How to Enlarge Digital Photos?

[screature]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by krs
	Not "cheap" but simple. I have both Photoshop and Elements so I will certainly try your suggestion. I just want to be able to do these enlargements quickly and efficiently without having to fiddle too much (if at all) with settings.

If you have a bunch of images to do just set up an Action in Photoshop to automate the process.

[screature]

Here is the screen capture I took earlier and enlarged 200% using Save for web & devices in Photoshop using bicubic smoother. Because it is 72dpi and a screen capture it isn't great by comparison but not bad either.

enlarge.jpg
original screen capture

enlarge_up200.jpg
enlarged 200%

You have to click on it to see the real results as ehMac shrinks the "preview"

[krs]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by screature
	If you have a bunch of images to do just set up an Action in Photoshop to automate the process.

I don't think I can....

The photos I start with are anywhere from 400 to 800 pixels wide.
I need to enlarge them to either 1200 pixels wide or 1400 to 1600 pixels wide if I need to crop.

So the enlargement percentage as well as the original and final size vary from photograph to photograph.

I also just tried a sample picture I enlarged yesterday using Preview, I went from 800 pixels to 1600 pixels wide - doing that in Elements was fast and easy but the resulting image was really no better than what I got using preview.

[screature]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by krs
	I don't think I can.... The photos I start with are anywhere from 400 to 800 pixels wide. I need to enlarge them to either 1200 pixels wide or 1400 to 1600 pixels wide if I need to crop. So the enlargement percentage as well as the original and final size vary from photograph to photograph. I also just tried a sample picture I enlarged yesterday using Preview, I went from 800 pixels to 1600 pixels wide - doing that in Elements was fast and easy but the resulting image was really no better than what I got using preview.

I don't have Elements so I don't know if you have the option to choose the resampling method or not... however starting with such small photos to begin with is always going to yield only so-so results.

[screature]

Here is the screen capture enlarged 200% using PS and Preview as you should see the PS enlargement is noticeably sharper...

enlarge_up200.jpg
PS

enlarge_200pre.jpg
Preview

Again you have to click on the images to see the real results.

[krs]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by screature
	I don't have Elements so I don't know if you have the option to choose the resampling method or not... however starting with such small photos to begin with is always going to yield only so-so results.

Yes, you do.

It's not the default but I selected the one you recommended which is also shown as "best for enlargements"

Don't get me wrong, the results were so-so acceptable, just not visibly any better than what I got using preview.

[krs]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by screature
	Here is the screen capture enlarged 200% using PS and Preview as you should see the PS enlargement is noticeably sharper...

Yes, I can see that.

But with the colour photo the difference is not noticeable; I'll have to check and try a few different ones to see.

[screature]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by krs
	Yes, I can see that. But with the colour photo the difference is not noticeable; I'll have to check and try a few different ones to see.

Maybe try PS as opposed to Elements it is after all a consumer version and it's resampling may not be as robust as PS.

[krs]

OK, I'll have to try that later....

Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

[screature]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by krs
	OK, I'll have to try that later.... Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

Most welcome...