The reason I am asking for this is information is I’m trying to print a large picture I made in Photoshop. It is stiched together from several shots to form a very large landscape. (10,000 x 3,286 @ 300 dpi) I’m looking to print it very large, up to 20" x 60" However I am having a difficult time finding a place I trust to print it.
I am looking for a few things with this question.
General tips/tricks for researching a website before purchasing any service/product from them.
If anyone knows anything about a specific site I found largeformatposters.com . What is making me hesitant is I can’t find any reviews of the site, save for one hair band message board. The guy on the message board never said if he received his posters or not. Link to message board
If anyone knows any other places they trust to use for poster size printing.
Where are you located? I use Joseph Merritt in Connecticut for all large print jobs. they have a 72" high rez graphic plotter that they can print just about anything you throw at them. They can print it and send it to you I am sure. There must be other printers out there in other towns that can do this.
I wouldn’t necessarily trust an online source as much as one I find in the yellow pages. Somewhere with a store front where you can walk in and get something printed.
The linked place above is high quality and I have been using them for years. They have a store in Waterford, CT…
Any reasonably sized fedex kinko’s will have a large format printer. Typically an HP 5500 or similar with a 42" or larger roll. They can print 42" x just about any length. Any number of poster/banner shops will have similar equipment. I work with an HP z6100 and it’s fantastic with color fidelity, speed and economy. I really trust HP for large format. Cannon is rubbish imho.
As a nitpick, I believe that “plotter” refers to a device that uses a pen to draw lines on a page, not a large inkjet printer. Typically plotters are used for plans or other types of lineart.
There are a ton of shops around that do this kind of stuff, so unless you live in a remote location, I’d just check in the yellow pages or in any industrial area. Pricing can be pretty competitive – I’d check your local shops before using Fedex-Kinko’s, who seem to have a more than healthy markup on their stuff.
Although I’ve never had them do prints for me this big, I’ve never been anything but thrilled with the service and quality of El-Co Labs in New Jersey.
30 x 72 looks about right for you. And these are prints on photo paper, not inkjets.
I’ve tried to get big things printed at Kinkos. They have huge banners all over their windows. But the clerks I met had no clue how it came about. I would ask things like “What format should my picture be in” and they would parry, “What format do you have?” and I would reply “Well, if you tell me one format that’s acceptable, I’l try to put it into that format.” And they’ll say “What’s your software” and I’ll say “Tell me what software you support” and they say I should check with my own company’s graphics guru.
Well, that would be me. So I always gave up.
(I assume someone knows, because I’ll often see things being printed while I’m in there, but I have a low level of idiot-clerk-tolerance)
Depending upon the level of quality you want/need, you could try doing it yourself with the Rasterbator. the quality’s not as good as you’d get from a professional shop, but on the upside, the only expenses you’ll have are for the paper and printer cartedges.
If you go to kinkos ask for their graphics guy. If he’s out, come back when he’s in. The other guys are just going to write up the job and leave it for him anyways, it’s easier, much easier to cut out the middle man and wait until he’s there. BTW, they like vector, photoshop, acrobat, and I’m sure standard formants, jpeg, gif etc…, but no Print Shop, they can’t open Print Shop.