Hi, I need your help. A pub owner recently asked me to produce a 40x60 inch (1x1.5 meter) print of one of the pictures I took during a jazz performance. I use a D70 and my first reaction was - no! - this is way to large. He want's a b/w print that doesn't have to be sharp - a somewhat blurry image that would capture the mood. All pictures are taken at ISO 1600 f1.8 or f1.4 @ 1/15-1/30 under very dim incandescent lighting, mainly from the right and left back when looking at the band/musicians. I can tell you, this isn't easy. In b/w I will have more light to play with, but is such an enlargement feasible at all? If you think yes, how? Your advice is most appreciated!
Since you don't need a sharp print and you are looking at 118 inches on the short side, you probably could get it done through a large format printing company. I put your "118 X 136" into an estimate for a poster and it was around $650.00 for one copy. Cost for multiple copies didn't help much. 50 copies was $21,700.00. It didn't show a difference for color vs. B&W. The 118 inches on the short side is your killer but it can be done. Do a search on large poster formats, trade show graphics, banners, etc. and you might find a printing resource at reasonable prices. Most large inkjet printers can't handle more than 44 inches on the short side (best I know) and that is why I see a this as a special handling print job. Printing, mailing, framing should command you a $2-3K fee at the low end but the framing will be the final kicker. Take a deep breath.
Thanks Larry, I made a mistake not posting inch sizes - it's actually much smaller (40x60") than you mentioned. My worry was the resolution of the camera versus the large size - pixelization, etc. Furthermore, high ISO, low light, low DOF will bring down sharpness / detail even further. Any ideas on that?
Piece of cake then at reasonable cost. Wasn't your original size 3mX3.5m? For some reason I plugged in 3 meters into a conversion tool to get the 118 inches.
I have used http://www.elcocolor.com/hot_internet_only_specials.htm with great results. They show 30x60 but may be able to accomodate your needs. Thanks,
Thanks to all of you for your replies. I guess I will go ahead with this project. If you have any ideas on how to get best results in b/w, let me know. Please also consider that I have to shoot wide open (f1.4 or f1.8) and at ISO 1600 to get enough light, at shutter speed of 1/10-1/40. This creates a lot of noise in the D70. If you have any shooting or workflow recommendations, it'll be most appreciated. P.S.: I now process the pictures with NeatImage to get rid of the noise, but it can produce unwanted artifacts. I have tweaked around a little, but am open to any suggestions. Thanks again,
Split your picture in half. Then order two 20X30 inch posters from this company, or one like, it for about twenty bucks each. Stitch 'em back together with tape and mount them on foam core board. Do a good job and you'll never see the seam. It will be blurry, but shouldn't show pixels. It'll look good from a few feet away.
