As Christmas is coming up, I've been trying to figure out what to get everyone and my boyfriend has shown interest in eventually having several maps of his favorite video games printed out and displayed.

I've looked into a few websites that print out images but it's difficult to gauge the quality and reliability of them, so I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to where to go for this? Or if there are any websites that might sell video game maps, as I haven't had any luck finding any that I'm looking for :<

This is the main map that I'm interested in getting a print of.

Also once I have whatever map printed out, can anyone recommend any good custom framing website that are fairly priced? My previous visits to Michael's and Hobby Lobby for a different picture that I needed framed was estimated at a little over $100, and that was with their frame sale D:

The problem with the maps that you have selected is that the quality and colour is going to be different, as you are finding web-images which go by RGB colour. Basically RGB has like, hundreds of thousands of colour combinations to choose from, and is pretty much the colours that we see. But printers will be using CMYK format, which only has a few thousand combinations. So you're going to be going from hundreds of thousands of colours to much less, so you're definitely going to lose some colour quality there. Resolution from the web are also 72 PPI, pixels per inch. Print uses 300 DPI. Which means there is a LOT more dots within an inch in print than there is in web, so the printer is going to try and fill those dots the best that it is able, giving you a blurrier image. So basically no matter what print company you end up choosing, you should be aware that you are going to be losing colour and image resolution quality. It's not going to look as crisp as the image you see on your screen.

As far as who to go with, I don't know any of the companies by you so I can't really make a decision. By me, I've gone to Wal-mart, Shoppers drug mart, and Staples to have the posters that I create printed. No problems, everything turns out pretty beautiful, and all three places had similar quality. I seem to tend to go back to Staples, though. I like them. As far as framing goes, depending on how large your image is, I recently spotted these frames that don't actually have a frame around it (are they frames..? idk) but they will still protect your poster and enable it to be hung on the wall like a regular frame. So it was just sort of the backing of the frame I guess. With a glass cover for it I think. So you would be able to see the entirety of your poster. And they were pretty cheap too! Like $15. Custom framing, as you have probably found out, is veeeeery pricey. I've only done it once, personally. Never again. I'd rather buy a cheaper frame and then plan my artworks to be able to fit within it.

Ping me if you have anymore questions :3 The poster canvas is a nice size, and should still be a successful print, but I'm just trying to say how you'll be losing more image quality by it being from the web than you will ever lose from whatever print company you choose.

Ah, I had no idea about the RGB to CMYK and resolution D: That does make sense though. And I'm not sure why going to Staples didn't occur to me, there is one nearby which would probably be the easier option! There's also a Walmart close, but I don't particularly like going there :P I can ask when I go in to see about getting the image printed, but do you know if Staples prints custom sizes or do they have specific measurements that you have to choose from?

Custom framing is insanely expensive, unfortunately I bought a print of an art piece without really thinking about the framing issue, since it's a non standard size :/ So it's just sitting in my closet for now until I can afford to get it framed. Now I know to look at picture size before buying things though. Where did you find the frame/protector things that you mentioned? Those sound like they could work out well.

Thank you for the very in depth reply!