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Where to get prints made? [question for artists]

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William

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So, I've dabbled with some graphic design stuff on the computer, usually mocking up my own posters and stuff using my own photography. One or two have actually turned out okay and I'd like to get larger copies made to hang up. My photo printer does okay up to about 5x7, but I'd like to go bigger.

Now, I know that full sized images straight from my camera can enlarge up to 11x14 and look fantastic. I'm not thinking of going that big with a "poster" but I'd like to get a nice 8x10 or two. Photo printing places won't touch a digital image unless it's a photo. Where could I go to get a non-photo printed at a larger size? Bear in mind I'm still at the "idea" stage of this project. Also, I'm not interested in doing a run of them, just one for my front room.

Any ideas?

-William
 
I've done a mix of photo/graphics stuff with ezprints without any trouble - but they were a mix. Not sure what their reaction would be to straight graphic stuff.

I second the kinkos idea. Anyone with a large format inkjet printer should be able to do it.
 
I just reread this... you should be able find someone with a decent printer (a pro shop, or not) that will do 8x10s pretty easily. Even the pro-sumer grade stuff like Epson will do 11x14 and bigger at photo-quality. I've done 11x14 spreads for the MG that look like they were done at a pro shop.
 
aerog said:
I just reread this... you should be able find someone with a decent printer (a pro shop, or not) that will do 8x10s pretty easily. Even the pro-sumer grade stuff like Epson will do 11x14 and bigger at photo-quality. I've done 11x14 spreads for the MG that look like they were done at a pro shop.
Click to expand...

Believe me, I'd love to have a printer that could go up to 11x14. They charge a ton at the photo places.

I was figuring doing this online, as I don't mind waiting and have had good luck with some online photo places, but for some reason I submit something with text and with filters applied and they balk. Dunno why.

I certainly wasn't thinking of a fine art type of print, but I did want something that would last a little while and would look good in a frame. Some of the stuff from my photo printer at home tend to get wavy after a surprisingly short time, and the ink sometimes comes off if it contacts the glass.

-Wm.
 
Hi William,
I don’t know what program you are using, but can you save it as a TIFF file or even a JPG? Turning the text into a raster image.
 
Re: Where to get prints made? [question for artist

William said:
Believe me, I'd love to have a printer that could go up to 11x14. They charge a ton at the photo places.

I was figuring doing this online, as I don't mind waiting and have had good luck with some online photo places, but for some reason I submit something with text and with filters applied and they balk. Dunno why.
Click to expand...

I was thinking more along the lines that you should be able to find a place set up with even a cheap printer that will do a decent job. Got to be somewhere!

All my pro-end printing is done through ezprints. I sometimes include text overlays on my images, and I've never had a problem. I know some people do a scrap-book "style" montage for kid's soccer team pictures, etc... and they don't have trouble with them. Everything we submit is done as a .jpg
 
Re: Where to get prints made? [question for artist

You might also want to try some local screen-printing shops! There is one I deal with that has a nice large-format printer hooked up to his computer...I think he is capable of doing up to 11" x 17" (about the size of the back of a T-shirt design!) /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
Re: Where to get prints made? [question for artist

I've a friend with a sign shop... HP printers 36" and 54". Not a bad substitute if you want to go BIG. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbsup.gif
 
> Believe me, I'd love to have a printer that could go up
> to 11x14. They charge a ton at the photo places.


I have an Color Epson Stylus Photo 2000 Pro that does 11x14. I paid over US$1100 for it when they were first introduced years ago. Technology advances so fast now that the prices of older electronic equipment drops quickly. I just did a quick search on eBay and found two of these same printers for less than US$80.

Find a brand that produces the quality you want and do an eBay search for it.
 
I’ve had a couple wide format printers that would handle 13” wide paper. The first was an Epson 1270. Now I have the Canon i9100. The Canon blows the Epson out of the water for color saturation and is a bit faster too. The current model in that price range is the Pixma Pro9000, an 8 color printer. MSRP $500. Here is a link to it. Canon
 
As far as wide format printers, I had a HP 1100 series several years ago and was really disappointed in it, then I bought an Epson 1520 (I think) and it did a good job for a while.

Now I have a HP 2600 ink jet with 176mb memory, auto-duplex, and two paper trays. It is rated for 10,000 sheets per month and seems to be holding up pretty well and does a nice job.
 
Epson R1800 here. If you really look hard you can tell its ink jet (sometimes), otherwise it rivals traditional photo prints. A final glossy print is waterproof to the point that you can run the paper under a running tap for awhile, dry the print, and you can't tell it'd been wet.
 
I have an i9900 - does 13x19. works good enough that i did the wedding pics on it 3 years ago - and they still look great.
 
The last large prints I need, I had copied from a disk at a blue print shop. They have to be able to print in many large sizes.
 
sideache said:
What kind of print? Line Art? Four Color? What sizes? Or are you wanting a file format to bring to a printer?
Click to expand...

None of the above, at this point. The project's on indefinite hold.

Thanks for the suggestions.

-Wm.
 
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