Print limitations.

[RON_RIP]

Have always printed my own digital prints but always lusted after poster size prints. Was able to get prints as large as 20x30 printed at Sam's Club and I have to say that they were not bad.
However, you have to reduce the file to a jpeg, and accept their ink and paper choices.
This defeats the whole reason for which I print my own work.. I feel that I need to control every aspect of the process. So I have decided to stick to prints no larger than 13x19, which is the largest print my present printer can handle.
I now know that every single decision affecting the final appearance of my prints is totally up to me. My work stands or falls on my own skill, which is as it should be.

 

[Ruidoso Bill]

Have you tried labs like Nations? They will give you more control over what and how it's printed.

 

[Dave_W]

Printing your own work is awesome, I love it. Even little things like the choice of paper you're printing on can make a huge difference. I buy my paper from Red River (Inkjet Photographic Papers Premium Photo Paper by Red River) and love it. It's generally heavier than most papers and there customer service is excellent. Also, here's a trick that works every time. Log in to your account and fill up your cart with the papers you want then go away. In approx 2 days they'll email you and offer you a give of a 10 pack for free. Wait another 2 or 3 days and you'll get a second email offering you 5% discount. Now you can complete your order using both the 5% and the free gift. The 5% generally takes care of most of the shipping cost and I use the 10 pack to try papers I've not ordered yet. Gotta love predictability, eh?

 

[ohkphoto]

You might also want to take a look at some of the fine art papers by Hahnemuhle and Ilford. The baryta and gold fibre silk are stunning for fine art prints.

 

[RON_RIP]

I have always used Ilford Pearl but am thinking of using some paper with more texture and will look at the Red River papers. My printer is a Canon Pro 9500 Mark II. As an aside, when I order ink from Canon the are always sending me free paper. I just end up giving away because it is not a paper I would use. Ilford has a new paper that is formulated specifically for b&hphoto printing and I have ordered some to see if it is really better.

 

[BackdoorArts]

I'm fortunate that my brother does custom printing on 48" rolls, so I can go as big as I want up to that as my lesser dimension (I don't have a wall for that). I like to do my own, but have found a couple local shops that do a great job with calibrated monitors and will allow me to make tweaks on their system when I drop it off if there's a difference between what I wanted and what I see when I load it up. Gotta love that.