Choose An Image To Print In 15 Minutes
Choose An Image In 15 Minutes
Having the time to choose an image to print is one of the biggest challenges that comes up time and time again.
You've got to admit though, there's something particularly artsy and cool about decorating your home with things that you’ve created yourself.
Photography is a great example of that; whether it’s personal memories or something you think would look perfect on your living room wall, you’ll get a sense of pride each time you see it.
So, push aside the cat, turn off your phone and let's get this image chosen once and for all.
Step 1: Do your images have what it takes?
For starters, the quality has to be half decent to survive being blown up for print without pixelating too much.
We usually suggest that to choose an image anything smaller than 1MB probably isn't sensible. We want it to look great just as much as you do! NB: some images will work for smaller canvas sizes and if you really want it, that's okay.
Rather than go through all your 1000s of photos and check each one’s size individually, you can filter out all the low res ones in your folders instead!
Here’s how:
Windows:
Open your folder with your photos inside, and go to View > Group by > Size.
Choose an image by separating the wheat from the chaff
Then you should have them all in order of size, as below:
Images should be ordered according to file size
Apple:
Open your folder with your photos inside, and go to the little cog -> select "Size."
Apple - sorting by size
Then you should have them all in order of size, as below:
Apple - And voila! You're sorted by size
Select all your Large (you may also have ‘Extra Large’, so grab them too!) by clicking on the group title.
Copy and paste these into a new folder!
Now that you’ve weeded out the ones where the file size is too low, it’s time to look at their dimensions.
To do this, do the same process as above but instead of ‘size’, filter by ‘dimension’.
You’ll probably have something that looks like this:
Large Images!
As you can see, even though my computer has categorised all these photos as large, they differ in terms of actual width and height.
We’d recommend selecting photos that are over 2000px by 1330px - anything smaller may lose quality when re-sized!
So go ahead and grab those files that are larger than 2000px by 1330px and drop them in a new folder, and voila - you have a folder of potential winners for your canvas artwork!
Step 2: What makes a great canvas photo?
Your filtered down collection of photos may still be kind of overwhelming, and you’ll probably want to cut your shortlist down some more to make your life easy.
Be harsh, and get rid of:
- Fuzzy phone photos of your dog
- Cheesy family portraits where everyone looks like they hate life
- Photos of baked goods or restaurant food (why would you want this on your wall?)
- Dark/night-time photos where you can’t actually see much at all…
- Photos with so many colours you feel like you’re tripping
Remember to keep:
- Quality landscape photos of your favourite places
- Fun action shots with your friends & family
- Artsy close-up and macro shots of interesting things
- Unique perspectives on everyday things that make you smile
- Bright and crisp pet photography
Hopefully that’ll give you some ideas on what to scrap and what to save!
Step 3: The final cut-down
If you’re still stuck with hundreds to sift through, have a good think about exactly where the canvas is going to go, and how it will fit in with the room.
I’m talking sizes (A0, A1 etc?), colour schemes, portrait vs. landscape, bold and fun vs. delicate and peaceful.
And hey, remember those other humans you live with? Don’t forget to ask them too (unless it’s a gift, obvs)!
Step 4: Now you're ready!
Depending on your appetite for image editing you might want to make some final touches (e.g. Photoshop etc).
BUT, seeing as we're trying to get this done in 15 minutes, we're going to press ahead with getting the blimmin' thing done.
If you're going to print with Pixelpaint, click below and let's do this thing!
