Creating a "High Resolution" image ?

[Crotal Bell]

One of my co-workers in Birmingham would like to enlarge a photo I took of a Swan parent with babies on the lake and use it on the wall of their new quiet contemplation room.

I only have my finished JPEG version and they have asked for a high-resolution copy for enlarging and printing. This is all new to me and I don't know if there's anything I can do to boost the resolution before sending them a copy?

We have a copy unit in Birmingham and they intend to enlarge it and place it on a foamex backing which will be mounted on the wall.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[realspeed]

it all depends on how large is wanted. Going too big then it starts pixelating. then again it depends on how many mega pixels in Jpeg your camera uses. Tip better the shoot in Jpg and RAW so you have the option

 

[swanseamale47]

Theres a free AI program called Upscayl that does a pretty decent job of upsizing.

 

[Adam-G]

How many Megapixels in the JPEG and how big do they want the print?

Generally if I'm prepping something to print, I go back to my Raw, export it as a TIFF and upload it to the print service I use to ensure they've got a version that's free of JPEG compression, for me that's almost as important as the resolution.

There's upscaling software around too, but I've never had the need to use any of it.

 

[Crotal Bell]

Thanks for the advice folks, I always shoot raw and JPEG so I have two cards with images in case something goes wrong, but to be honest as a pleasure snapper I don't keep many raw files, I tend to just compose an image the way I like it and just save a copy to one of my folders.

I'll have to dig out the image later and see how many megapixels are in the final composition.

I'll see what I can do with the JPEG, or just send it to them and they can play around with their own software.

 

[woof woof]

I suppose a lot hangs on how big you want to print and how much detail people want to see with their noses up against the print. As this is a quiet contemplation picture do they really want to see every detail in every feather?

I've just checked some pictures I've printed to A3 and one is a Canon 20D picture, 3504 x 2336, 5.13mb and it looks fine or even lovely at A3 so although I could be wrong I doubt you'll have any issue going to A3 or even larger with your more modern higher mp count cameras.

 

[Harlequin565]

Just send them the original jpeg. Unless it was taken 15 years ago on a potato or cropped to within an inch of its life, it'll probably be fine. Resolution needs to be combined with viewing distance and assuming your viewers aren't anti-contemplative pixel peeping photographers with their nose up against a large print, the longer viewing distance (say 6 feet if it's intended to be a larger print) means that viewers won't be able to discern imperfections. As long as the file is around 3600 x 2400 (8.6Mp) it'll look great from an appropriate distance no matter what size it is.

 

[Crotal Bell]

I suppose a lot hangs on how big you want to print and how much detail people want to see with their noses up against the print. As this is a quiet contemplation picture do they really want to see every detail in every feather?

I've just checked some pictures I've printed to A3 and one is a Canon 20D picture, 3504 x 2336, 5.13mb and it looks fine or even lovely at A3 so although I could be wrong I doubt you'll have any issue going to A3 or even larger with your more modern higher mp count cameras.

Just send them the original jpeg. Unless it was taken 15 years ago on a potato or cropped to within an inch of its life, it'll probably be fine. Resolution needs to be combined with viewing distance and assuming your viewers aren't anti-contemplative pixel peeping photographers with their nose up against a large print, the longer viewing distance (say 6 feet if it's intended to be a larger print) means that viewers won't be able to discern imperfections. As long as the file is around 3600 x 2400 (8.6Mp) it'll look great from an appropriate distance no matter what size it is.

Thanks chaps.