Photography question -- how much can I blow these things up?

Factual Questions
1

I have 3 pictures from Colorado that I want to blow up, frame, and give my friend’s parents to show how much I appreciate their hospitality. The pictures are 4X6. What’s the largest size I can blow them up to and still have decent resolution?

2

Don’t you have original negatives or slides? What size are the negatives? If they’re typical 35mm, you can’t go much beyond 8x10 or 11x14 before they start to get a bit grainy. But it all depends on how good the originals are.

3

WAG: 8x10

You have really left out too much information for an accurate answer. I am assuming these were taken with a medium quality 35mm or APS camera and that the 4x6 picture looks sharp and that you have the original negatives.

If you don’t have the original negatives I would say you are out of luck and suggest that you have color xeroxes made of your 4x6 prints to get the most bang for your buck. For grins, try enlarging it on the xerox to 8x12.

If these are exceptional negatives they might look nice as 11x14s. Smaller negatives rarely do well as 16x20 and you start to pay big bucks for such a large picture.

I recommend 8x10; you shouldn’t have to pay an arm and a leg to get 8x10s and this is large enough to look nice in a frame. 5x7 looks wimpy.

You might look for a shop that lets you crop and reframe you pictures yourself so you can get exactly what you want.

4

Yep, I figured I had left out a lot of information. I do have the negatives - 35 mm. The originals turned out pretty good (the ones I want to blow up, anyway). Good assumptions by both of you. I’ll probably stick with 8X10; that’s plenty. Thanks guys!

5

Another factor is the speed of the original film. The slower speeds have much less grain, so they can be enlarged more.

6

200 speed.

7

I’m a working photographer, so here’s my 2 cents:

How large you can blow these photos up, and more importantly, how decent they’ll look when enlarged, depends on several things:

  1. Film speed: You said you used ISO 200 film, which is a very good choice for large-scale enlargements like the ones you’re talking about.

  2. Film format: Different types of cameras produce different-sized negatives. 110 and disc negatives (are these even still around?) are smaller than APS negatives, which are smaller than 35mm negatives. Obviously, a larger negative is better, since there’ll be more information on the film to start with, and you’ll be proportionally doing less enlarging of original image as well.

  3. Cropping: If you want to leave the image full-frame, then this should not be a problem. However, if you would like to crop out some parts of the image, then you will be of course making the equivalent of an even BIGGER enlargement from the negative. Unless you really need to get rid of something, I’d recommend not cropping at all. (Bear in mind, however, that the format of 8x10 enlargements is quite a bit different than the aspect ratio of a standard 35mm negative, as was discussed thoroughly inthis thread. So if you go with an 8x10, you’ll likely end up cutting off the edges of both sides of your picture; I’m not quick enough with the math to remember if the same thing happens at 11x14.)

  4. Image Quality: What kind of a camera were you shooting with? If was a cheap, throwaway type camera or a low-end point-and-shoot, the quality of your enlargements will suffer. What may look good or acceptable on a 4x6 print often tends to look pretty bad at an 8x10 or larger size. Your picture may be well-exposed, with good detail in the highlights and shadows, but an enlargement of a photo taken by a camera with an inferior-quality lens will often look “fuzzy”, low-contrast, and have weaker colors. But if you were using a decent SLR camera, then you shouldn’t have any problems.

You’ve already made good choices regarding film speed and size if you want to make an enlargement; IMHO the last two points would make the difference between whether it’s better to stick with an 8x10 or go bigger (if you wanted to).

And whatever you do, get the enlargement made off the negative. I think Wal-mart and some of those places will make enlargements off the print, but trust me, it’s always better to go back to original negative.

8

Most theatre flicks are in 35mm film & look how big they make them! Whoa. :slight_smile: