Photo Mosaic Printing Guide
A photo mosaic is the rare digital image that improves when printed large — the bigger the print, the more readable the individual tiles, and the two-distance effect comes fully alive. Printing one well means understanding the relationship between cell size, viewing distance and resolution.
Cell Size Decides Viewing Distance
The tile size on the final print controls where the mosaic can be enjoyed. Tiles of about one centimeter read clearly at arm’s length and disappear into the image from a few meters away — the classic gallery behavior. Much smaller tiles blur into the main image even close up; much larger ones make the main image hard to assemble.
Practical rule: decide where the print will hang, then choose the print size and cell count together so tiles land near that one-centimeter sweet spot.
Resolution and DPI
Print quality is about pixels per cell, not just total pixels. For a sharp print at 300 DPI, a one-centimeter tile needs roughly 120 pixels across. Multiply by the cell count along one edge and you have the output resolution you need — a 100-cell-wide mosaic wants a 12,000-pixel-wide file for that tile size.
This is why high cell counts and high-resolution export matter for large prints, and why the desktop software’s limits (up to 40,000 cells in the PRO edition) exist.
Choosing a Print Size
Small prints (desk size): keep the cell count modest, or tiles become unreadable specks.
Medium prints (living-room size): the sweet spot for most portrait and family mosaics.
Large prints (hall, office, event): where high cell counts pay off — tiles stay readable and the main image carries across the room.
Materials and Finishing
Mosaics reward matte or low-glare finishes: viewers lean in close, and reflections fight the tile detail. Whatever the material, ask for a proof or close-up sample if the order is large — tile legibility is the one thing to check before production.
Our own printing service’s confirmed sizes, materials and finishing options are published on the printing page as they are finalized.
Before You Send Anything to Print
View the file at 100% zoom and check a few tiles for sharpness.
Check the main image from a distance — squint test works.
Confirm the print size against the cell count using the math above.
Confirm color expectations — screens are brighter than any print.