Best Software for blowing up 2MP images?

Looking for simple to use software for blowing up 2MP digital images
for printing 8x10 and larger.

Has to be simple, no complicated settings and tinkering around just
tell the software how
large I'd like to print and have it do it enlarge the image with the
best possible results.

Preferably something who's main purpose is doing blowups of digital
camera images so I don't
have to have stuff installed I won't use anyways.

Freeware or Commercial.

Thanks.

"j" wrote in message
ps.com...
Looking for simple to use software for blowing up 2MP digital images
for printing 8x10 and larger.

Has to be simple, no complicated settings and tinkering around just
tell the software how
large I'd like to print and have it do it enlarge the image with the
best possible results.

Preferably something who's main purpose is doing blowups of digital
camera images so I don't
have to have stuff installed I won't use anyways.

Freeware or Commercial.

Thanks.


Most any editor software can do what you want. Many printer supplied
software packages will allow you to choose the print size. So the answers
you will get are mostly going to be the personal preference of the
responder. Since you mention 8x10 and larger, you may want to look at Qimage
as it has a very good ability to print images over multiple pages.

Now, as to how good the end product will be, that is going to be a problem.
If you are not going for high quality images (such as art prints) an 8x10 is
possible. Larger than that is going to rapidly go down in quality. Some
programs are very good at guessing at what to insert in an image to make it
larger, but it is still trying to create data that does not exist. You will
not get an image that is as clear and detailed by blowing up a 2mp image as
you would by printing a 6mp image at the same print size.

There is one more concideration. The quality of the printer. Some printers
are better at giving acceptable large prints than others. So the same image
printed on two printers at 8x10, one may look good at arms length and the
other may not look good any closer than 4' viewing distance.

Good luck

Randy

==========
Randy Berbaum
Champaign, IL

On Jun 15, 5:55 pm, "Randy Berbaum" wrote:
Since you mention 8x10 and larger, you may want to look at Qimage
as it has a very good ability to print images over multiple pages.
I agree, and QImage also has the best enlarging routines, imo. If you
use other software, try enlarging in small steps - Google 'stair step
interpolation', and try the Lanczos enlarging algorithm, found in the
free Irfanview program.

There is one more concideration. The quality of the printer. Some printers
are better at giving acceptable large prints than others.

True. But I think there is another very important factor - image
content. Some images, like close up portraits (and any other subject
that doesn't invite you to get up close and personal) will enlarge
much better than others.

The best way to find out is to simply try it out, even if you just
print a cropped A4 area at the enlargement ratio you wish to use, then
view at the most likely distance...

Let us know how you go.

And lo, j emerged from the ether
and spake thus:
Looking for simple to use software for blowing up 2MP digital images
for printing 8x10 and larger.

Has to be simple, no complicated settings and tinkering around just
tell the software how
large I'd like to print and have it do it enlarge the image with the
best possible results.

Preferably something who's main purpose is doing blowups of digital
camera images so I don't
have to have stuff installed I won't use anyways.

Freeware or Commercial.

Thanks.

I recommend AlienSkin BlowUp, which is a Photoshop plug-in. There are
a few others I can't remember the names of that may or may not do a
better job, but I've used BlowUp and have been very satisfied with the
results.

Its major contribution to scaling is maintaining the sharpness of hard
edges while not oversharpening softer features within the image;
something that takes more intelligence than simple bicubic algorithms.

It's not a silver bullet, but it should get 2MP images up to 8x10 in a
way that makes them very printable.

--
Aaron
http://www.fisheyegallery.com
http://www.singleservingphoto.com

"j" wrote in message
ps.com...
Looking for simple to use software for blowing up 2MP digital images
for printing 8x10 and larger.

Many say Qimage is excellent for scaling small images to larger print
sizes, and yes it does do it very well ...

http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage/

.... in the help/docs there is a step-by-step example that should make
it very easy to simply make a large print; BUT, there are indeed a lot
of options which can be daunting so look through the faq/docs/help for
the examples.

j wrote:
Looking for simple to use software for blowing up 2MP digital images
for printing 8x10 and larger.

