Software Help Blowing Up Images in Photoshop

All the online clipart vendors have high resolution bitmap images. istockphoto, adobe, dreamscape, 123ref, shutterstock and on and on.

There are plugins as well as separate software for enlarging images, but none make perfect pictures. At best they reduce jagginess, making it less obvious you've overenlarged an image. But often that's all you need.

 

There are a few software packages out there that use different algorithms to do the pixel math. Often with better results than Photoshop.
One that sticks out in my mind is the one from AlienSkin "Blowup".

But, as with everything with wide format, garbage in > garbage out. YMMV. You are not going to make a clean wall size image from thumbnail or shot from your cell of your last hiking trip. As you probably already know, start out with the highest quality image, and the end result will be better.

 

AS said above, garbage in garbage out for the most part. There is a new AI based enlargement software that seems to do a pretty good job but it's always better to just have a super high res image to begin with. One mistake I and many others have made is downloading the thumbnail instead of the actual file! A lot of sites make you click on the image to see the full res version so just be aware of that.

 

Topaz Gigapixel is the new AI tool mentioned by Solventinkjet. It does what was previously impossible, which is, enlarging an image and adding new detail that wasn't there to begin with.

Essentially how it works is, the AI looks at all the different objects and textures in the image, and then matches them up with similar high-res images in its database, and then recreates the image in a higher resolution using bits and pieces of high-res imagery from the database. So if it sees a low res area in the picture that looks like concrete, it'll find a similar high-res concrete texture and use it to paint more detail into the enlarged image.

There's a thread about it here:

https://signs101.com/threads/has-anyone-here-tried-topaz-a-i-gigapilel-reviews.151953/

 

X2 on Topaz Gigapixel. It takes images I would have said "no way" to before, and makes them look pretty decent once blown up. Requires a decent computer, but is very cheap (free trial also!)

 

Yeah, forgot to mention that. It does the AI work on your computer, not a remote server, and it takes a fair bit of computing power. When I run smaller images through it, they usually take a few minutes or less. Larger images sometimes take 20–30 minutes each, and it hogs enough of your CPU that you can't do much other than wait or use another computer until it's done. I just run large images through it after hours or while I'm out for lunch.

 

I take this approach without any problems. Start with the highest res you can get. An experienced designer can spot the difference from an original image and a copy of a copy of a scan or an image grabbed from facebook. Don't worry about resampling/resizing it through photoshop or any other. Just do your layout and you won't have any "system bog down". When it comes time for print let the RIP take care of it. Export what you want to print at 150dpi.