How Can I Enlarge a Photo?

[Tootech]

Hi all,

 

I could do with some help with photo manipulation.

 

I have been asked if I can create A4 or A3 size prints of 6 x 4 photographs. I know enough to scan them in, and tinker, and I also know that increasing the size of a photo doesn't work too well in Photoshop - I tried :(

 

Does anyone know how to do it so that the enlarged photo will still have a good level of detail.

[Plastic Nev]

If you avoid turning the scan into JPEG and can save it as the full file, say bitmap then you should get some amount of enlargement without pixelation showing up.

nev.

[wellies]

Some images for enlargement benefit from being turned into vector drawings first. Then they can be enlarged without loss of definition. This isn't likely to work with detailed photos though. The vector conversion process can't usually produce a photo exactly.

 

Loss of detail/pixelation might be reduced if you scan in the photos at a very high resolution (more detail to expand).

 

You could also experiment with taking a close-up photo of the photo with a digital camera. This will give you an image with lots of pixels to play with. The end result is going to depend on the quality of the original photo and lighting though.

 

There may be no ideal answer.

[Tootech]

Thanks guys,

 

I am going to scan a photo at max res and attempt to enlarge it to A4, I'll keep you posted.

 

I also found some commercial products that claim to do the job...

 

Alien Skin Software: Blow Up 2

 

onOne Software - Award Winning Plugins for Adobe Photoshop

 

Not sure about parting with my 'hard earned', but worth a look :)

[wellies]

I read that 'Blow Up 2' does convert the bitmap photo to a vector graphic in order to achieve the enlargement. I have tried that in a couple of programs in the past but they didn't give acceptable results. However, I was recently offered Serif DrawPlus 2 at a price that was difficult to refuse (around £10-00).

 

I have done a couple of experiments with bitmap to vector conversions using this program and the results are surprisingly good. Using a best definition conversion makes the program run slowly and the larger the image is made, the slower it runs. A better computer might overcome that though.

 

Nonetheless, it shows that conversion to vector can work better than I thought. I notice the price of 'Blow Up 2' is quite high and it no doubt does a top job. The £10-00 DrawPlus program could give an acceptable enlargement though. I can try and produce an example if you like, providing I can get my ageing comparatively low-spec computer to handle the detail within half an hour or so without the program hanging. :) A smallish image wouldn't be too bad.

[DSTM]

A very interesting Thread Guys.

I am following it, with interest.

I have small photos, 60yrs old, and would like to enlarge them.

Hope you Guys, can find a Solution.

Sure it will benefit, a lot of members.:)

[Tootech]

Ok, thanks for your input Wellies, I have had a quick go with an old B/W photo scanned on my HP all in one - read that as rubbish.

 

Here are the Photoshop and Blowup versions of one small area. The photo was about 4 x 6, and I have taken it to A4. Photoshop looks the worse of the two. Also note that I have realised just how bad the scanner is - was done at full res using Vuescan, and I really need a better source to play with - perhaps a digi cam photo as you suggested.

 

I'm going to have a go with a good source later

 

Photoshop

 

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Blowup

 

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Edited September 27, 2009 by Tootech

[wellies]

I did this one using Xara Xtreme's 'Bitmap Tracer'. It did a slightly better job than the mentioned DrawPlus 2. It looks like the program would probably make quite a good job of enlarging a 6x4 photo to A4 size. I think the increase in size shown here would be quite a bit more than what's needed for that:

 

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u78/Mart44/marts-graphics/enlarge.jpg