Steve: The fine art paper and artist canvas materials art real "art-style" materials. The fine art paper is a very thick watercolor paper with a pebbled texture, while the two canvas papers are actual art canvas made specifically for imaging photos for art prints. These special papers stand out from the typical photo papers and the prints are richer and very suited to hanging as art.

David: What kind of gear do you use to make all this happen? How long does it take to print one of your largest, highest quality pictures (actually printer time, not return-to-customer time)?

Steve: A typical photo finisher will use a photographic dye-based process for imaging. This technology is mostly limited to 20x30 size and only photo papers can be used. Inkjet technology is used to process large images and it gives us the ability to print on our canvas and fine art materials.

The processing of our larger images can take up to 35 minutes, including computer processing time, print and trim time. We allow 4 to 8 hours dry time for most prints (depends on substrate used) but we ship 90% of our orders the same day.

David: So, just how large can we make our prints? What are the limitations?

Steve: We make 60" x 40" prints that look great. In order to make a print this size, you need either a 6+ megapixel camera or scanned image at 8x10 at 600 dpi. Our limitation is 60" in the shortest direction.

David: What are some tips for preparing images for the best possible results?

Steve: To achieve superior quality for your images, use the super high quality (SHQ) or Super Fine (SF) modes on your camera. This will require a larger storage card for your camera in order to get a suitable number of shots available, but it will ensure better prints at any size. Make the small investment in time to learn how to use all the features of your camera and you will get better results.

David: Do you care only about pixels in an image file, or is dpi important? Are there any special Photoshop printing settings that should be applied to the file before it's sent to you?

Steve: The amount of pixels is most important for creating large images. Many higher resolution cameras create a large image at 72dpi. When this image is used for 4x6 prints, the printer will decrease the size and increase the dpi, but the 72dpi images straight from the camera are great for large prints.

Software such as Photoshop or Elements can certainly make almost any photo better. Your normal image corrections (brightness, contrast, and color) will be the only settings you need to worry about prior to sending a file to Pixel Outpost. As with all prints, make sure your shadow areas have some definition and contrast or the images deep areas will just seem muddy.

David: Are there any rules of thumb about what'll make the best quality for a given picture size?

Steve: [Steve provided us with a very interesting table, shown below, in Table A.]