Digital Photographers: What file size/type for printing?

**Christopher3000** · 10-10-2011, 10:53 AM

I've made several prints from photographs taken with a Canon G10 and although they generally come out quite well at 11"X14" when delivered to the printer in ~5mb jpegs, I'm wondering what kind of files other people are using to make big prints, and what size files generally guarantee good resolution. Starting with RAW files (.CR2), I'm curious about using .TIFF and .DNG....

**pales** · 10-10-2011, 11:16 AM

I personally like RAW's and JPEG's. I am able to set my Nikon to take both formats. Ken Rockwell has a lot to say on photo format, getting things sharp etc. here: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/unsharp.htm
Personally, I agree with most of what he says. For me if I am taking a picture correctly that I don't need to mess with in photoshop much, it turns out looking good no matter what size I blow it up to. Keep the sides of your photos undistracting as they tend to get distorted more, and keep your aperture large when possible. Right now my background is about a 10"x15" blown up JPEG.