Can you really print the images on your web site at the sizes you advertise?

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Some people seem to think that what we do is simply copy the image from the website, enlarge it and print it. If this was the case, depending on the image the result will very rarely be satisfactory as the degree of magnification is just too great.

Most of the printing we do is more than a square meter (about 10 square feet) in size and we have a number of satisfied customers. The biggest print we have done is 3 meters long (about 10 feet) with good results.

It is not the web image we are printing but the original image which exists at a totally different size, format and density to the web image.  

Preparing an image for web display and high quality printing are two totally different processes. The web requires images that are small in size and loads quickly. Printing on the other hand requires as much detail as possible at as high a density as possible.

Images on the website are specially prepared for web display and is a scaled down version of the original. generally less than 1MB in size. Scaling down a raster image implies loss of detail but we use techniques to minimise the loss and try and provide as much detail in the scaled-down version as possible.  

Images submitted for printing often exceed 500MB in size just to give you an idea about the level of additional detail provided.  

Not a good photo but as an example here is Arum Lily 60422005 printed at 1.8 meters (about 6 feet) wide.

and here is its gallery thumbnail: 

You will notice a definite colour difference (mainly due to lighting conditions and camera used when the photo was taken). The thumbnail also appear much sharper than the printed image. If you click on the thumbnail and get the gallery image you will see that it looks more like the printed image. 

Quite often customers are pleasantly surprised by the final printed image as it contains more detail than they expected. 

One thing I find quite fascinating especially with the eco-solvent ink prints is that they 'react' to the prevailing light. The image above; although it might look quite straightforward is actually quite complex. A colourcube analysis of the original image reports that there are 117,229 unique colours used in the image. The eco-solvent prints reflect different colours depending on the prevailing light and changes mood and character as the light changes.

In a way it makes them quite magical to live with as there is often something you haven't noticed before.