Transform your favorite photo into a poster using select HP Photosmart printers or All-in-Ones. We’ll show you how to adjust your printer software settings to print your image on multiple sheets of photo paper and create a large, poster-size version of your photo, plus give you tips for trimming and joining the pages together.
Create poster-size prints at home and save
When you look at the low-cost of printing poster-size photos at home, the savings really start to add up.
Lower cost is one of the biggest draws of creating your own poster-size print. For example:
A recent survey of photo printing services (in-store and online) reported that the average outsourcing price for an 8" x 10" print ranged from $2.67 to $5.931.
By comparison, the cost of an 8.5” x 11” photo on the most popular HP printers averaged only $1.542.
These savings only grow with the size of your print.
A favorite snapshot can easily be transformed into a poster-size surprise for a birthday party or other special event.
Here are some additional reasons to make your own poster-size photo prints:
Make an impact
Call attention to your photos by enlarging them from snapshots to works of art. Display your hobbies and interests
You don’t have to take a photo to get a great picture; download stock photos from the Internet for poster-size prints of nature, sports, landscapes, concert posters, or work from your favorite artist. Add a personal touch to celebrations
Create special posters for the honorees at a birthday, anniversary, or retirement party.
Right-click an image in Windows Live Photo Gallery and select Properties to access information about your photo, including the number of pixels.
Resolution indicates the quality of your photos. The higher the resolution, the larger you can print your picture.
Every digital image is made up of pixels, and the number of pixels is what determines the resolution.
The more pixels in your original photo, the crisper and more clear your image will appear as you increase its size.
Make sure your image has enough pixels to print poster-size. Here are some poster sizes and the minimum amount of pixels your photo will need for a quality print at that size:
For 11" x 14": 1260 x 990 pixels
For 12" x 18": 1620 x 1080 pixels
For 16" x 20": 1800 x 1440 pixels
For 20" x 30": 2700 x 1800 pixels
Check to see how many pixels your image has before printing. For example, in Windows Live Photo Gallery, just right-click an image and a Preview photo dialog box will appear. Select Properties, and you’ll find a variety of information about the image, including the number of pixels.
In your printer properties dialog box, click on the Advanced tab to find features including poster-size printing.
From the Poster Printing options, choose how large you’d like your poster to be.
Select HP printers and All-in-Ones offer the ability to print poster-size by enlarging your image and dividing it to print on multiple pages (sometimes referred to as “tiling”).
By adjusting your printer settings, you can print a tiled version of your photo on between 4 and 25 sheets of paper—depending on how large you want your poster. The following instructions are for printing a tiled poster with the HP Photosmart Premium Fax All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Fax, Copier:
In the File menu in your software application, hit Print.
Select the Properties dialog box. (Depending on your software application, this button might also be called Options, Printer Setup, Printer, or Preferences.
Click the Advanced tab.
In the Poster Printing drop-down list, select from one of the following options:
2x2 (4 sheets)
3x3 (9 sheets)
4x4 (16 sheets)
5x5 (25 sheets)
This selection tells the printer to enlarge your image so that it fits on 4, 9, 16, or 25 pages.
Affix the trimmed edge of one sheet over the bordered edge of another to minimize both visible seams and overlap.
Turn a poster-size photo into a work of art by framing the individual prints.
Don’t trim prints with scissors
Use an X-ACTO knife, cutting mat, and a straight edge, such as a ruler, to accurately trim the border on your photo prints. If you have access to one, you can also use a paper cutter. Don’t trim all of your prints
Arrange your prints on a large, flat surface. For each pair of edges that will need to be joined, make certain that one has a border, and the other is trimmed clean.
For each pair, affix the trimmed edge over the border of the other print.
Laminate for durability
For a longer-lasting poster, laminate your photos. This will also help protect your poster from scratches and fingerprints, especially if the prints are not framed. Get creative
Frame each photo print and display in a symmetrical arrangement or in a cluster. Additionally, to keep the attention on your prints, choose neutral-colored or wood frames.
The following HP Photosmart printers and All-in-Ones feature poster-size printing capabilities:
The HP Photosmart D7560 Printer can print directly onto CD/DVDs for convenient disc labeling, and features a 3.5" touchscreen for easy navigation of your printer functions.
If you’re looking for an alternative way to create poster-size prints at home, check out the wide-format printing capabilities offered by HP Professional Photo Printers:
Instantly create prints up to 13" x 19" on a variety of media.
With wide-format printers, there’s no need to join together numerous images to make a poster-size print.
Try the HP Photosmart B8550 Photo Printer for everything from photo enlargements to 12" x 12" scrapbook pages to professional-quality 13" x 19" prints.
1Excluding taxes, shipping or other handling costs. Photofinishing News, Inc. August 2007 “Global Photo Services Price Review. Photofinishing news surveyed a broad range of photo printing services to compare prices. The survey included familiar vendors, such as CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Sam’s Club, Costco and Target Stores, as well as specialty camera stores and online services.
2Photo costs calculated using prices of HP cartridges and paper from HP at www.shopping.hp.com. Costs were determined using prices of twin packs, multipacks, and combo packs as well as using the highest count HP photo paper offering available. Page yields used for determining the cost of each photo is based on HP photo testing and these results can be found by printer model at www.hp.com/go/learnaboutsupplies. Page yields vary considerably based on content of printed pages and other factors.
3Based on light fade testing under glass using HP Vivera Inks on HP Premium Plus photo paper and HP Premium photo paper, according to Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc.
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