How do I enlarge an old photo on my scanner for framing?
Thursday, June 7th, 2012 at
7:29 pm
Question by j_d_morgan1954: How do I enlarge an old photo on my scanner for framing?
I have an old snapshot of my father from the 50s I want to enlarge, but it comes out blurry.
Best answer:
Answer by Who Dares Wins
Increase the resolution on your scanner to at least 600dpi – better still 1200 dpi. Now print at 300dpi
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Tagged with: enlarge • framing • Photo • Scanner
Filed under: Photo Scanner
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Scan it at the highest resolution you can get. If you scan it at 1200 dpi and then print it at 300 dpi, your result will be 4 times the original size.
However, if the original picture isn’t perfectly sharp, the enlargement will enlarge the blurriness as well as the image. (You could check the original with a magnifying glass to see how sharp it is.)
If the scan is blurry, there are sharpening tools in programs like Photoshop which can help, but you have to use them carefully so you don’t get a fake-looking image.
The other thing you’ll have to deal with are spots of dust or wear on the original photo — again, you can clean these up in Photoshop, again, it takes a careful hand to do this so it’s undetectable.
(Other programs which can do this kind of retouching include Fireworks and Gimp (which is free)).