Small Pics into Poster Size

[SoCal Steve]

Here's another little tip from Photoshop Guru Scott Kelby. I have no idea why it works, neither does he, but it does!

It seems that when you increase the size of an image in 10% steps it doesn't seem to soften or blur the image. Weird, huh?!

With Resample Image Turned On to Bicubic
Go to Image > Document Size > Percent >110%
Repeat until you get up to the final size you want.

Scott suggests making this into a PS action to make repetitions easier.

Enjoy.

(Thanks to johndec for pointing out my resample omission.)

[JordanP]

Thanks - definitley worth a try

Cheers,

[johndec]

Here's another little tip from Photoshop Guru Scott Kelby. I have no idea why it works, neither does he, but it does!

It seems that when you increase the size of an image in 10% steps it doesn't seem to soften or blur the image. Weird, huh?!

Go to Image > Document Size > Percent >110%
Repeat until you get up to the final size you want.

Scott suggests making this into a PS action to make repetitions easier.

Enjoy.

He also mentions that you have to switch the "Resample Image" checkbox to Bicubic Smoother. Most important....

[SoCal Steve]

Oops! a very important note. Many humble thanks for adding that.

[sirhc55]

This method has been around for some time but it should be done in LAB mode on the lightness channel for the best results. It is also not recommended for pics with straight lines

[JordanP]

Sorry for the ignorange Chris ... but what is LAB mode?

[sirhc55]

Sorry for the ignorange Chris ... but what is LAB mode?

LAB (in PS) is a 3 channel mode developed to achieve consistency amongst various devices including monitors and printers.

When you convert to LAB through mode-LAB on the menu bar you are presented with a channel representing lightness, a channel for green thro’ red and another for blue thro’yellow.

Basically what it gives you is greater control over luminosity and colour independent of each other giving more refined editing possibilities.

[JordanP]

cheers - I'll have a play. (love this forum)

[SoCal Steve]

I think "Bicubic Sharper" works better for moderate size increases.
Might be too much for lots of multiples. Maybe a combination of Bicubic, Bicubic Smoothing and Bicubic Sharper would be worth trying.

Photoshop CS has these options. Can't remember if PS 7 did.

[sirhc55]

I used this method from 2000 through 2004 with the D1 which had a 2.7Mp sensor - that’s what I love about the D70, a bigger sensor.

But even with the D70 I have had to increase pic sizes to over 100Mb and to do this I use pxl SmartScale - very fast over the 10% increase method.

[Hybrid]

The bicubic sharper/smoother option is only in PSCS I think. The sharper option is for downsizing usually while the smoother is for upsizing.

There's another tool for doing this sort of thing called Genuine Fractals (http://www.lizardtech.com/products/gf/) - I haven't tried it but it looks interesting.

Cheers,

Stephen

[sirhc55]

The bicubic sharper/smoother option is only in PSCS I think. The sharper option is for downsizing usually while the smoother is for upsizing.

There's another tool for doing this sort of thing called Genuine Fractals (http://www.lizardtech.com/products/gf/) - I haven't tried it but it looks interesting.

Cheers,

Stephen

Stephen - I use both PixelScale and Genuine Fractals in PS7 and PSCS. The only problem with Genuine Fractals is that it save the image as a .stn file separate to the original file. You then have to open this file through PS whereas PixelScale makes the conversion in one step within PS.

[Hybrid]

Stephen - I use both PixelScale and Genuine Fractals in PS7 and PSCS. The only problem with Genuine Fractals is that it save the image as a .stn file separate to the original file. You then have to open this file through PS whereas PixelScale makes the conversion in one step within PS.

Thanks Chris - I'll make sure I give PixelScale a go when I need to do something like this. Do you notice any other differences between the 2? I would assume the output quality is very similar?

Cheers,

Stephen

[sirhc55]

Stephen - I don’t think you would be able to pick the difference - they are both excellent and as I stated earlier in this thread I often have to take images up to 100Mb+ with no problems