Ready to print big? The topic of file prep may not be exciting for everyone, but there are a few important things you should watch out for before you send your files to the lab.

Here's a checklist from our in-house print experts to help you turn your favorite images into  perfect prints, and to avoid seeing imperfections blown up super-sized on the wall. 

1. (File) size matters.

A key factor in getting stunning, large prints is having enough high-quality information in your starting file. Image file size is measured two different ways: 

• MP (megapixels) are a representation of the dimensions of the file (length and width) and are determined by the size of the sensor in your camera. If you don't crop your original file, then your photo will have the same number of megapixels as your camera sensor. 
• Mb (megabytes) is a representation of the quantity of data in the file. A colorful image will be larger than a black-and-white image, for example, and a busy street photo will be a larger file than a photo of a plain, blue sky. 

The bigger you want to print, the larger the file size needs to be. As a rule of thumb, you need a minimum of 1 Mb and 1 MP in your file to print small, standard print sizes up to 8x10 inches. 

To check the file size on your computer, open Image Properties and check Image Details on your photo. To check in your SmugMug gallery, click the image information icon that appears in Lightbox view.

For a more advanced trick to check your image quality, try these steps in Photoshop: 

• Click Image > Image Size.
• Set Image Resolution to 90 pixels/inch.
• Check the box for Resample Image.
• Set Image Size to your desired print size.
• Click OK.
• Zoom viewing magnification to 100%. This should give you an accurate representation of what the printed image will look like. If it looks pixelated, then you’ll need to choose a smaller print size.
• Make sure you don’t save these settings to your file.

‍Tip: Image size does not trump image quality. If your original image is out of focus, no number of pixels will fix it. Always start with your best-quality photo.

2. Shape is everything.

Your digital file will have a shape that's been determined by either the camera sensor or by any  cropping you do to the file. All print products also have set dimensions and specific shapes. They range from squares to rectangles, and every variation in between.

If your digital file doesn’t have the same shape as the print product you want to order, you’ll need to crop that image so they match. You can do this in your editing software of choice or on SmugMug after you upload.

3. Be wary with borders and text.

Does your image have a border or overlaying text?

• Make sure your borders are at least ¼-inch wide or they will be at risk of getting cut off and/or appearing uneven on the finished print.
• Make sure text is at least ¼ inch away from any edge of the print (or within the crop box for mounted prints) to prevent it being cut off during the printing process.
• Double-check all text for typos.

4. With flying colors.

Get those whites white. Our eyes judge all colors by using black and white as the reference points. Make sure you have a true white point (255, 255, 255) and/or a true black point (0, 0, 0) in your images.

Watch those skin tones. In portraits, pay close attention to your skin tones. You'll want pleasing skin tones, generally warm rather than cool. 

Don't be fooled by screen brightness. Our computer monitor, tablet, phone, and camera LCDs are all backlit devices. They will always display our images brighter than any physical print. Be sure to adjust for this, otherwise your prints may end up much darker than you expect.

Tools to help:

• Color calibrate your monitor, either with a calibration print (our preferred method), your computer's system preferences, or by using an actual color-calibration device.
• Use the print lab's supplied ICC color profile.
• Use editing-software histograms, levels, and curves tools for editing color and exposure.

‍Tip: Does this all make your head spin? Try using SmugMug's color correction whenever you order a print through our print labs.