Small bird photo. Don't crop too much

[TDEV]

OK I have a beautiful little bird close up with a long lens. I am so happy. I understand the rule of thirds. Now I would like to print the bird picture to a nice size, say an 11x14. I want to make the bird the first thing the viewer's eye goes to. However, because it is a small bird I may have cropped too much so the bird in obviously not tack sharp any more. Is there a formula I can use to try and get large, sharpe, focused on the bird prints. ie. how to I get the most bang for the buck. In this case the most bang for the bird?
Thank you all!

 

[Rude Boy]

Might be handy if you posted the picture.

 

[DRwyoming]

OK I have a beautiful little bird close up with a long lens. I am so happy. I understand the rule of thirds. Now I would like to print the bird picture to a nice size, say an 11x14. I want to make the bird the first thing the viewer's eye goes to. However, because it is a small bird I may have cropped too much so the bird in obviously not tack sharp any more. Is there a formula I can use to try and get large, sharpe, focused on the bird prints. ie. how to I get the most bang for the buck. In this case the most bang for the bird?
Thank you all!

There's not really a formula as it depends on many things including the resolution of the camera, how crisp and sharp the initial image was captured and what sort of resizing and sharpening was applied during processing to preserve as much detail as possible during image resizing after the crop.

Obviously, getting closer physically and optically so there's little to no cropping is the best approach but that may not be an option so then it's a question of field technique (capturing the best possible shot to start with), and then good processing techniques to preserve as much detail as possible without over sharpening or creating undesirable artifacts as you upsize to the final print size.

How are you upsizing for print? Are you using the built in LR or PS tools or have you explored any third party interpolation tools like Topaz Gigapixel? Modern intelligent upsizing and sharpening tools can go a long way towards preserving detail as you upsize for large prints but it still depends on the quality of the starting image.

As posted above it would help to see a post of what you're trying to print including how the image looked prior to cropping.

 

[ajrmd]

As Dave and others have observed there are so many factors which affect one's ability to crop and print including DR, noise, tonality, color, acutance, number of pixels, subject, etc. Over the years, the resize programs have improved dramatically, though with so-called "AI" advancements they can only interpolate so much. If you post some of that information along with a copy of the image, perhaps we can give you further direction?

 

[Tom Reynolds]

I seem to get OK prints @11-14 300dpi simply using Photoshop's resize feature. I send them off to Bay Photo for printing on metal, glossy. I have a 20mp OM Systems OM-1 usually with a 300f4 and the result crop on a small bird may well be only 20% of the original. I use Topaz Photo AI and manipulate sharpening, denoise, color and light balance to suit my eye. I used Photoshop's Lens Blur to blur background but then went over the subject with the focus brush.

Generally, I find action shots, and shots of very pretty birds really brighten up the room. I do have light on my wall photos.

The attached has been downsized from a 5.1mb .jpg I sent to Bay photo so it will display here. I suspect that pixel peepers will not find enough detail, but it will do just fine on my wall.

You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

 

[Viathelens]

OK I have a beautiful little bird close up with a long lens. I am so happy. I understand the rule of thirds. Now I would like to print the bird picture to a nice size, say an 11x14. I want to make the bird the first thing the viewer's eye goes to. However, because it is a small bird I may have cropped too much so the bird in obviously not tack sharp any more. Is there a formula I can use to try and get large, sharpe, focused on the bird prints. ie. how to I get the most bang for the buck. In this case the most bang for the bird?
Thank you all!

My math is always suspect, not really my thing but I tried hard to understand the basic math of printing when I first started in photography. I use a Z8. When I shoot in DX mode the optimal size for a printed photograph (a 1:1 printing ratio), not cropped, would be no larger than 24" x 36" in DX image mode. At 24 x 36 I can print a photo that is 10,800 pixels on the long side by 7,200 pixels on the short side.

It is the number of pixels in the image that counts when printing and that tells you what size of print is optimal without losing image quality. Most printing is done at 300 dpi, although pixels in the camera are referred to as ppi, but the two terms are inter-related.

There are many factors to consider beyond image size, too, general quality of the image being one. If you crop you take the cropped side and multiply it by 300 (or the amount of dpi you plan to use for printing and some people use an amount as low as 240 dpi but most professional printers use 300 dpi) to figure out what the actual pixel size is, so if I cropped to 6900 x 4500 and planned to print at 300 dpi I could, theoretically, print an optimal quality print at 23" x 15."

To make this easier I ran up a list of sizing so I can just glance at it to determine the range of what might work for printing. I normally print at 10 x 15 so I check to ensure that I have an image that is 4500 pixels across on the long side.

Today there are many options to upsize an image to print it larger that work well and I have done this in LrC and have printed high-quality prints quite large using the software and printing through Bay Photo. I hope this has not confused you as it can get a bit tricky in the math.

The short answer is, an 11 x 14 image would need to be 3300 x 4200 pixels across (on the long side) for a quality print, or somewhere around that size.

Below is a chart from the web with some examples:

 

[bleirer]

This calculator incorporates the circle of confusion, the visual acuity of the observer, the viewing distance, and the resolution. It also shows the f number where diffraction starts to show in different sizes and relolutions.

Programs like gigapixel or photoshop super zoom or lightroom enhance, or upsizing with preserve details 2.0 can help. But the more you crop the more noise and the less depth of field and sharpness. Its up to you to decide how much is too much.

Print Resolution Calculator • Points in Focus Photography

Calculate the minimum resolution required for a print at a given print size and viewing distance.

www.pointsinfocus.com

 

[TDEV]

Unfortunately I am not able to access the original or cropped image. I am away from my home computer which hold's the photos.
The above reply's are outstanding and will give me much to go over when I do get home. All of the reply's are just what I needed.
Thank you very much

 

[Karl Gillard]

TDEV, I might have misunderstood your original message, but here’s what I have used with a large degree of success. At times, I have had to tightly crop some photos to get exactly what I was looking for, which resulted in a low pixel count. I use Topaz Gigapixel AI to add pixels and allow increased size, and Topaz DeNoise AI to remove any noise and very slightly sharpen the photo. However, if the original photo is not sharp such as “in focus”, I‘m not aware of anything that will sharpen it. Be sure not to “over sharpen” using the programs. Just my two cents worth!

 

[EricBowles]

In addition to having enough pixels for your cropped image, you probably should think about your ISO used and your editing. Both of those introduce noise to your image by magnifying any noise. Editing to brighten shadows or underexposure is similar to increasing ISO and it adds noise as well. Fixing noise requires some level of blur or losing detail - which makes your image less sharp.

My normal rule of thumb is I want at least 200 pixels per inch for a nice print. I can use software to double the size of my image if there are not other problems to address. So I can typically have an image that is just 125 pixels per inch and get a decent print, but I prefer 200-300 pixels per inch or more.

For social media, I can display an image that is just 800 pixels on the long edge and it looks pretty good. But something that small makes a poor large print. Particularly with a photo of a small bird, small prints with a bit wider mat can be a way to balance a lack of resolution and not enough pixels. A 4x5 print in an 11 x 14 frame can look nice with the right image. A 5x7 image in that same frame may be a little better for most small birds.

It won't work with every image, but sometimes when I make an image of a small bird that is a little too small, I take the photo with more emphasis on the background or context so I don't need to crop as deeply.