Looking for a source for super high quality images.

[Mitchell Tutty]

I've just started to engrave large murals of photo's. Like to put on the side of walls and what not.
I'm starting to pick up a fair bit of work doing more, but what is stopping me from it really catching on is my lack of variety in images.
I cannot really do anything custom considering I'm heavily limited by the resolution of images considering I'm blowing them up so big.
I need a source of really really high quality of images that have a reasonably large selection to choose from such that I can find an image upon request. This doesn't have to be a free database, but something that wont blow my budget.

Thanks in advance!

[Chuck Stone]

I think you'll have a very hard time finding a source because the market is so limited.
and even though your final image will be very large, those images aren't generally very
high resolution anyway. Just get up close to one and look. They're not MEANT to be
viewed from up close. That's why they're so large.
You might look into software that will split your files into smaller chunks, then you can
feed your high res files in that.

Do you have a computer fast enough with enough RAM to even open a high res mural sized
file? RIP programs can do it, but just opening such file will take a long, long time.
(File, Open, GoToLunch)

[Scott Shepherd]

We have Perfect Photo Suite 8 and it'll blow up images REALLY big. We use it for making high resolution images for wide formatting printing. I've blown some 5MP images up to 48" wide at 300 DPI and they look awesome.

Might be a tool to consider. They have a free trial as well.

[Mike Davis NC]

Have you looked at National Geographic's image bank? I think the license fee is 5% of your retail price.

[Kev Williams]

You can also use Corel's PhotoPaint to blow up pics, at least to a point. Just use the "resample" option, and resample-up in small doses, like 120%, then 120%, etc... You can resample at like 300% all at once, but the picture is much smoother looking if you go up gradually--

I took Scott's avatar above, and blew it up 7 times @ 120% each time, which comes out to a 298% overall increase in the final size. Considering what I started with, the largest version of the pic isn't bad at all- now consider how far you can upsize a 5 or 10 megapixel picture, for laser engraving purposes I'd think you'd get great results...

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/festus.jpg



http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/festus2.jpg


-- well over 9 original images will fit in the final image...

[David Somers]

Mitchel,

Do you have a business in your area that does billboards and whatnot? They use specific software to make their enlargements. Some of the mid sized blow ups often use things like Alien Skin Blowup, a photoshop Plug in. I am not familar with anything that might work in Corel, but I assume there are packages out there. These utilities might allow you to use more conventional sources of images as your source?

Anyway....check with a local (or more likely a regional) Billboard Company. They might be able to guide you.

Dave

[Mitchell Tutty]

Thank you all for your help, I did a bit of a look around at those resizing programs some of you have mentioned. They are so powerful, one that promises to keep a 300dpi image at 300dpi at 1000%. My brain can't even fathom how on earth it manages to do that. Anyway, I've gone with OnOne Perfect Resize 8. Watched a few youtube videos, looks exactly what I need. even creates a mosaic to my selected tile size at a click of a button.
You're all incredible people helping me around the clock, I owe you all a beer or two.

[Scott Shepherd]

Thank you all for your help, I did a bit of a look around at those resizing programs some of you have mentioned. They are so powerful, one that promises to keep a 300dpi image at 300dpi at 1000%. My brain can't even fathom how on earth it manages to do that. Anyway, I've gone with OnOne Perfect Resize 8. Watched a few youtube videos, looks exactly what I need. even creates a mosaic to my selected tile size at a click of a button.
You're all incredible people helping me around the clock, I owe you all a beer or two.

Michael, if you bought it, make sure you download all the free stuff that give you links to. Also, about once a week or every other week or something like that, they send out links to more free stuff. They have some GREAT filters and GREAT borders. I am thrilled with the power of it for our printer. I haven't resized anything with it for the laser yet, but I'm really liking it. So many great black and white filters too. That should be really useful for preparing files for the laser.

[Bill Stearns]

Hey All -
While we are on the subject of large pictures - have any of you done a project like this? (umpteen slates of wood individually engraved, then put together into one large mural.) This one is at Target Field, Minneapolis, MN. Kirby Pucket. I know you can use CorelDraw "tiling" to achieve this. Just wanted to show it to you. I did something similar 'while back - but only engraving names. My place looked like a lumber yard throughout the job, but did make 'few bucks.

Bill

[Chuck Stone]

Sorry I must have misunderstood. I thought you wanted to START with those sized images.

[Keith Upton]

It's going to really depend on what type of images you are looking. If you are looking for high res photos, ShutterStock is a good place to start. Lots of decent and good photographers uploading very high res photos there. It's not free, but single printings should not be too bad.