Need math help

[chauncey]

Due to left brain failure...

Using a NEC MultiSync PA271 PA monitor set for 2560/1440 pixels.
I want to "steal" images from movie screen shots to use as backgrounds after PS manipulations.
Need to end up with 300 dpi 24x30 prints.

Have no clue as to quality of movie downloads to my computer???

Was planning to use macro lens and merely take numerous images of screen shots and merge them
to appropriate size taking into consideration quality of screen shot.
Or is there a better method to achieve that 300 dpi 24x30 prints.

[xpatUSA]

Due to left brain failure...

Using a NEC MultiSync PA271 PA monitor set for 2560/1440 pixels.
I want to "steal" images from movie screen shots to use as backgrounds after PS manipulations.
Need to end up with 300 dpi 24x30 prints.

2560x1440px is 16:9 aspect ratio but 24x30 is 4:5; therefore, something will have to be cropped, if I understand "steal images from movie screen shots" correctly. The print will be 7200px high x 9000px wide; therefore, the crop will have to be up-sampled.

Example:

2560 wide cropped to 4:5 is 1440 high x1800px wide.

Edit to taste, then print letting your editor set the output size in inches. Or re-size the image to 7200x9000px with the ppi set to 300. I don't print; others here may have better suggestions for the printing part.

Have no clue as to quality of movie downloads to my computer???

Please tell us what you mean by "quality" - a word that has quite a broad brush.

Was planning to use macro lens and merely take numerous images of screen shots and merge them
to appropriate size taking into consideration quality of screen shot.

Sorry, I don't understand that at all.

Or, is there a better method to achieve 300 dpi 24x30 prints?

[Manfred M]

Depends on the type of movie you are trying to copy. If it is a feature film that is protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM), you might be stuck doing what you are planning to and I have no idea as to how to proceed, as I have never done any work with those types of videos.

If it is from a more common digital file (mp4, avi, mov, etc files, then your process is overly complex and you don't need to go that far and there are far easier approaches.

The attached file comes from one of my own HD video files that I used the "snapshot" function that comes with the free (and highly regarded) VideoLan VLC video player. I can handle that in my image editing software, just like any other image file. No complex math required.

[xpatUSA]

The attached file comes from one of my own HD video files that I used the "snapshot" function that comes with the free (and highly regarded) VideoLan VLC video player. I can handle that in my image editing software, just like any other image file. No complex math required.

Manfred, your example is approx 16:9 aspect ratio but as you can see William wants 5:4.

What should he do about that?

[Manfred M]

Manfred, your example is approx 16:9 aspect ratio but as you can see William wants 5:4.

What should he do about that?

The image I posted is the standard HD format; 1920 x 1080. The only thing that can be done is to crop.

Same shot with a 5:4 crop.




Unless one wants to distort the shot, throwing away pixels is the only realistic solution and that will impact the final image quality.

[tao2]

What about Windows Movie Maker? Not A video guy maself...

or K Lite codec pack

[chauncey]

dumb idea...fugetaboutit

[Shadowman]

Lightroom has QuickTime attached or available. I remember years ago when it was incompatible with Microsoft and I believe it is marketed for Apple. I know you can import videos into Lightroom and edit, add special effects. I see a warning against using the program for Windows though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEVWP2QV2is

[Manfred M]

Lightroom has QuickTime attached or available. I remember years ago when it was incompatible with Microsoft and I believe it is marketed for Apple. I know you can import videos into Lightroom and edit, add special effects. I see a warning against using the program for Windows though.

QuickTime is an ancient piece of Apple software. Until I saw your post I didn't know it was still supported on any platform by Apple.

[Manfred M]

dumb idea...fugetaboutit

Agreed! Not the best way to get a high quality image for a large print.

[Shadowman]

QuickTime is an ancient piece of Apple software. Until I saw your post I didn't know it was still supported on any platform by Apple.

I only noticed it because a message pops up every time I shut down Lightroom that the program isn't fully installed. I have a Kelby manual for Lightroom and there is an entire chapter on importing videos into Lightroom; never used the function but it looks like it works even without Quicktime. I was planning to do some video in the next few weeks and might give the Lightroom app a shot.

[chauncey]

According to my IT son...movies broadcast to your computer are of lower quality than the ones
broadcast to your television. The technique would cough out better images by shooting stills
directly from the TV. Will play with it in my spare time.

[Manfred M]

According to my IT son...movies broadcast to your computer are of lower quality than the ones
broadcast to your television. The technique would cough out better images by shooting stills
directly from the TV. Will play with it in my spare time.

If you are referring to streaming video versus directly playing a downloaded video, then your son may be onto something. Streaming video is reprocessed to save on bandwidth, but then, so are many downloads. If you are looking at cable or satellite television, the same is true there, but the level of quality loss may not be as severe. Television signal providers use compression techniques, the same way photographers do and these providers do degrade image quality to fit more channels into their infrastructure.

As a rule, I would suggest any signal other than perhaps "fiber to the home" as being quality compromised versus what you would find on physical media.