Getting the best print from a print: A friend brought me a 4x6 color print that looks sharp. I scanned it and the scan looks sharp but they want a 20x24 of it and had taken it to...

shutterbug64 Loc: Colorado

A friend brought me a 4x6 color print that looks sharp. I scanned it and the scan looks sharp but they want a 20x24 of it and had taken it to Wal-Mart and she said it was not recognizable, just blobs of the image. When I blow it up on my monitor the edges are not sharp but very recognizable. What is the best way to sharpen, enhance the color, give it that HD quality? Is there a place I can send it? I have a good tiff scan. I am not photoshop savy.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

You will never scan a 4x6 print and get a good 20x24 image from it, the resolution just is not there in that small print to do that. If you get the original digital file you may be able to do something with it. If it is not a digital image then you need to scan the original negative to get the results you are after.

shutterbug64 Loc: Colorado

Unfortunatly there is no neg or digital file. This is all I have to work with.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Even if your 4x6 were printed at 300dpi, regardless of your scan resolution, enlarging it to 20x24 would result in a final print at an effective 60dpi. Its just not going to look "good" no matter what you do with it. Your monitor is probably viewing the scan at 72ppi in which case the scan won't look too awful bad, but it still won't print clearly. In this case Walmart was probably right on, and I cannot believe I just said that.

shutterbug64 Loc: Colorado

Amen to that. lol.

EstherP

MT Shooter wrote:

You will never scan a 4x6 print and get a good 20x24 image from it, the resolution just is not there in that small print to do that. If you get the original digital file you may be able to do something with it. If it is not a digital image then you need to scan the original negative to get the results you are after.

The math doesn't add up... or multiply.
A 4 x 6 print is a ratio of 2:3.
A 20 x 24 image is a ratio of 5:6
(or for easier comparison: 2 1/2:3).
So the finishes image would be 16 x 24 inches or 20 x 30 inches.
Just something to keep in mind as well.
EstherP

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

EstherP wrote:

quote=MT Shooter You will never scan a 4x6 print ... (show quote)

Ratios have absolutely nothing to do with the math. The 4x6 print is full frame and would be a 20x30 if the full frame was printed. The 20x24 print simply disregards 6" of the total width of the image when cropped to the print size. The 4" height would be the standard when enlarged 5X to a 20" side. Thus the reduction in dpi from 300 dpi to 60 dpi. A 20x24 print is nothing more than a 20x30 print with 6" removed and has no bearing on the net resolution of the image attained.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

shutterbug64 wrote:

A friend brought me a 4x6 color print that looks sharp. I scanned it and the scan looks sharp but they want a 20x24 of it and had taken it to Wal-Mart and she said it was not recognizable, just blobs of the image. When I blow it up on my monitor the edges are not sharp but very recognizable. What is the best way to sharpen, enhance the color, give it that HD quality? Is there a place I can send it? I have a good tiff scan. I am not photoshop savy.

Shutter, I have had VERY good results by taking a photo of fotos.
I shoot raw and on a tripod I fill the frame with the foto. I use indirect light to avoid shadows. Then process and PP to your liking.
You can fix a lot of problems and clone if need be. I have done 60 year old 4x4 fotos into 16x20 and they are definitely NOT blobs. And way faster than scanning. Let me know if you need more info. Good luck

EstherP

MT Shooter wrote:

quote=EstherP quote=MT Shooter You will never sc... (show quote)

MT, I was not talking about net resolution here, but about image ratios.
Let me try and say this in a different way:
OP has an image of 4 x 6 inches.
He (or his friend) wants an image of 20 x 24 inches.
If you multiply the 4 and 6 by by 5, you get 20 x 30 inches - which is 6 inches too long.
If you multiply the 4 and 6 by 4, you get 16 x 24 inches - 4 inches too narrow.
So, OP has to decide, besides the possibility of getting a good quality picture, how important the part of the image on th

EstherP

MT Shooter wrote:

quote=EstherP quote=MT Shooter You will never sc... (show quote)

MT, I was not talking about net resolution here, but about image ratios.
Let me try and say this in a different way:
OP has an image of 4 x 6 inches.
He (or his friend) wants an image of 20 x 24 inches.
If you multiply the 4 and 6 by by 5, you get 20 x 30 inches - which is 6 inches too long.
If you multiply the 4 and 6 by 4, you get 16 x 24 inches - 4 inches too narrow.
So, OP has to decide, besides the possibility of getting a good quality picture, how important the part of the image on that 1.2 inches along the short side of his 4 x 6 is: Can it be cropped? Or is it better to crop 1 1/3 inch along the long side of the 4 x 6?
Or should the size be changed to 16 x 24, 18 x 27, 20 x30, or some other size at a 2:3 ratio?
EstherP

PhotoArtsLA Loc: Boynton Beach

I have blown up photographic prints from 4x6 to 20x30 and larger without issue when the photographic print (chemical, not inkjet) was made with quality. No problem at all. They scan very well. All inkjet prints just don't have the quality to attempt the same. Hooray for chemistry.

To make a 20x24, you just crop the the 20x30 by three inches, top and bottom. The trick is knowing where to crop.

katbandit Loc: new york city

ugh..walmart prints....a long time ago i took razor sharp images from my card to print 4x6 and 5x7..they were awful..i took the same images to cvs and they were decent..i send my images all to mpix.com now and have no problem..i would not however attempt to make such a large image from a scanned 4x6 photo ..there is no way it would have a decent quality...its like stretching a rubber band with writing on it..

bunuweld Loc: Arizona

The scanner itself can make a difference. A higher precision scanner will capture better detail from that print, but within the limits of what that small print contains, and there is no way to improve that to get a much larger print.
There are programs that claim to magnify the image without losing resolution. That's pure mythology. Those programs (like "Perfect Resize") use fractal technology and interpolate pixel replicas between the existing ones. It is similar to what Digital as opposed to Optical Zoom does in cheap cameras. However, The small originally-screened print will be more pleasant to the eye when using one of those programs for the magnification because the interpolated pixels give a smother image. There is NOT true improvement in resolution.

PhilNSLS Loc: North Shore Lake Superior, Minnesota

SharpShooter wrote:

quote=shutterbug64 A friend brought me a 4x6 colo... (show quote)

bunuweld Loc: Arizona

PhilNSLS wrote:

quote=SharpShooter quote=shutterbug64 A friend b... (show quote)

What you are doing by "taking a photo of photos" is basically the same as what programs like "On one perfect resize" does with a small picture. Your approach, however, is more logical and a lot cheaper. In essence, you are converting the picture into one with more pixels even if the additional pixels don't add new data to it. I think the "perfect resize" program sells as a plugin for Adobe at a cost of about $100.