Splitting Images

Printing Large Image on Multiple Pages. 

Personally, I’ve been using Photoshop for over 20 years and although I’m by no means a Photoshop expert I know enough to get by and utilize it with my photographs consistently.

But it’s a big expensive program that has an extensive learning curve and is not for everyone.

I work large. And could never do so without the capability to split my images and print multiple tissue paper prints to tile them together on a large substrate.

But technology is always changing. I find some changes palatable, but others extremely unpleasant. I’ve changed and updated my process for splitting images in a few teaching videos and before I know it, it’s obsolete. I wouldn’t even be surprised if this blog post is outdated as soon as I hit publish.

There are alternatives to Photoshop though. Some are more complicated than others and some do a better job of maintaining higher resolutions, so play around and find what works best for you.

In doing my research these were the ones mentioned most often. This is by no means an exhaustive list.

• Photoshop Elements is a lighter version of Photoshop with fewer features and is designed for novice editors and amateurs.
• Affinity Software is meant to be Photoshop replacement although it is still on the techy side, but like Photoshop Elements it’s much more affordable.
• Rapid Resizer allows you to load your image, enter the size you want (in inches, feet, or cm), and tiles it across multiple pages to print.
• The Rasterbator is a wall art generator and was created for printing multiple pieces to combine into huge posters. Upload your image, choose your paper settings and your output size, and you’ll get a download of your image in pdf files.
• GIMP is a free and open-source image editing software that provides similar functionalities to Photoshop. It allows you to split images into multiple tiles and offers various tools for manipulating and editing images.
• Qimage Ultimate is photo printing software that has a function to print multi panel images, allowing you to print large, high-quality posters by splitting a single image into multiple panels. This program avoids some of the pixelated low-resolution alterative options available with some of the apps.
• Tile Image Splitter is a basic online tool that specializes in splitting images into tiles. It provides options for adjusting tile size, spacing, and output formats.
• Microsoft Excel and Adobe Reader are very basic tools that can be used effectively to print large images onto multiple pages. For a tutorial of this process go here>>

As you can see there are numerous options providing a range of functionality. What you choose will depend on several factors. To just split and print an image, I’d start with the most low-tech, either Microsoft Excel or Adobe Reader options and see if you like what they produce. In these two options the splitting happens when you print.

Rasterbator, Tile Image Splitter, and Rapid Resizer all provide you with multiple images you then print one at a time.

Qimage is a photo printing software that you need to purchase. If you’re concerned about image resolution this is a great option for all your printing needs.

And if you want to do more with your images than just split them or want to decide where the split should go, than Photoshop (Regular or Elements), Affinity, or Gimp are all good options.

Let me know in the comments below what has been your experience with splitting images to print on multiple pages.

Be well….be creative,

Clare

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