Thursday, June 17, 2004
Supersize Me!
I've always dreamed of having poster-size enlargements of some of my photos but just didn't feel like spending, or more correctly risking, the money.
The other week, one of my co-workers asked for 2'x3' prints of three photos I made of colorful Thai paper umbrellas. Here was my chance to try this out on someone else's nickle.
I checked with Severna Park Photo, an excellent old-style camera shop nearby, and found that they charged only $40 for 2'x3' prints. These are made on a large-format Epson inkjet printer using special drivers and archival inks. Worth a shot, I thought.
Well, today I picked up the first of the three photos, my test case, and I'm very happy with the results. Here's a photo of Ben holding up the print.
The original for this photo was a digital file made with my Canon Digital Rebel SLR which uses a 6 megapixel APS-size sensor. One of the other two files is from my older Canon A40, a point-and-shoot digicam with a tiny pinkie-fingernail-size, 2 megapixel sensor. Michelle at Severna Park Photo went ahead and made a test strip from that file, and amazingly, it looks really good. The colors aren't as intense and the image not quite as sharp as the one from the Digital Rebel, but it isn't as much of a difference as you might imagine. I think my customer will be as happy as I am.
I'm going to go ahead and let Severna Park Photo print the remaining two images, and now I'm ready to buy some poster-size prints for myself.
The other week, one of my co-workers asked for 2'x3' prints of three photos I made of colorful Thai paper umbrellas. Here was my chance to try this out on someone else's nickle.
I checked with Severna Park Photo, an excellent old-style camera shop nearby, and found that they charged only $40 for 2'x3' prints. These are made on a large-format Epson inkjet printer using special drivers and archival inks. Worth a shot, I thought.
Well, today I picked up the first of the three photos, my test case, and I'm very happy with the results. Here's a photo of Ben holding up the print.
The original for this photo was a digital file made with my Canon Digital Rebel SLR which uses a 6 megapixel APS-size sensor. One of the other two files is from my older Canon A40, a point-and-shoot digicam with a tiny pinkie-fingernail-size, 2 megapixel sensor. Michelle at Severna Park Photo went ahead and made a test strip from that file, and amazingly, it looks really good. The colors aren't as intense and the image not quite as sharp as the one from the Digital Rebel, but it isn't as much of a difference as you might imagine. I think my customer will be as happy as I am.
I'm going to go ahead and let Severna Park Photo print the remaining two images, and now I'm ready to buy some poster-size prints for myself.
