Enlargements
40x50 H Enlargement
This item can be picked up in our store.
We can ship this item to your home.
In a hurry? Choose RUSH at checkout for our fastest turnaround time.
Showcase Life's Biggest Moments with Photo Enlargements
There's a moment when a photo stops being something you scroll past and becomes something you live with. That's what an enlargement does. We print yours on genuine professional photographic paper — the heavy, substantial kind you can feel the quality of the second you pick it up — in your choice of a classic luster finish or a metallic pearl that makes color and light really come alive. Choose from sizes up to 40x60, and if you want to see it before you commit, we'll print a test first. Every enlargement is reviewed by hand before it goes out the door.
Check out our Fine Art Prints and Canvas Wraps collections — same printer, same inks, very different feel.
Questions About Enlargements
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How big can I go with my photo?
Further than most people expect. A photo from a recent phone will hold up at 16x20 and often well beyond it, because you view a big print from farther away — the detail per inch matters less as the print gets larger. Where it falls apart is images that have been through something: screenshots, photos saved off social media, anything emailed at a reduced size. You'll get a warning at upload if we don't recommend the size you've chosen, and you're always welcome to send it over or bring it in and we'll look at it with you. More on resolution in our FAQ.
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Luster or pearl?
Luster if you're not sure. It handles skin tones beautifully, it doesn't throw glare from a ceiling light or a window, and it's what most portrait and wedding photographers order. Pearl is the one for images built on light — water, chrome, wet pavement, a sunset, city lights. At wall size that shimmer is the first thing anyone notices walking into the room. It's a strong effect though, and a soft low-contrast portrait can look oversold on it. Ask to see a sample if you're torn; we keep both at the counter.
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Should I get a test print?
If you're spending real money on a large piece, yes. A test lets you check sharpness at the finished size or see how your image sits on your chosen paper before we make the whole thing. It's $10, and it's included free when you order with color correction. See the Test Prints tab above for how the two kinds differ and which one answers your question.
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Do I need it mounted?
Depends where it's going. Framing it? You don't need mounting, though a thin art board keeps things flat inside the frame. Standing it on an easel for a party or a memorial? Mounting is what makes that possible — foam board is rigid and holds its own shape. See the Materials tab for the two boards we use and what each is good for. If you're framing a mounted print, check your frame has depth for the board plus glass and mats.
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How long will it take?
Check the Production Times tab above for the current estimate by size. Add a test print and the clock starts again once you approve it, so build that in if you're working to a date. Need it sooner? Rush is available on most sizes — call either store and we'll tell you honestly whether we can hit your deadline.
Because an enlargement is a bigger investment than a standard print, we can run a test first so you can confirm you're happy before we produce the final piece. Tests are especially useful for checking how your image looks on your selected paper, overall color, sharpness at the finished size, or color-matching to a print you already own.
We offer two kinds of tests:
| Test Type | What You Get | Best For |
|---|---|---|
Test Strip
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A partial strip (about 5″) of your image, printed at the exact size of the enlargement you ordered. | Judging resolution and sharpness — how crisp the detail will look at the final dimensions, since it's printed at true size. |
Test Print
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Your full image printed at a smaller size (around 4×6). | Checking how the image looks on your chosen paper, overall color, or matching color to an original print you bring in. |
Test Pricing
- Each test (strip or print) is $10.
- Order a test on an enlargement with color correction and the first test is included.
- Changed your mind after seeing the test? That's totally okay! We'll refund your print in full, minus $10 for each test printed.
You're welcome to come in and review the test before we produce the final enlargement.
For Artists and Photographers
If you're reproducing your own work or selling prints, test prints do something more useful than confirming a single order. We'll work with you until the color is right — matching to an original painting, a drawing, or whatever you're reproducing — adjusting and reprinting until it's where you want it. Printers can't hit every pigment a painter can, so this is a conversation rather than a single pass.
Once we get there, we hand you the color-corrected file. From then on you can order as is and every print will come out identical to the one you approved, with no proofing and no color correction charge. Do it once and reordering an edition takes no thought at all — which is the whole point if you're selling your work.
Two Papers
Both are genuine resin-coated photographic stock at 10 mil — a paper core sealed between thin plastic layers, the way darkroom photographic paper has always been built. That construction is what holds a print flat at wall size. The difference between them is the surface.
Luster — Epson Premium Luster
260 gsm · 10 mil · semi-glossA fine semi-gloss surface with a slight tooth to it. Enough sheen for deep blacks and saturated color, without the hard reflections that make a glossy print unreadable under a ceiling light. Epson rates it at 97% brightness and 97% opacity, so the base is clean and bright with no show-through, and it holds a high D-Max — shadows stay rich rather than collapsing toward gray. Resists fingerprints. This is the stock wedding, portrait, and school photographers have used for decades.
Pearl — LexJet Sunset Photo Metallic
255 gsm · 10 mil · high gloss metallicA genuine metallic sheen worked into the base with a high-gloss reflective layer over it. Until this paper existed, the metallic look was only available from labs running traditional chemical processing. Highlights take on real dimensionality and black-and-white picks up a depth flat paper can't produce.
The Printer
A Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-4000 — a 44-inch professional photographic printer, not a poster machine. Twelve-channel head, eleven pigment inks plus a chroma optimizer, including dedicated blue and red channels that reach colors a four-ink printer can't produce, and light cyan and light magenta so gradations stay smooth instead of stepping. Two separate gray inks keep skin tones neutral and black-and-white genuinely neutral rather than faintly green or magenta. Pigment ink means solid particles that sit stable in the paper's coating rather than dissolving into it.
Mounting
We heat press enlargements in house at any size through 40x60, on your choice of two boards.
3/16" foam board, white or black, from Kool Tack — a US manufacturer whose dry mount adhesives are acid-free and activate at a low enough temperature to be safe for pigment ink and photographic surfaces. This is the one for a photo board on an easel: graduations, showers, birthdays, anniversaries, memorial services. Rigid, and it stands on its own.
1/32" black art board — Crescent Berkeley 4-ply matboard with a solid black core, so the edge reads black rather than showing a white line. Much thinner than foam, which makes it the choice when the print is going into a frame and depth is at a premium, or when you want a clean dark edge on a piece displayed without glass. If you're framing a mounted print, check that your frame has room for the board along with the glass and any mats.
Handling
Enlargements leave the printer dry and ready, so there's no curing period. These are photographic surfaces, though, and the gloss and metallic finishes will show a scratch if something drags across them. We handle every print with clean hands and sleeve it before it leaves the shop — keep it in that sleeve until it's going into a frame or onto a mount and it'll reach the wall exactly as it left us.
| Service | Bloomfield Hills | West Bloomfield | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Print only | Mounted | Print only or Mounted | |
| Rush +20% | 1–2 hours | 2–3 hours | Not available |
| Standard | 4–6 hours | 5–7 hours | ~24 hours |
| No Hurry -10% | ~24 hours | ~24 hours | 2 days |