A billboard in PS CC

[preditorj40153117]

Ok, I am doing a billboard that is 48ftx14ft. I understand how to get the logo clean using a PDF or eps from IL. However, my design includes a lot of blend modes using images like constellations or planets and the BG is a space cloud.

The images are all between 3000px and 7200px. Photoshop defaults to 1% view during the edit / when opening the blank 48x14ft comp. To see it at 100% is nearly impossible and I have no real idea of how it will look. However, if I had a process that would ensure the quality of the images that i am using in the comp i would trust it.

Some ideas that i had.....

1. doing the comp in 1/4 resolution and then exporting at a dpi that would magnify it to plus 10% of the specified size.

2. turning all images into pdfs, resizing within the comp and rastering the pdfs to apply effects.

What is my best course of action?

sample of blends

Background image

[D Fosse]

preditorj40153117  wrote

Photoshop defaults to 1% view during the edit / when opening the blank 48x14ft comp

That's most likely because you have undocked panels floating around. Under some circumstances Photoshop doesn't like that, and prefers panels docked to the right-hand edge.

Pixel sizes between 3000 and 7200 pixels shouldn't scare anybody. That's not particularly big - it should in most cases be adequate, but a little more can't hurt.

Ppi is what it is at the reproduced size. Pixels per inch! That means exactly what it says. If you want higher final resolution, start with more pixels.

[preditorj40153117]

Pixel sizes between 3000 and 7200 pixels shouldn't scare anybody. That's not particularly big - it should in most cases be adequate, but a little more can't hurt.

Yes you should be worried about 3000-7200px images in photoshop. Especially when they have to be blown up to 172,800x50,400px. That was my point more so than if photoshop could handle 7200px. No stock photo dealer has files of that size(172,800px wide).

So how do you get a 7200px image to 172,800 without it looking horrible? How do you make a image fit into a 172,500px comp.

Ppi is what it is at the reproduced size. Pixels per inch! That means exactly what it says. If you want higher final resolution, start with more pixels.

I have used dpi to make images larger before but never to this scale. This is why it was my hunch.

There has to be a way to do this.

[D Fosse]

Whoah. 172 500 pixels is not big, that's insane! That much is never needed, not even close!

How did you arrive at that number?

[postrophix]

Hi

How did you arrive at that number?

48 foot wide I suppose. Then, a billboard would be seen at hundreds feet, minimum.

See : https://toolstud.io/photo/dpi.php?width=192&width_unit=inch&height=108&height_unit=inch&dpi=10&bleed...

Pierre

[davescm]

I just looked at that link you gave after I posted Pierre. Good link and the same message

Dave

[davescm]

Hi

You are assuming your billboard needs to be printed at 300ppi. It doesn't. 300ppi is for viewing at book reading distance. A billboard is not viewed from 2 feet.  The further way it is viewed the less pixels per inch are needed.

Take a look here - it may help you assess what resolution to use and keep the final pixel size managable.

What print resolution works for what viewing distance?

Dave