Red Fuji southern wind clear morning... on my wall

May 28, 2009 10:55 PM

I need suggestions as to how I can most easily and inexpensively get the full-size version of this arresting image reproduced at large size and on high-quality art paper.

So, which Web-based printing vendors have you dealt with who'd be worth looking into? I'm guessing there are Internet merchants whose business focuses on print production for digital art applications, and who could take a huge emailed JPEG file, run whatever pre-press conversions and cleanups may be necessary, dump out a finished art-print via a shockingly expensive print production system, then send back the end result rolled up in a big tube?

And, secondarily, if you have advice as to the specific paper or printing process we should seek out, or as to easy/cheap/attractive framing options you think would work well with the subject matter of the print in question, well, that'd be greatly appreciated too.

posted by killdevil to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

The resolution of the image (4,400 × 2,937) will only allow you to print an image of approximately 14 by 10 inches at 300ppi: is that what you mean by large size? Anything beyond that will be compromised in quality.

Most photo labs (as opposed to pharmacies and supermarkets) will take the time to adjust your images for color, etc. I've been happy with photo prints from Adorama. Also, you can have the image printed on canvas (many companies do it, good old RitzPix for instance, $39, gallery wrapped), which might be a good fit for the picture you've chosen.

Have you considered commissioning someone to reproduce it for you? It might be a lot cheaper than you think.
posted by halogen at 11:09 PM on May 28, 2009

I had good luck with Qoop in printing posters. I had no issue with the quality. They seem to top out at 36 x 24, though.

Depending on why you want it, it is available already as a poster (that's 36 x 24). Here's another version that's bigger (54 x 38).
posted by darksong at 12:42 AM on May 29, 2009

If you look at that image full-resolution it's not terribly high-quality even for the resolution it's at. Just take it to Kinkos on a thumb drive and have them print it out on a color printer on letter-sized paper. I do that with images of this size and frame them all the time.

If you want a poster-sized print of it and you're willing to put some effort into it you might try experimenting with vectorizing it through something like VectorMagic. The only thing that wouldn't come out quite right is the coloring of the mountain because it's a gradient but it looks like a simple linear gradient so you could drop it into something like Inkscape and re-create the gradient there easily.
posted by XMLicious at 12:46 AM on May 29, 2009

Try contacting Big Print Inc in Minneapolis. This is exactly what they do (acid free paper, canvas, framing, etc). Ask for Herb. (I do web consulting for them.)
posted by omnidrew at 6:15 AM on May 29, 2009

This is a super-famous, wildly reproduced image and I would just buy a print - you will end up with a much higher quality/cost ratio. I have this framed with some slightly distressed, very dark brown wood. The frame is about an inch and there is about two inches of white matting.
posted by shothotbot at 6:41 AM on May 29, 2009