Answering this question is never easy and the quickest way to work it out is to use our Smart Uploader. Upload the image and it'll tell you everything you need to know about how big you can print the image, what frame proportions would be best and even show you an instant online proof of how it will look in the various wrapping types. You can always submit the order without paying along with whatever notes you like and we can then discuss the image with you.
The most important concept when asking ‘How big can my image be printed?’ is that the bigger you print an image, the less detail will be in it. The reason is because there’s only so many pixels (dots) making up your digital image. The bigger the image is printed, the bigger the dots are printed.
Let’s take an image that has 2000 pixels in width and 1000 pixels in height
If we print that 2000px by 1000px image at 100 DPI, it’ll be 20” x 10” and the dots will be pretty small (there’s 100 of them in every inch = 100 DPI).
At half the DPI (50 DPI), it’ll be twice as big (40” x 20”). To print the image at twice the size, the printeris printing every dot at twice the size, meaning each dot is more noticeable.
Image courtesy of Tristan Murphy Photography
We’ve printed images at very low resolutions (eg; 50 DPI) but because it resulted in such a large canvas, people would tend to stand back to view the canvas. The further back you stand, the harder it is to see the dots.
The question is, at what point will YOU think that the quality isn’t ‘good enough’?
We draw a line in the sand at 100 DPI for Canvas, and 200 DPI for paper.
For most images, most people can’t see any obvious quality issues when printed at those DPI thresholds.
The maths is pretty easy when trying to work out how big your canvas will be if printed at 100 DPI:
2000px x 1000px image = 20” x 10”
3560px x 4920px image = 35.6" x 49.2"
For canvas, if you halve the 100 DPI minimum, and print at 50 DPI, your image will be 'half the minimum quality'. If you double the 100 DPI minimum, and print at 200 DPI, your image will be 'double the minimum quality'. So you can see that a 10 DPI image will be '10% of the MINIMUM quality' when printed on canvas - which is REALLY pushing it! |