Has to be simple, no complicated settings and tinkering around just
tell the software how
large I'd like to print and have it do it enlarge the image with the
best possible results.

Preferably something who's main purpose is doing blowups of digital
camera images so I don't
have to have stuff installed I won't use anyways.

Freeware or Commercial.

Thanks.


You could try this free upsizer program. The information is located at
the bottom of this page;

http://www.outbackphoto.com/filters/....html#upsizing

The procedure as given to me by a pro suggests;

a.) Crop first (if needed)
b.) unsharp
c.) resize (upsize)
d.) unsharp again (if needed)

I have used the DOP Upsizer on scanned slides with very good results.
Just a suggestion for something that might work for you.

sced13ri

sced13ri wrote:
j wrote:
Looking for simple to use software for blowing up 2MP digital images
for printing 8x10 and larger.

Has to be simple, no complicated settings and tinkering around just
tell the software how
large I'd like to print and have it do it enlarge the image with the
best possible results.

Preferably something who's main purpose is doing blowups of digital
camera images so I don't
have to have stuff installed I won't use anyways.

Freeware or Commercial.

Thanks.


You could try this free upsizer program. The information is located at
the bottom of this page;

http://www.outbackphoto.com/filters/....html#upsizing

The procedure as given to me by a pro suggests;

a.) Crop first (if needed)
b.) unsharp
c.) resize (upsize)
d.) unsharp again (if needed)

I have used the DOP Upsizer on scanned slides with very good results.
Just a suggestion for something that might work for you.

sced13ri

My bad! I forgot to mention this program is used as a plug-in for
Photoshop but, it works just as well in Photoshop Elements 3 and 5.
I have used it in both.

sced13ri

On 2007-06-14 22:34:44 -0700, j said:

Looking for simple to use software for blowing up 2MP digital images
for printing 8x10 and larger.

Has to be simple, no complicated settings and tinkering around just
tell the software how
large I'd like to print and have it do it enlarge the image with the
best possible results.

Preferably something who's main purpose is doing blowups of digital
camera images so I don't
have to have stuff installed I won't use anyways.

Freeware or Commercial.

Thanks.

OnOne's Genuine Fractals has long been considered to be the standard
and some stock photography companies have even specified it. However,
there are many products out there.
--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

The images I want to enlarge are mostly of rain forests, mountains
and ocean in British Columbia
A lot of greens and browns and greys

All the shots were taken in late fall and winter so lots of overcast
skies and mist.
(Pretty much the same as Oregon and Seattle)

I will be printing at a professional lab (Black's , London drugs,
Futureshop, Walmart..etc)

Camera was Fujifilm A205 2MP

I don't want huge prints, mostly 8x10 and 20x16 whenever possible
without getting a melted crayon look of early colour laser printers.
Viewing distance will be at least 2.5 feet.

My system is a P3-650 with 128 MB of ram so I can't run anything that
requires
a newer system.

In article .com,
says...
The images I want to enlarge are mostly of rain forests, mountains
and ocean in British Columbia
A lot of greens and browns and greys

All the shots were taken in late fall and winter so lots of overcast
skies and mist.
(Pretty much the same as Oregon and Seattle)

I will be printing at a professional lab (Black's , London drugs,
Futureshop, Walmart..etc)

Camera was Fujifilm A205 2MP

I don't want huge prints, mostly 8x10 and 20x16 whenever possible
without getting a melted crayon look of early colour laser printers.
Viewing distance will be at least 2.5 feet.

My system is a P3-650 with 128 MB of ram so I can't run anything that
requires
a newer system.


In that case why not just take a file along to the lab and see what they
come up with..

I regularly used to print A4 from an Olympus 2100uz just letting my HP
printer's own software scale it to fit. Some of those are still on
people's walls..

T.
--
Do Binary Tripods have 11 legs ?