle Skate Park with the sunrise in the background. Apon arrival we found that there was too much dew on the ramp so decided just to shoot this transfer ollie in the actual skatepark (there is a ramp just behind the rail that he is transfering from) instead of wasting the early rise totally, and in the end the image was purchased anyway. Well when I found out they wanted to use it for a billboard @ 4X6 meters, and how much of the actual frame they wanted, I let them know I could go shoot it again at a tighter crop on medium formatt and get it drum scanned . They declined and said they have what they need. I was very puzzled at the thought of having such a small section from my old 20D boosted so much of it but let them go. ( I had already been paid )

I recently went and visited the billboard and was quite supprised at the end result. Even upclose it isn't as bad as you would think. So next time someone tells you that you cant print a 8mp camera above A2, just have a go anyway. It may not be perfect at close inspection, but it will be definaly useable


P.S. I see the tilted horizon and I know it is slightly over sharpened, I was just showing the size of a print from a 8mp camera.

[Alex]

Great stuff and congratulations on getting the job and being paid!

Alex

[ozczecho]

Great shot and congrats.

[Alpha_7]

Nice work on both the original shot and having the billboard with your work on it (was it just the one billboard ?).

[sirhc55]

Large billboard pics are not printed at 300dpi - they are generally around 72dpi (or even lower) because from a distance, the eye cannot perceive the dot

[Newidude]

Large billboard pics are not printed at 300dpi - they are generally around 72dpi (or even lower) because from a distance, the eye cannot perceive the dot

I'm sure anyone that has been within 10 meters of a billboard would know this. But the point is, even at 72dpi the actual skater in the original image strugles to take up the full size of a 15inch screen. So the enlargement is still well above what most would percieve as possible. Well I for one would not think you could re-sample something to such great proportions and still end up with a useable image, even at a close distance as I said before.

[obzelite]

i love the irony of a an ad for an indoor skate park using an image that is so not indoors.

[huynhie]

Great stuff, congratulations on the billboard.

[Jonas]

To think you had that awesome sunrise and background in the original shot and they go and deep etch the skater for use on a white background!

Great catpure and congrats on the job.

Jonas

[jerrysk8]

billboards have been printed off the first canon 1d pics which is half the mpx of the 20d

[jben_net]

Hey newi dude - don't know if you've seen those strip ads on the sides of bus's around newcastle for the spot warehouse. The've got a cow, girrafe and dog covered in smiley faces in them...... anyway the cow was shot with an olympus e-10 (only 4 mp) and it worked quite nicely.

Billboards/signage and the like is often designed at 10% of the original size - when you go up close to the work its very poor res - but seriously - who goes up and looks at a billboard 30 centimeters away from their nose!

Congrats on an amazing image.

[Willy wombat]

Wow!

I wonder how many dpi they dropped it too.

[Newidude]

Hey newi dude - don't know if you've seen those strip ads on the sides of bus's around newcastle for the spot warehouse. The've got a cow, girrafe and dog covered in smiley faces in them...... anyway the cow was shot with an olympus e-10 (only 4 mp) and it worked quite nicely.

That I would believe although how much of the actual original did they crop from? Lookat the size of the area that they grabbed from my original picture. If that whole frame shows a 8mp sensor, in reality they are using less than 1/8 of it, Making it more like 1mp camera. Thats more what I was trying to say. Maybe I just worded it wrong.

Brad

[ozimax]

Ace shot here, well done.

[wmaburnett]

Awesome, congratulations! when they are done running the add you should see if they will give you the billboard covers and plaster them on the side of your house

[Aussie Dave]

If that whole frame shows a 8mp sensor, in reality they are using less than 1/8 of it, Making it more like 1mp camera.
Brad

I think what probably makes the biggest difference is that the pixels on the 20D (or most dSLR sensors) are bigger and spread apart. This would help with the resolution of the image, so even a tight crop (like the one they took from your image) will have great detail in it. This will then allow the proficient Photoshopper to resize it to such a size that it can still look good (at a very low dpi - but viewed from an appropriate distance).

Doing the same thing on a 10MP Point & Shoot camera is likely to give you a result less favourable (I think)....because the pixels on the sensor are much smaller....

[hdj80]

Seems I'm not the only one that can't fathom why someone would get a great action shot with a fantastic background and master out the background.

I too am amazed at how well digital is printing up. I didn't expect to get the results I have on 18x12 prints and I am yet to go to metalic prints which hopefully will appear even better.

Again excellent.