Large Picture Made from Mosaic of 6x4 Photos?

Russ on 24/01/2016 - 01:21
Last edited 24/01/2016 - 01:26

Okay, I hope I can explain this clearly.

I am wondering if it is possible to easily convert an image into a large number of smaller images, with the intention of printing the smaller images as 6x4 inch photos, and then putting those photos together as a mosaic, forming a large picture.

For example, if I have a nice photo (in digital form) that I'd like to print at 1m by 1m size, instead of paying a huge amount to get it printed at that size, can I "slice and dice" the image into about 100 smaller images, get them printed for 10c each at Officeworks or similar, and then put the photos together somewhat like a jigsaw to form a large print?

I know that I would have to get the photos printed as borderless, and that there would have to be a degree of overlap, perhaps having 5x3 of each photo being unique and the last inch (in both directions) overlapping the next photos.

By doing this, I calculate I could achieve a 1m by 1m print with 104 of the 6x4 prints, costing the princely sum of $10.40. Much cheaper than a poster print that size.

So I have a number of questions, that I'm hoping the OzBargain community can help me with.

(1) Will my crazy scheme work?
(2) Will the final print look good, or will it be affected by the smaller photos being "exposure corrected" during the printing process?
(3) What can I use to create the smaller photos, that will easily "slice and dice" the original image with required overlap? Hopefully some free software like "The GIMP".
(4) Even better, can it discreetly add a small number in the corner of each image, so the "jigsaw" is easier to assemble? The numbers should be matched in brightness to the image around them, so they aren't obvious once the jigsaw is assembled.

Thanks in advance!

Computing

Comments

  • kywst on 24/01/2016 - 01:31
    +3
    1. Should work.
    2. Probably wont look the greatest cause you'll see the joins/overlapping.
    3. Using GIMP - load your image and making sure the canvas size is equal to the size of the poster. Image > Guides > New Guide (by percent). Go ahead and mark out your grid horizontally and vertically. You should end up with a grid of 104 containers if your math was right. Image > Transform > Guillotine.

    Each grid container will open as a new image in a separate window. Save each image. Print. Jigsaw.
    4. Sure.
    edit - New Guide by position might work nicer than percentage assuming 13*8 grid.

    • Russ on 24/01/2016 - 01:46

      Thanks, but will that do the overlap as well? I have minimal experience with photo editing software.

      Perhaps I could put the guide spacings at irregular intervals, e.g in the x-direction use 6,4,6,4 etcetera, and 4,2,4,2 in the y-direction, keeping only the images that are 6x4 inches. That would give me one-quarter of the images I need, so I'd have to repeat this a further three times with different intervals.

      Any ideas on how I could achieve the numbering? Perhaps have the original image on a top layer, with a darkened version on a layer below, and create the numbers using transparency of the top layer?

  • kywst on 24/01/2016 - 02:26
    +2

    http://registry.gimp.org/node/20868 . Place that plugin in your GIMP\scripts folder. Load image into a 8 * 6 (48 inches width) x 13 * 4 (42 inches height) canvas. Filters > theilr > Tiles to Files. Set your overlap to be whatever you think will help you align when piecing together. Have a stab at implementing your own function in the script that essentially watermarks each tile or steal a snippet from another script which definitely exists. Watermarking is probably over the top though … just keep a reference photo on hand and they should be printed sequentially.

    Also … notice the script writers motivation in the anecdotes. Sounds similar to what you're attempting.

    edit: bored so I decided to play around with it. Canvas 48"x42" @ 128 ppi is big. 33MP big. In GIMP it will be 300MB+ and could take a while if you need to edit.

    • Russ on 24/01/2016 - 14:23

      Wow, thanks! Exactly what I wanted. And I like the motivation too - the same as my motivation.

      My main reason for wanting each photo numbered was for large almost-similar areas, like sky or water with ripples. I reckon I would get almost through the "jigsaw" and find that the last piece didn't fit the surrounding prints.

      I have previously found that digital prints, when the original file was saved as PNG or BMP, can legibly reproduce text down to about 0.5mm high. So I think I'll manually add numbers only to areas that need them.

  • Apple96 on 24/01/2016 - 02:58
    +3

    like http://rasterbator.net/?

    • Russ on 24/01/2016 - 14:23
      +1

      Now I have two solutions, thanks!

  • garmibear on 25/01/2016 - 11:01

    I've been meaning to do this for two of my friends, what I mean is, print off the photos and get different people to send them as postcards/snail mail etc so the recipient can recreate a puzzle! I looked up the blog post but her suggestion was to do it the old-fashioned print-it-big and cut it down to size way! Let us know how it goes! :)

    (4) if you can't do this, then just hope that you are getting it printed in the right order so you can number it on the back!

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