Could anyone enlarge a picture file for me please.

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

I have a photograph I would like to have made into a canvas.

I lost my original but I am able to download a copy of the picture from Facebook.

I have it saved but it’s only just over 540 kB.

Is anyone able to enlarge it for me without losing quality.

 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

What size is the Facebook download? It’s going to have to be a fairly high res copy to go to a large size, how big are you thinking?

[Mark (smokey mow)]

The file size is small because it's a low resolution image, so if you enlarge it the pixles will just get bigger not clearer.

Try zooming in on the FB file you have and If the detail isn't there in the image you have then unfortunately it wont look that good when enlarged.

 

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Hi Dave. The Facebook download is 576 KB.

The shop is asking for the biggest size I can send.

They have said that the 576 is too small.

[Rusty Nuts]

You should be able to interpolate the image I think photoshop can do this.

[Andy Banks]

23 minutes ago, Rusty Nuts said:

You should be able to interpolate the image I think photoshop can do this.

To a degree yes. Fireworks and Photoshop should be able to resample the image. From 570k it's unlikely to be of any use for a decent print though.

We can have a go though. I've got the software, email me the pic Geoffrey...

[Kingster]

The printer is right, a 570kb file will be way too small. Just making the size bigger will not help in any way at all. 

Nigh on 30 years of using photoshop professionally is where I’m coming from by the way 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

How has the original been lost! Accidentally deleted or physically in a thumb drive that you’ve lost?

You might have more luck trying to resurrect it, if it’s just a case of deletion.

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Thankyou for all the comments.

@Andy Banks - Chairman I will send you an email.

[Kingster]

@Geoffrey (Buttercup) - North Yorkshire AO - it will not work no matter what you do to enlarge it.

The printer wants a bigger file, not the small file made into a bigger one.

Digital images are made up of a finite number of pixels, each one a different colour. If you have a small image consisting of say 1,000 pixels, it can be increased in size using a technique called 'interpolation'. So if you want it to be 4x bigger, it needs 4,000 pixels.

The software looks at the pixels and say one is red and the next one is green, it makes a guess that if we need more pixels adding, then it will mix the two colours and add in some pixels that are in-between it in terms of colour/saturation/brightness. So the result is a red/green blurring effect. The software will attempt to 'sharpen' this, but it can only go so far. As an alternative, the software can use the 'nearest neighbour' to increase the number of pixels, but then you end up with a blocky 'pixelated' look.

If you have an image on a computer screen that looks ok and it is roughly 7cm x 5cm on screen (bear in mind all screens are different - but for sake of argument...) it will only print on paper at around 3.5cm x 2.5cm - which is a 1/4 of the size in terms of the number of pixels. This is becasue a screen is normally 72ppi (pixels per inch) and a commercial press requires around 300ppi when printing - ie 4x the pixels.

So, your facebook image might print OK if you want to produce a business card, but if you want anything bigger then it will simply look blurred or pixelated. The bigger it ends up, the worse it looks.

For example - the picture below looks OK on screen

but increase the file size to something that can print out at the size of a photograph it looks like this when printed on paper ...

If the pixels are not there, you can't just add them in without losing detail and quality.

Hope this helps explain things 

[Howsafe Workwear and Safety Equipment]

agree with Chris on this one - I have resampled low res pics in the past and it can help a little especially if you add some sharpening etc - however going from the sized image you have to a canvas you are not going to get the results you want (unless quality is not that important)

 

good luck

 

[TableLeg]

12 hours ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary said:

How has the original been lost! Accidentally deleted or physically in a thumb drive that you’ve lost?

You might have more luck trying to resurrect it, if it’s just a case of deletion.

As Dave says, perhaps there is a way to salvage the original image. Even formatted drives can often recover lots of data. Did you take the photo originally? If so did you then transfer the image anywhere else? Could it still be on the camera memory card?

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

HI men. 

Thankyou so much for all the detailed replies.

I did originally take the image in 2016 and I cannot believe I have deleted  it as I have all the others. 

I have been through around 5000 pictures in case it went into a different folder trying to find it but no luck.

Thanks again for everyone’s help.

This is the one I wanted.

[Kingster]

That image will print out nicely at a size of 13.5cm x 9cm - you could get away with a bit bigger but not much if you really want to appreciate it in print.

If you want it to say A3 size  (42cm wide) then once printed, to the naked eye your car will look something like this: (zoom in to see if it's on a small screen or mobile)

[TableLeg]

Geoffrey,

Have you tried any recovery software on the drive?