To carry out a correct photographic print and ensure that the image seen on the screen corresponds 100% to what will be received printed on paper, a series of steps must be followed to the letter. Before seeing these steps, it is important to be clear about some concepts such as file type, bit depth, colour profile, screen tests and the size and resolution of the images. It is very important to consider monitor calibration. The calibration takes as reference the ambient light of the room in which the photographs are being worked. Therefore, the factory or standard calibrations are never correct and serve as an approximate reference only.
To what size should the photos be placed to print them?
Not only the quality of the paper and the printer will be the only factors that will influence the final quality of the printed photographs. The file also has to do, and, in the final result of that printed photo. Specifically, it will depend both on the size they want to print and on the resolution of the photograph itself.
1. Print Size
Several standard sizes that are those found in any photography store. Although the photo could be taken to the desired size and fit into these standard sizes and then crop it, the most logical thing is that the photo is adapted to these measurements to print it already at that size. This is where the first problem is: normally, the photo will not fit perfectly within the standard sizes.
The “lifelong” size of photo printing for an album is the famous 10×15 cm. In this size the photographs with 3: 2 ratio fit almost perfectly, which we can take with any medium format DSLR. However, not all standard sizes have this same aspect ratio, so you have to be very careful when fitting the photo so that important areas are not cut, or to respect as far as possible the compositional rules that they wanted to follow.
2. Print Resolution
Another important point is the print resolution. It is useless to order a large-scale and high-quality enlargement if it is to be printed at a resolution that is too small. The result would be appalling. This is the next problem that you will encounter: you need to have a resolution appropriate to the print size.
Depending on the megapixels of the sensor, the photographs will have a different maximum size. The higher this will be, the higher the resolution can be obtained in one print (especially important, especially when talking about large format prints). The size of the photographs is measured in pixels, which are those small squares by which the image is formed.
The Colour Spaces
When people see a photo on different devices (the camera screen, the computer monitor, on the screen of our smartphone, printed on paper, etc.) many times, they find differences in colours. And these differences can be remarkable.
The “guilty” of this is the colour spaces. Each device may have different capacities and limitations to represent the colours, and that is why the photos look different depending on the medium where they are displayed.
To enjoy your photographs, choose professional photo printing by Brisbane’s Southern Cross Printing, leaf through them in an album or, better yet, enjoy all their nuances in a large format print.
