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Photo
Enlargement Tips for Digital Photos and Film Photos
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Important notes about photo enlargement tips:
This section is designed to provide you with some
basic pointers on how to produce the finest quality
photo enlargements and digital photo printing possible
from your original photographic images. As with any
technical science, there are usually a number of methods
available to produce an end result, and digital photo
processing is no exception.
The photo enlargement tips we provide here are designed
for use with the advanced digital photo processing and
enlargement software we utilize. The tips we offer here
may not yield quality results with other digital photo
processing labs or printing services that use standard
processing and printing systems.
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Photo
Enlargement Tips for Digital
Photos:
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Digital
Photo Resolution:
The original resolution digital photo from the camera
should be used for photo enlargement and printing. Do not
resample, resize or interpolate the original digital photo
before photo enlargement and printing.
Finest
quality photo enlargements and prints will be
produced from the original resolution digital
photo from your camera. Of course, the highest
quality or resolution setting should be used on
your camera at all times for the best quality
prints. The higher the original photo resolution,
the larger the digital photo can be printed while
maintaining the same image quality as the original
photo.
Many people believe resampling, resizing or
interpolating the original digital photo file to a
higher resolution (DPI), say 300dpi, will produce
a better quality print. This is actually not the
case. Each time a digital photo is resampled, the
image pixels are rebuilt through the editing
software. The original image and color data are
"averaged" to produce the new image, and
are not the true, original image. This will
produce a slightly degraded appearance which may
not be visible when printed small. When the image
is enlarged, it will become very visible.
Our photo enlargement and image resolution
building is processed through very advanced
enlargement software. This software is much more
refined than the bicubic resampling method used by
Photoshop and other image editing software. After
we process a digital photo through this software,
the file is sent to the large format printer by
the RIP (raster image processing) software. This
highly advanced image processing and color
management software then processes the digital
photo file to a resolution of 360ppi for print at
a resolution of 2880dpi.
As you can see, the photo enlargement of your
digital photo should be left to us for the finest
quality photo enlargement possible...and why not,
it's FREE! |
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Digital Photo Sharpening:
Do not sharpen your digital photo before photo
enlargement.
Sharpening
a digital photo has the same effect on the
image pixels as resampling the photo. You
do not want to sharpen the image before
photo enlargement processing as this will cause the
digital photo to create an
"edgy" or even slightly
pixelated appearance after the photo is
enlarged. The greater the enlargement
percentage, the greater this effect will
be.
Sharpening a digital photo should be the
very last function performed on the file
before printing. We can sharpen a
digital photo enlargement before printing.
To get the very best results requires a
certain degree of experience. The effects
on various elements of the image need to
be weighed to determine the proper amount
of applied sharpening. The image
sharpening function should always be
performed while viewing the photo at 100%
magnification to display the true pixel
optical quality. Then apply any sharpening
to see how the photo is affected. Just
edit>undo to remove any sharpening that
appears to degrade the photo. |
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Digital Photo File Types:
Which
image file type is best to use for photo
enlargement?
The
file type of the photo you would send for
photo enlargement does not really matter,
although any standard image file type such
as .jpg, .tif or .psd is recommended.
We can accept any standard image type file
and always convert the file to a workable
file format as soon as we download the photo
file.
There are a couple points that should be
mentioned here. You should not resave the
same .jpg
digital photo file more than 4 or 5 times
before sending for photo enlargement. Each
time a .jpg photo file is saved the image
color bit depth can be slightly compressed which will
produce a very slightly lower color gamut,
or a little less original photo color.
If your digital camera has the feature of
capturing photos in the RAW or .tif file
formats, I would recommend using this
option. RAW file type would be your best
choice. RAW photo files will capture a
wider range of color, or color bit depth.
Different file types will not change the
pixel resolution of the photo. You can
send us a RAW digital photo and we can
convert this file type to a workable and
printable file format, but it may be best
if you convert the RAW file to a .tif file
before sending for enlargement and
printing. |
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Photo Enlargement Image
Quality:
What
are photo enlargements and prints with original
image quality?
Original
image quality is the precise appearance of
the original photo. To view your photo's
precise appearance, you should open the
digital photo in an image editing program
like Photoshop, and zoom in on the photo
to 100% magnification. This would be like
viewing the photo from a few inchs or so away,
and will be precisely how the photo
enlargement will print when the photo
enlargement maintains original image
quality.
