Large Royalty Free Stock Pictures...

jrazz wrote on 10/6/2008, 1:55 PM

Where can a guy find some large (44"x33") stock pictures? I am working on a banner and need a background image of grass at the bottom (very little real estate) and sky up above (95% of the image real estate). However I can't find any that are big enough for such a print without pixelating or blurring.

Any ideas on where I might be able to find some?

j razz

Comments

apit34356 wrote on 10/6/2008, 3:09 PM

jrazz, there are a few good programs for enlarging pics thru PS or by themselves, when I get back to my network, I'll post the correct apps. Usually, enlarging by increments of 10% per pass yield the best results vs time. ;-) I'm sure Coursedesign or DSE and a few other PS users probably can name a couple of apps off the top of their head ;-)

Cliff Etzel wrote on 10/6/2008, 4:09 PM

You might look into Genuine Fractals - I have a friend who is a commercial shooter who uses it to prep his already high rez digital files to go to billboard size.

This might be the ticket for ya

Cliff Etzel - Solo Video Journalist
bluprojekt | solo video journalism blog

jrazz wrote on 10/6/2008, 4:16 PM

Thanks guys. I have been searching around on royalty free sights but without any luck.

I will look into Genuine Fractals. I think I may have read about that program in one of the B & H Photo Video catalogs. Thanks for the link.

j razz

TeetimeNC wrote on 10/6/2008, 5:44 PM

Jrazz, if you can find the scene you like in your area, you could take nine or so photos of the scene with an ordinary digital camera, then stitch them together. PTGui is the tool I use for this. It is at http://www.ptgui.com/. There are also several free ones around but I haven't tried those.

Here is an example stitch from two rows of four photos: http://www.pbase.com/rfcd100/image/70715950

Jerry

rs170a wrote on 10/6/2008, 6:02 PM

Jeremy, if you don't own one, find a friend with a good DSLR (digital SLR).
I bought a Nikon D60 this spring to replace my aging Canon point-and-shoot and was amazed at the quality improvement.
At it's highest res (JPEG at 3800 x 2600), even a 44"x 33" image should look good.
You can always shoot in RAW mode if you want even higher quality (which I'm sure you do).

Mike

Opampman wrote on 10/6/2008, 7:30 PM

"I will look into Genuine Fractals. I think I may have read about that program in one of the B & H Photo Video catalogs. Thanks for the link."

This program is incredible. I had some old digital photos from a 1996 point-and-shoot camera that were only about 800k resolution. I printed them out on a photo plotter to 36 x 60 inches for use on a TV set and they were unbelievable.

jrazz wrote on 10/7/2008, 7:01 AM

I have photoshop CS3 so Genuine Fractals is going to be what I go with. It looks to be "too good to be true".

TeeTime, the method you describe is a pretty neat trick. When I was in Kenya I hiked up a volcano and took a panorama as you describe made up of multiple portrait framed pictures. Photoshop CS3 did an excellent job of stitching them together.

Thanks guys.

j razz

Jay Gladwell wrote on 10/7/2008, 7:19 AM

Have you tried stockxpert? They have xtra-large images (3500 x 2400).

jrazz wrote on 10/7/2008, 7:49 AM

Thanks Jay. I didn't know they existed. I will have a look around and see what they have that may fit what I need.

j razz

kentwolf wrote on 10/8/2008, 12:25 PM

>>...Genuine Fractals..

I've been using it for some years now and it's great. I had to do some materials for a banner the other day. GF output looks excellent.