Increasing Image size in Photoshop

They have: 2 posts

Joined: Aug 2001

Hi all,

I'm wondering if there's a way to zoom in and/or increase an image size in Photoshop without having the image become all pixelated. There are times when I have to crop a photo or image because I only want a specific part of it, but it leaves the image too small. When I try to increase the size or resolution, I usually lose some image sharpness.

Is there a better way? Thanks in advance!

mjames's picture

They have: 2,064 posts

Joined: Dec 1999

Welcome to TWF!

The best way I know how to do this is (in Photoshop 5.5), go to Help > Resize Image > Select "Online" > and enter your new image size. It calculates the width if you enter your new height, or vice versa.

TheGizmoid's picture

They have: 168 posts

Joined: Apr 2001

One factor is the dpi of the original. If it was scanned at 300 dpi or such, enlarging will work better.

But if it's 72 dpi like from most digicams, scaling up won't work as well, even with interpolation.

sersun's picture

They have: 32 posts

Joined: Aug 2001

You will always lose image quality when enlarging. If that weren't the case, you could keep zooming and zooming until you were looking at microscopic particles.

Digital images are made up one-color pixels or blocks of pixels. Once you enlarge the image, those blocks just get bigger, making the image look "pixelated." When you enlarge an RGB image in photoshop (like a JPEG), it tries to smooth out those chunks, reulting in a blurry appearance.If you are enlarging a GIF image, try converting to RGB mode first, so photoshop can smooth it a bit.

If possible, always scan the image at a resolution higher than the final product will be (>72 dpi, if web) so you can increase the size without losing perceived quality.

Sersun

sersun

They have: 11 posts

Joined: Aug 2001

You will always lose some degree of sharpness when enlarging a picture or other graphic no matter what program you use.

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Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

Here's an article on photography for the web and image resolution that may interest you

http://www.webreference.com/graphics/column50/

BTW - this column by Wendy Peck at Webreference is really good - might be a good idea to check out some of her other articles while you're there.

Roo's picture

She has: 840 posts

Joined: Apr 1999

I discoverd this just before my less than 8 month old scanner died. (GRRR)

If it's something you can scan, and your scanner will increase size, I found that enlarging through the scanner does an excellent job at enlarging withoug distortion. It even worked well with very small very old photographs.

This photo was taken in 1989 with an old Vivitar camera, the print is 3 1/2 X 4 1/2 inches..this is enlarged through the scanner 300X and then pasted into Photoshop. I scanned it at only 72 DPI, and couldn't belive the job it did.

Trying to enlarge it in Photoshop caused some fuzziness and atrifacts.

http://www.sapphiredesign.net/weblog/joshsurgery1.jpg

I've discovered my printer does a great job of enlarging to 8X10 as well.A guy form HP was there the day I bought it and did say that 2100 and up is "true" print quality.

But I've found that even incresing someting to 300 in Photoshop made it distorted.

Roo

Keegan's picture

They have: 300 posts

Joined: Aug 2001

This is my 2000x2000 self portrait zoomed 400,000 percent.

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