How to Clear an Enlarged Picture
Clearing or sharpening an enlarged picture was nearly impossible when photographers still worked in the darkroom. The only way to get even a minor success was to re-shoot the original image several times, each time making it a little larger until you approached the size and clarity you wanted. While clearing an enlarged photo with photo editing software works better than this, the technology has yet to make it easy to make really big enlargements without losing sharpness. You can make it a bit better, however.
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Instructions
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Shoot all your digital images at the highest resolution possible. Make sure you shoot in your camera's "raw" format. By shooting at the best quality, meaning highest resolution, you put the most detail in the photo. This makes it much easier to get bigger enlargements that are clear. "Raw" format records virtually every detail of your images, so when you take them into your photo editing software, you will have more to work with. "Raw" is not compressed, which means it will prevent noise or color artifacts that will appear in JPEG images.
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Open your digital image in your photo editing software application. Go to the tool to adjust the image size, usually under the "Image" menu and "Image Size". Here is where you will need to know how your digital camera shoots images, because most of them are different from each other. Some cameras use a low "Resolution" such as 72 pixels per inch with a very large "Width" and "Height," such as 40-by-50 inches or more. Others shoot in normal dimensions with higher resolutions, such as 300 ppi and 9-by-12 inches. The standard for most photo prints is 300 ppi, so make adjustments here without significantly changing the file size. So, for example, if you have a 17mb file, change "Resolution" to 300 ppi and adjust "Width" and "Height" to keep the file 17mb. This may be a 4-by-6-inch print, which would be too small for an enlargement.
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Save a copy of the file and close it. Reopen it, change the "Width" dimension by one inch to 5 inches. Keep "Resolution" at 300 ppi. If your photo editing software has a choice to resample the image, choose "Bicubic Smoother". Click "OK," save your image and close it. Open it again, move the "Width" up another inch and repeat the other parts. Do this repeatedly until you have achieved the enlargement size you want. This takes some time and may annoy you, but it is one of the few ways to go from a small digital image to an enlarged one without losing a lot of clarity.
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Repeat the process in Step 3 until you have achieved the enlargement size you want. This takes some time and may annoy you, but it is one of the few ways to go from a small digital image to an enlarged one without losing a lot of clarity.
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Use the basic tools in your photo editing software package to clear up your enlargements. Most such software contains a sharpening filter ironically called "Unsharp Mask". This usually is the best tool for adding sharpness to your images because it gives you the most specific controls. You can use the standard "Sharpen" or "Sharpen Edges" but often these provide either too little sharpening or create an unnatural look. "Unsharp Mask" on the other hand, typically provides three controls: "Amount", "Radius" and "Threshold". The "Amount" is how sharp you want to make the image. "Radius" sharpens out around the edges in images more or less as you choose. "Threshold" can dampen the effect a bit, helping to clarify an image without overdoing it.
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References
- Photo Credit Pixland/Pixland/Getty Images
