How do I enlarge to 11"x14" and retain image quali

Joined: 17 Oct 2005 Posts: 8

I'm new at this so need some advice.

I have a Canon cybershot 7megapixels, the image size setting on the camera is set to 7mg.

The images download and open in Photoshop as 72 resolution.

What do I need to do to enlarge these photos to 11"x14" for my grandkids portraits and keep the image quality.

I seem to lose some of the quality and the image goes a little fuzzy.

Joined: 10 Nov 2005 Posts: 53 Location: Hong Kong

Hi,
Can you try resize in PS and change to higer resolution, let's say 300 pixel/inch.

Joined: 17 Oct 2005 Posts: 8

Do I open the image in Photoshop, crop then resize to 11'x14' and have the resolution set at 300? or is there anything else I should be doing?

Joined: 10 Nov 2005 Posts: 53 Location: Hong Kong

ozechick wrote:

Do I open the image in Photoshop, crop then resize to 11'x14' and have the resolution set at 300? or is there anything else I should be doing?

What is your size of image in inch now? I guess you have your image size smaller than 11'x 14'.

You can use edit->image size, you will see the image size dialog box. Just fill in the information you want. I've printed poster before using 300 pixel per inch. It is acceptable to me.

Joined: 17 Oct 2005 Posts: 8

I'm at work so don't have the photo here, but, if I do the following will this work:

If I change the document size to 11"x14", and the resolution to 300 will the pixel dimensions change accordingly and if so, is that all I have to do?

Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 11:54 pm

Make sure you click the Resample Image Box and select Bicubic or Bicubic Smoother.

Joined: 17 Oct 2005 Posts: 8

What do these stand for and what's the difference - Bicubic or Bicubic Smoother

Joined: 10 Nov 2005 Posts: 53 Location: Hong Kong

ozechick wrote:

What do these stand for and what's the difference - Bicubic or Bicubic Smoother

If you don't click resample, then image get blur.

Joined: 07 Nov 2005 Posts: 58 Location: Newark, Ohio

I would just just leave it "as is" without resampling.

You will be much better off if you don't try to size the image up,
because then Photoshop has to create new pixels out of thin air,
and the picture quality will suffer.

Go to Edit > Image Size, and uncheck Resample Image, then
on the longer of the two sides, enter 14 inches. Photoshop will adjust
your dpi accordingly, from 72 dpi to a new value, WITHOUT actually
modifying the pixels in your image.

If you have a 7 megapixel image (probably somewhere around
3000 x 2200 pixels in size) that will work out to somewhere
around 220 pixels per inch, and you won't have to alter the
pixels in your original image at all.

After you do this, then use the crop tool to make it proportioned
for 11 x 14 by entering the correct height and width at the top.

220 will be more than enough to print a very good quality print.

Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2005 10:22 am

jetskee, I'm not sure I completely understand your post, but I don't see how you can upsample an image, and maintain its quality without adding pixels. Maybe, if your starting with a image at 300 dpi, and upsampling only a small amount so you still end up with a reasonable dpi (~220 let's say). Any increase in the size of of your pixels is going to cause some loss of detail, therefore you need to increase the number of pixels. Also, these days the Bicubic algorithms are quite good.

ozechick, the Bicubic methods of resampling are just algorithms that place new pixels in the gaps that develop when you increase the size of the image while trying to maintain resolution.

Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2005 11:18 am

In PS menu bar, go to Image>Image Size

With Resample Image deselected (no check in box), change 72 to 300 and the print size of the image display

If it is less than 11 by 14 you will need to interpolate/upsample to get to the size you want. Are you familiar with the pros and cons of interpolation?

Joined: 17 Oct 2005 Posts: 8

I haven't got into interpolate/upsample so don't understand it fully. Although I can get the idea of what you're saying about it.

If I have my photo open in photoshop at 72

go to image/image size and untick the resample image

Change res to 300

(do I now change the photo to 11x14 or crop first)

(when do I check resample again)

(If I change size then crop, what do I do when I want to crop the photo and bring it back to 11x14 )

If I print a 10x8 whithout doing anything but crop and resize it seems to come out fine.

Although I know things change from photo to photo, I need some kind of basic running order to print photos of 10x8 and 11x14 that I need to crop from my 7mg digi photo.

Or am I just confusing the hellout of you as well as me *G*

Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 577 Location: Rochester, NY

I would just take it to your lab and print it without any size adjustments. While the image may be tagged at 72 dpi, I would also guess that the image size of the original file is well above 11x14.

Joined: 07 Nov 2005 Posts: 58 Location: Newark, Ohio

supercell wrote:

jetskee, I'm not sure I completely understand your post, but I don't see how you can upsample an image, and maintain its quality without adding pixels.

I totally agree. But I'm saying that the image size is large enough WITHOUT having Photoshop upsize it and create new pixels out of thin air
just to get it up to 300dpi.

If it is a 3000 x 2000 image, at 72dpi, that means the image size would
show around 42 inches x 28 inches in Photoshop. Resize the 42 inch
side to 14 inches (without selecting resample) and photoshop will just
change the DPI to match by increasing the 72 dpi to 215 dpi. The
image remains 3000 x 2000 pixels, but the change in dpi decreases its
print size, without altering pixels in the image.

At 215-220dpi it will still look great when printed.

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 12:15 am

I'm going to make my next slogan.........

"Resizing an image is not taboo"

lol.... I say it playfully so please no evil comments...

However, it is not the taboo everyone makes it out to be. I have resized images in a number of ways and have gotten excellent results. I print 24x36 prints now and have been more than satisfied with 16x20 prints from the 6MP dSLR. However, I will say it pays to start with a bigger file. Resizing a 10 or 12MP imaeg is a better option than resizing a 6MP shot, but with the right care you can get great 16x20 from a good 6MP image. By "good" I mean technically. If it's out of focus, it's out of focus and resizing it won't make it better.

Resizing an image does not send the image to the "crappy" pile by default. In fact, in most cases, it'd be hard for most to tell it is a "resized" image.

Also, printing an image at something under 300 dpi is not a big deal. However, that is far more dependent on the picture. Not all photos can simply be sent out at 200 dpi....

so here it is again........

"Resizing an image is not taboo"