File Preperation for Large Prints

Saturday, February 13, 2010

I recently installed a Canon IPF9100 60″ printer. My workflow up until now was to use the native file that came out of my Canon 5D mark 2. But I have found noticeably better output when interpolating file to a larger DPI than the native file. I have tried all of the algorithms in photoshop (under image size) and found that Bi-cubic Smoother (best for enlargements) works best from the 5 choices in Photoshop. But today I also tried Alien Skin software titled Blow Up 2. http://www.alienskin.com/ It is a little hard to see in my jpegs since I had to down sample files to make viewable on the web. But Blowup does have an advantage. First it comes with a large selection of presets where the programmer has taken out the guess work. These presets work great! I used 40×60 gloss inkjet for this example. It also comes with some other controls that really make it nice: Sharpen edges, Add grain, preserve natural texture, Remove Compression artifacts and a tool for sharpening for your output device. I really like this software and would recommend using it if you do any large prints. It really does a better job in detailed areas and highlights. Notice how much smoother surfers arm is using Blowup. It does make a difference.