OT: A customer wants a Large copy of my Shrine Ridge image

I wish I could have this dilemma every day. I was at my coffee shop with my images and a person really liked the Shrine image I posted. He wanted to know how big I could make it. I told him I shouldn't have much problem with 24X36....not big enough!!!! He wants to know if I could get it close to 48X72.

I have a Canon 50d with approx 14MP image. When I did the HDR composite, I came up with a finished TIFF file of 123MB. Is it even feasible to think I could get a decent image at this size? Then where would I go to get it printed..Reed, Denver Digital, West Coast Imaging? Finally, what should I charge? Reeds' price is $352 for lightjet plus it probably needs to be laminated so what do I tack on for myself. I've heard it is normally double the cost, any truth to that?

Thanks,
Jack

I don't think you'd have a problem printing a 14MP image that big. Most customers aren't nearly as picky as photographers when it comes to that. You might just warn him that you're pushing the limits of how big you can print it. If he's okay with that, then I'd say go for it. If he's hestitant, you could offer an 8x10 sample print showing a small, cropped version of the larger image. Uprezing it properly might be important, though it might be better to have the lab do that. I've used Reed for prints that size and they do a good job, though I haven't tried others. I think Denver Digital's max size print is 30", but I think Qube and PhotoCraft also do 48". As for price, that's really just up to you. There's no set formula for pricing. You might look at what other photographers are charging on their web sites.

Give Genuine Fractals a try. I've used it for some very large prints from digital capture and it does a phenomenal job in many cases.

Guy

Actually if you have CS4, the Bicubic Interpolator for upres-ing is a highly improved version. If you combine the efforts of step interpolation at the correct intervals and DPI calculation, you've essentially done what Fractals can do. As Guy mentioned, Fractals is a decent application for this, but if you don't want to spend the 160 dollars, try it using PS - and if you dont have CS4, I'm sure we all know someone who has it.

Keep in mind also that a print that large would look pretty stunning at a lower dpi (100-150).

Todd is right, you can rachet down the dpi as you get larger. Remember, most viewers of the image are seeing it from many feet away at that size, so if it's not tack-sharp and detail-laden, don't sweat it. It will be a testament to the 50D when its all said and done.