When processing photo enlargements of
digital photo files, the image will
maintain original image quality up to a
certain size determined by enlargement
percentages applied to the original photo. Processing the file to sizes
larger than we recommend will cause the photo to begin to
soften, or become slightly less detailed. The photo
will not become pixelated. This occurs
when the photo is printed at low
resolutions (minimum of 300ppi
recommended). Our advanced RIP software
will always print the photo at 360ppi, so
it will never print pixelated.
We will process your digital photo to the
largest recommended print size while
maintaining original image quality at no
charge. If you are requesting a print size
that is out of this recommended photo enlargement
range, we will send you our recommendation
of the largest print size possible within
this range. If you still want the photo
printed larger than our recommended photo
enlargement, we will inform you of the
degree of image softening. This way, you
have a good idea of whether or not to
order the print of your photo. |
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A Word About Monitors:
What
you see may not be what you get.
Probably the most important element in digital
printing, and the least thought of, is the computer
monitor. Unless your monitor has some sort of
calibration and color profiling applied and used with an
image editing software color management system, getting
prints that look like they did on your monitor is like
throwing dice. They may be close, but then again, they
may not. Even ambient temperature, humidity and lighting
conditions can affect how color is displayed on
monitors. So when enhancing and editing digital images,
a certain degree of care should be taken.
Most digital cameras and standard printing systems use
the sRGB color space. It is possible to set your monitor
to this color space, which will help to display images
more correctly when working with and enhancing your
digital images. If you need assistance with setting your
monitor, feel free to contact
us.
Our digital photo printing system is
professionally color managed. Our monitors
are calibrated and profiled to work with
the color management policies enabled in
the color management software. What we see
on the monitor is precisely what is
printed. We personally review ever photo
we print to look for any issues with the
photo adjustments. We will adjust and
enhance your original digital photo for
the very best print presentation possible
at no charge.
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Photo
Enlargement Tips for Film Photos:
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Photo
Enlargement of Film
Photo Prints:
The
quality and size of photo enlargement possible from
film photo prints is directly related to
the size and actual quality of the
original photo print.
The larger the original print, usually the
better the photo quality, so the photo can be enlarged
to much larger print sizes. We can produce
larger, better quality photo enlargements from an 8x10
print than a 4x6 print, in most cases. The printed
enlargement will appear precisely as the
original photo, only much larger. We can
scan photo prints up to 8x10 in size.
The actual quality of the photo print will
determine the quality of the photo
enlargement. You should take a very close
look at the photo you want to enlarge. If
it appears to be grainy or hazy in detail,
the photo enlargement will look exactly
the same way, only much larger. Best
results are obtained with newer, clear
prints that appear very clear in detail.
Gloss finish prints usually yield the best
enlargements. Textured or e-surface prints
will maintain the photo's surface
appearance in the scanned digital file,
and sometimes scanning a textured print
will produce white spots or dots from the
texturing.
Most film photo prints also have very
small spots and dots in the image that
cannot be seen by the human eye on smaller
prints like 4x6s. When enlarged, these
defects will be apparent. It's possible to
digitally edit or retouch this defects,
although an additional retouching charge
may apply. We include some minor photo
retouching with the photo scan. |
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Photo Enlargement of Photographic
Negatives and Transparencies:
As
with photographic prints, photo
enlargement sizes possible from negatives
and transparencies is directly related to
the actual size of the original photo.
Again, best enlargement results are
obtained with newer originals that have
been cared for properly and are not
damaged.
The quality and clarity of negatives and
transparencies is hard to judge before
scanning. If you are considering
enlarging a slide, viewing the photo with
a slide projector will help determine the
quality of the photo. Although we offer
minor retouching included in the scanning
charge, usually negatives and transparencies
will require additional retouching and
editing to produce a quality print. Extra
charges apply here and the amount of time
that may be required working on any
particular photo cannot be determined
before scanning the original negative or
transparency. |
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FREE...
Digital Photo
Customer Services
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- Photo Enlargement
- Photo Cropping
- Photo Sizing
- Photo Enhancements
tonal levels
brightness/contrast
color saturation
adjust sharpness
- Photo Retouching
- Digital Photo
Analysis
- Technical Support
- Project Assistance
- and more...
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Photo Enlargements
Digital Photos / Film Prints
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Digital Photo Printing
Archival Quality / Giclee'
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Custom Print Sizes
Panoramic or Any Size
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True B&W Prints
Free B&W Conversions
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Sepia Tone Prints
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Digital Art / Fine Art
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