A question for the learned

[Wilky]

Folks, I am going to enter a pic in the Sydney International Boat Show. On the entry form guidelines it states that the finished photo must be 10x15 inches (254x381mm)

In Gimp it tells me my image size 4128x2328 pixels, 57.3x32.3 inches and 1456.27x821.27 mm.

Are they saying that I need to scale the image to 254x381mm. The images are entered online so if they are printing them would they not print to the overall dimensions.

Any thoughts?

[I @ M]

Well, their 10x15 in size still fits in line with the native 2:3 ratio of most DSLRs but it doesn't ring a bell as a commonly printed size to me. Normally you would see 8x12 or 12x18 listed as common print sizes by labs due to paper width sizes used.

A bit of an edit, one place I know will print that size but I suspect that they do it on larger width paper and trim later.

If your image has been cropped to outside of the 2:3 ratio then there is really no way to make it conform exactly to their size requirements but I would be asking them a few questions about the exact needs.

[James T]

They should state a dpi or ppi somewhere as well.

Your image is (would be) 57 inches by 32 if you printed at 72 dpi. If you set it to 300 dpi (a common dpi for printing) you'll be around 14 inches so will only need to upsize slightly to get a 15 inch print.

[Wilky]

Thanks folks, I will try and get onto the organisers to check exactly what they need.

[soulman]

It does sound as though there is information missing. If they're asking for image files rather than prints, then to ask for something 10 X 15 inches makes no sense.

An image file is simply X pixels times Y pixels and has no inherent 'size'. If the requirement is for an image file that will print to that size at a given resolution - expressed as dpi or ppi - then that makes sense. Your image would print at 275 PPI - quite a high resolution - at that size, so it should be fine as it is. If they want 240PPI, then the image would need to be reduced (resized) to 3600 X 2030 pixels.

[Wilky]

Think I have sorted it out. In Gimp
Image
Printsize
This brings up a window with "Set image print resolution"
I dialled in the required size and it was more than happy.

[Speedway]

I emailed the organizers and this was their reply.

"Dear Keith
Thank you for your email and I’m sorry that it has caused confusion. This is really just a guideline and to stop people from sending through low resolution images that can not be increased and printed. Please just ensure your image is of a reasonable quality and resolution.
Kind regards
Natalie
Natalie Walker
Marketing and Events Coordinator
Boating Industry Association of NSW Ltd
Sydney International Boat Show"

[Wilky]

Cheers Speedway, sounds like my images will be fine.