Enlarging Photos

[a_user]

I am curious as to whether or not there is software readily availble that will take and enlarge a a current 1024x768 photo say five times the size so that it could be mounted on the wall.

What kind of software does a photo lab use to increase photos to make them large enough to hang on walls without having it so pixelated its easily noticeable even from a distance? You know the ones you can submit a photo and they enlarge it for you...

You see in a number of tv shows/movies where an image is captured from a video camera or photo camera and the size is increased so they can make out such and such features, the software seems to recalculate and replicate the appropricate pixels to increase the image size.

If I wanted to take photos large enough to hang on a wall say like 20x30" as an example...at what pixel size must i take these photos so that if they were increased to this size they would look relatively normal from atleast two feet away?

I currently use the s602z and I am thinking on best quality I get 1600x1200 will that suffice? max res is 2832 x 2128 but thats interopolated from 3.1mp. How do other people tackle this?

Thanks

[yugerg]

I'm going to try to answer your question.

There are ways to successfully upsize images even taken with a low resolution cameras. I think 1024x768 would be really pushing it though.
We're talking about less than 1 mp resolution. Firstable I would shoot at the highest resolution possible without interpolation. (Unless your camera's internal interpolation process is really effective.)

I used to own a Canon D30 which is a 3.2 mp camera. I was able to upsize and print images up to 20x30 without loosing much detail. The trick is (and it's not my invention) to upsize your image in a few steps, increasing it's size by 10% at a time with bicubic resampling turned on.
I'm talking about Photoshop BTW. I can not explain why, but this process does an amazing job versus just trying to double or triple the size of an image at once. Like I said I did not loose much detail and images did not become blocky.

Ones you try this process and if it works for you, you could create an action in photoshop and assign a function key to it, so you can upsize any image by 10% at a time by simply pressing a key.

I hope this helps.
Gene

I am curious as to whether or not there is software readily availble that will take and enlarge a a current 1024x768 photo say five times the size so that it could be mounted on the wall.

What kind of software does a photo lab use to increase photos to make them large enough to hang on walls without having it so pixelated its easily noticeable even from a distance? You know the ones you can submit a photo and they enlarge it for you...

You see in a number of tv shows/movies where an image is captured from a video camera or photo camera and the size is increased so they can make out such and such features, the software seems to recalculate and replicate the appropricate pixels to increase the image size.

If I wanted to take photos large enough to hang on a wall say like 20x30" as an example...at what pixel size must i take these photos so that if they were increased to this size they would look relatively normal from atleast two feet away?

I currently use the s602z and I am thinking on best quality I get 1600x1200 will that suffice? max res is 2832 x 2128 but thats interopolated from 3.1mp. How do other people tackle this?

Thanks

[vanderstouw]

the 10% method is the method recommended by adobe people btw...

another ways is to go into image size, set the resolution to 360ppi and then set your size you want and resample - making sure to use bicubic sharper...

yes... i know this flies against reason... but scott kelby has it in his latest book...

and i have ran tests on files using the 10% method and this other method resing files up greater than 40x60 in size (obviously if you have your file set to 360 ppi, you will have to do a little research to find out what the actual size will be for your output resolution... as a lambda is printed at 200ppi)...

anyway... i couldn't see really any difference... and the 360/bicubic sharper method is WAY faster!

[larena]

You see in a number of tv shows/movies where an image is captured from a video camera or photo camera and the size is increased so they can make out such and such features, the software seems to recalculate and replicate the appropricate pixels to increase the image size.

Unfortunately, although this type of thing is possible to a certain extent, many TV shows dramatically exaggerate the possibilities. I've seen shows do things like read the numberplate reflected in the eyeball of a passing pedestrian, even though the eyeball is about 10 pixels. This simply isn't possible.

[a_user]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try this method.

[yugerg]

I didn't know it was actually recommended by Adobe. I also got it from an older Kelby's book. I'll make sure to try his new method. While it's one pass rpocess I wonder how long it takes? I guess I'll have to try to find out
because I'm sure it varies between images depending on the content.

Thanks,

Gene

the 10% method is the method recommended by adobe people btw...

another ways is to go into image size, set the resolution to 360ppi and then set your size you want and resample - making sure to use bicubic sharper...

yes... i know this flies against reason... but scott kelby has it in his latest book...

and i have ran tests on files using the 10% method and this other method resing files up greater than 40x60 in size (obviously if you have your file set to 360 ppi, you will have to do a little research to find out what the actual size will be for your output resolution... as a lambda is printed at 200ppi)...

anyway... i couldn't see really any difference... and the 360/bicubic sharper method is WAY faster!