Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Make Large Pictures

Make an enlarged picture by printing smaller sections and mounting as a single piece.


Large pictures can make a strong statement on the wall of a room. There are two basic ways to create a large picture. You can send your digital photo image to a copy store and allow the store to enlarge and print your image on its largest paper. This will give you a seamless large image. You can also use an online enlargement tool to enlarge your image. This type of tool allows you to print out the image on standard-size paper. Your final picture has a collage effect when the individual prints are grouped to reveal the large picture.


Instructions


1. Select the image you want to enlarge. Save the image in as large a size as possible. This will keep the enlargement from looking too choppy when you enlarge the image. For the best quality enlargement, when possible, provide the copy or photo store with a conventional photo negative. This type of enlargement is often expensive.


2. Send your digital image to your photo copy store for enlargement. Often the copy stores will have an email address where you can send jobs. Many copy stores have large-scale printers designed to produce poster-size reproductions.


3. Cut foam core to the finished size of your poster. Spray the surface of the foam core with a spray adhesive. Align the edges of your enlarged poster to match the foam core and carefully smooth the poster from the center out to remove all air bubbles. When you're mounting large images, it is often helpful to have two people working together so that one can hold the poster away from the board while the other person smooths and adheres the image.


4. Select an online enlargement service that enlarges your image to fit standard paper printing. Choose the number of pages or finished size of your large picture. Download the .pdf file. Print out the image on a quality photo paper.


5. Spray a foam core board with glue. You can either glue each sheet to its own board to mount for a more deconstructed look, or you can glue one large sheet and mount each image in order. You will see the seams, but it will look like a cohesive collage. When you're gluing a large group, use scrap newspaper and tape to create a glue window. Use this glue window to protect your images and to glue just enough of the foam to mount one image at a time.