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Enlarging images and photos in Photoshop
It's very common that one has to use an
image for printing taken from a small
size or from a jpeg. These images are usually small
in size and you can clearly spot the
jpeg compression in form of small
squares. If you wanted to use such an
image for printing, you can either use
them in only very small size or the
above mentioned squares will be visible.
Obviously it's better to avoid using low
res jpeg images for printing, but
sometimes we can't avoid it. With the
following procedure you can enlarge and
improve your image slightly, so that it
becomes printable. It can never be sharp
and detailed, but at least it will not
be jagged.
Once we
enlarge it to its double size the problems
of the jpeg compression will become obvious
showing signs of pixilation.
The Fix:
First enlarge
your it's double size with Image/Image Size.
Make sure the Resample
image option is selected and it is set to
Bicubic. The small squares resulting
from the jpeg compression are very much
evident.
Second step to clear the jagged pixels
around the edges apply Filter/Noise/Despeckle.
This makes the image softer.
Now enlarge
the image to it's double again and apply
Filter/Stylize/Diffuse with the Anisotropic
option. This will smoothen the edges further
and it enhances the edges of the image. The
reason we have to enlarge the image before
applying this filter is that this filter is
extremely evident at 100% and would destroy
the reality of the image. At this size you
can see that this filter works as if a human
would go over the image with a brush and
repaint it, improving the edges and getting
rid of inconsistencies.
Next reduce
the image back by 50% and apply
Filter/Sharpen/Unsharp mask with the options
Amount 60%, Radius 2 px, Threshold 2 levels.
You can experiment with these options
depending on your image.
NOTE: THIS
FIX IS ONLY A GUIDE, BETTER TO SEND GREAT
QUALITY IMAGES OR... use HI RES SCANS FROM
YOUR PHOTOS.
TIP: TAKE
DIGITAL PHOTOS AT MAXIMUM RESOLUTION
TIP: ALWAYS START BIG
Image Enlargement
Tip — Add Noise
Sometimes you need to enlarge images to
extreme big sizes and you just can't get
hold of any original that would have more
details for your print. There is only one
more important thing you can do, besides the
things I've already discussed: add noise.
In PhotoShop go to Filter/Noise/Add Noise.
Try the different settings for different
visuals. The benefits are much more evident
in print and in big size.
Also see our
article with further methods to
enlarge
images for printing using more filter
methods. |