Looking for help with adobe photoshop and Illustrator for large format printing.

Question

Hello,

I am looking for help in the design part of large format graphics. I have a pretty solid understanding of vector files and illustrator but get really lost with photoshop. My biggest problem is when I get into using raster images. My files end up being EXTREMLY large to try and print or they are too pixelated to use. I get lost online trying to understand resolution, dpi, pixels etc etc. When I say large format some of my designs need to be 60' x 30' or even bigger. These are not billboards where I can sacrafice with viewing distance. Most every thing I do is seen pretty close up. I do not use my own photos, everything is used from online subscriptions to higher quality photos to use in the designs. I have a few standalone photo resizing programs that I have played around with but most of the time they end up creating a very large file also. Or it could be that I do not understand the correct formats to be saving them. I admit I get totally lost in the raster and photoshop side and looking for some online training to keep my buisness going and producing very nice graphics. I print with a Roland 64" printer.

Thank you for your time.

Answer 1

Photoshop is a pixel-based program. The resolution is measured in PPI (Pixels Per Inch), whereas DPI ( Dot Per Inch) is used in a vector-based program. Unlink vectors, working in pixel-based programs your images or graphic are not preserved and do not remains crisp at all times.

Having pixelated images could result from not being sized correctly or saved with enough resolution. Reduction in resolution could happen during the editing process in Photoshop, like not enabling smart objects in Photoshop layers before using free transform, for example. With resources coming from stock websites its best to check all the specification and quality of the graphic or image before working with it.

The suggested resolution setting is 300 PPI for printing. Try starting at 50 PPI and working your way up. Increasing the resolution in Photoshop's resize panel will increase your canvas and file size, though.

Images saved as JPEG tend to be more pixelated over PNGS, but I highly recommend keeping file formats at PNG or PDF formats for printing.

For Illustrator, you can keep the Resolution at 300 DPI, and your canvas size won't change. But the saving formats should be Either PNG or PDF.

I hope this information helps, and best of luck.