My aunt has been put in charge of some minor redecorating at her office, including five prints for the conference room that would be in excess of a 24x36. And so she's come to me asking about prints. Of course my little 2mp and 5mp cameras won't print that large naturally, so I'm looking at Genuine Fractals as a possibility. The website FAQ says it will enlarge to 800% without image degradation, but I figured I'd run it by the crew here first. Has anyone tried to take a 2mp image and lace it up to a completely ridiculous and dramatic size? Is there anything out there better than GF? And then any tips for image preparation? This could be quite a windfall for me, so I really want to do this professionally and right.
I've gotten 24x36 prints here at DPC prints with my 5 megapixel Minolta.
I used Genuine Fractals too (fanks kiwi), but I noticed that in some areas of the photograph it would do an excellent job, while in other textures it wouldn't do so well. So I used genuine fractals on one image, and did a simple Image> Resize in PS on another, and put them on top of one another in layers in photoshop. Then I used the eraser tool to get rid of the parts in the top layer (Genuine Fractals) I didn't like, showing the other version below.
One thing about these scalling software is the better image they have to start with the best they do their job. So you'll probably get better results doing a 400% enlargement starting with your 5MP than the same 400% enlargement starting with your 2MP. Second thing is that 800% is out of this world. I have been using GF for years now and I almost never went as far as 400% because I didn't like the results. I'd say 200% is really really good. 300% to MY taste and people could disagree here is the best enlargement you can plan to get out of this software before the quality start to get too poor. Third, yes this is hell of a software. it is a lot better than any resampling alogrythm in photoshop in ALMOST every aspect and if you're really willing to pay for a software that do resampling, there is no better place to spend your money than with Genuine Fractals. Just don't hope too much about that 800% thing. Hope this help.
One thing about these scalling software is the better image they have to start with the best they do their job. So you'll probably get better results doing a 400% enlargement starting with your 5MP than the same 400% enlargement starting with your 2MP. Second thing is that 800% is out of this world. I have been using GF for years now and I almost never went as far as 400% because I didn't like the results. I'd say 200% is really really good. 300% to MY taste and people could disagree here is the best enlargement you can plan to get out of this software before the quality start to get too poor. Third, yes this is hell of a software. it is a lot better than any resampling alogrythm in photoshop in ALMOST every aspect and if you're really willing to pay for a software that do resampling, there is no better place to spend your money than with Genuine Fractals. Just don't hope too much about that 800% thing. Hope this help.
It helps immensely. For the cost and size of the prints, and given that I don't have a PS version cool enough to run bicubic anyway, I'm perfectly willing to run the $160 purchase cost into my estimate. It seems rather miniscule compared to what the prints will cost, anyway. I'm going to play with the demo a bit and see what happens.
I've gotten 24x36 prints here at DPC prints with my 5 megapixel Minolta.
I used Genuine Fractals too (fanks kiwi), but I noticed that in some areas of the photograph it would do an excellent job, while in other textures it wouldn't do so well. So I used genuine fractals on one image, and did a simple Image> Resize in PS on another, and put them on top of one another in layers in photoshop. Then I used the eraser tool to get rid of the parts in the top layer (Genuine Fractals) I didn't like, showing the other version below.
And ah yes, the prints looked great. :-D
I've got a 20x30 on my wall from my 5mp, too, but would I sell it to someone? I'm not too sure about that. I've also got two 16x20 prints from my 2mp camera, but I don't think anyone is going to mistake them for professional photography (mostly blurry sepias of Italy for some atmosphere in my dining room). The largest I've been willing to go for sale with my 5mp is a 16x20, and an 8x10 with the 2mp. So yeah, that Aunt Barb is talking about "small" 20x30 prints and several larger than that is rather intimidating without some way to supersize everything.
I've gotten 24x36 prints here at DPC prints with my 5 megapixel Minolta.
I used Genuine Fractals too (fanks kiwi), but I noticed that in some areas of the photograph it would do an excellent job, while in other textures it wouldn't do so well. So I used genuine fractals on one image, and did a simple Image> Resize in PS on another, and put them on top of one another in layers in photoshop. Then I used the eraser tool to get rid of the parts in the top layer (Genuine Fractals) I didn't like, showing the other version below.
And ah yes, the prints looked great. :-D
Those that you upsized were they heavily dodged and burned images? I would think those would resize better since they already have a smooth look to them.
Well, chances are excellent that I could be getting CS2 for my birthday next week, and there's no huge rush on the job, so I'll wait and see what happens.
Bear in mind that posters are rarely printed at full 300dpi resolution. 120-150dpi is more than enough for a decent print.
If this is going to be a regular or lucrative thing, you might consider an inexpensive camera that's capable of producing clean images at a higher resolution.
OK, three things... GF might work with Photoshop Elements, which is less than $100.
Aye.. I am kinda holding out for DSLR at this point, though. I make sales so rarely on just 8x10s and I think I've only ever sold one 16x20 ever, so I don't see this being a regular thing at all.
Well, chances are excellent that I could be getting CS2 for my birthday next week, and there's no huge rush on the job, so I'll wait and see what happens.
If that is the case, you might consider messing with "Bicubic Smoother" when resizing the images before purchasing GF.
I've gotten 24x36 prints here at DPC prints with my 5 megapixel Minolta.
I used Genuine Fractals too (fanks kiwi), but I noticed that in some areas of the photograph it would do an excellent job, while in other textures it wouldn't do so well. So I used genuine fractals on one image, and did a simple Image> Resize in PS on another, and put them on top of one another in layers in photoshop. Then I used the eraser tool to get rid of the parts in the top layer (Genuine Fractals) I didn't like, showing the other version below.
And ah yes, the prints looked great. :-D
I've got a 20x30 on my wall from my 5mp, too, but would I sell it to someone? I'm not too sure about that. I've also got two 16x20 prints from my 2mp camera, but I don't think anyone is going to mistake them for professional photography (mostly blurry sepias of Italy for some atmosphere in my dining room). The largest I've been willing to go for sale with my 5mp is a 16x20, and an 8x10 with the 2mp. So yeah, that Aunt Barb is talking about "small" 20x30 prints and several larger than that is rather intimidating without some way to supersize everything.
Yes, I have sold many 24x36's locally and over the web.
Originally posted by yanko:
Those that you upsized were they heavily dodged and burned images? I would think those would resize better since they already have a smooth look to them.
