How to Enlarge a Low-Res Image for Print

Has there ever been a time when you had a low resolution image you want to print?  Maybe a screenshot of something or an image where the quality just wasn't there?  In this tutorial I'll show you one way you can modify an image and enlarge it to be printed as an 8x10.  It only takes a few minutes and a couple of steps.  One quick note, I did not create the original image used in this tutorial - I'm not sure who did, but I have seen the image used in various places on the web.

Video Summary

This particular image was at a resolution of 72 ppi and approximately 5.5" x 6.5".  Our goal was to modify this image so it could be printed as an 8x10.   When preparing images for print, it’s important to keep in mind that your file resolution should be a minimum of 240 ppi to get a high quality print.  In this case I wanted to use 300 ppi. 

Step 1

Open image.  Unlock background layer by double clicking on the LOCK icon on the layer.  Resize the image by going to Image >Image Size. Then change the resolution to 300.  Click OK

Step 2

Change canvas size to 8x10 by going to Image > Canvas Size.  Use 8 for the width and 10 for the height.  Click OK.

Step 3

Using Free Transform (cmd + T), resize the image so it is as large as it can be without cutting off any of the edges.  Notice we have a small area on the bottom and side that we will need to fill in.

Step 4

Extract the text.  Select the Magic Wand tool.  Change sample size to 3 by 3, and tolarance to 12.  Select a black portion of the text.  Right click and select ‘Similar’.  If there are more pixels to be selected within the text, select Similar again.  Right click in the selection and select Make Work Path.  For the tolerance, use 2.0.  The text and graphics will be extracted as a path and can be found in the Paths panel.

Step 5

Blur the background layer to remove pixilation.  Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.  Adjust the blur to your liking.  I used a 4 pixel blur.

Step 6

Fill in the missing areas on the bottom and right hand side.  Use the Marquee tool to select the blank areas.  Be sure to overlap the surrounding pixels so Photoshop knows what to fill the area in with.  After making the selection press Shift + Delete to bring up the Fill dialog box.  Choose Content-Aware and click OK.  Blend further if necessary.

Step 7

Add text back on top of image.  Create a new blank layer labeled Text.  Go into the Paths panel and highlight the work path that was created.  Right click and select Fill Path.  Use Black as the color for fill.

Step 8

Add stroke around text.  First setup your brush settings – use a hard edge brush and a width of 8 pixels in this case. Right click on the text Path again and select Stroke.  Use the Brush as the tool to stroke the path with.

Step 9

Increase Contrast.  Create a new curves adjustment layer.  Select preset called ‘Medium Contrast’. 

Step 10

Combine all layers and Sharpen.  Combine all layers using Shift + Option + CMD + E.  To sharpen the image go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen.  Use an amount of 200 and leave the rest of the settings as they are.  You’re Done!

Step 11

Send out for print, the image is complete!  The image is now 8x10 with a resolution of 300 ppi and will make a great print.

Thank you for watching! 

Before/After Image Processing - Bleeding Hearts

Before - RAW File Out of Camera, Canon 60D, 50mm f/1.4, 1/500 sec at f/2.0, ISO 200         

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After - Image Processed Using Adobe Lightroom & onOne Perfect Effects 8.                                                                                      

Ever have a chance to photograph a bleeding heart?  These are awesome plants!  The plants are beautiful when in bloom and I couldn't help but photograph this one.  This is a quick before/after tutorial to show you how I arrived at my final image.  After taking a few shots of this plant, I liked this one the best so lets get started!

Camera Setup & Settings

It was an overcast day with full cloud cover, just before a rain storm.  Cloudy days provide great light for photographs because the clouds cause the sky to act like a big soft box giving off nice even and diffuse light.  This image was shot with the Canon 60D using a 50mm f/1.4 lens.  The settings I used to create the image were 1/500 second at f/2.0, and and ISO of 200.  Every image I shoot is in RAW format.  I always recommend using RAW format since this will give you the highest quality and the best ability to modify images down the road if necessary.

Basic Panel Settings

Lightroom 

The first thing I did with this image was to bring the RAW file into Adobe Lightroom 5.  Next, I went into the develop module and applied some general adjustments to the image.  Starting at the top of the Basic panel, I worked my way down.  Exposure was increased by +.20 to help brighten the bleeding hearts a bit.  I reduced the contrast a because I love the dynamic contrast feature in Perfect Effects 8.  I'll use the dynamic contrast filter later on to bring back contrast in the image.  I pulled back on the highlights to insure there was no detail lost in the bottom section of the flowers.  Shadows were increased a bit to help bring out the entire flower.  Whites and blacks were adjusted a bit to help round out the image.  

Quick Tip:

When adjusting  Highlights, Shadows, Whites and Blacks, you can hold the option key on Mac and alt. key on a PC to show you the clipping points for each slider.  It's helpful in determining how much of each slider you use.

Perfect Effects

With these few global adjustments made, I'm now ready to bring the file over into Perfect Effects.  In Lightroom go to File > Plug-in Extras > Perfect Effects 8.

Once the image is opened in Perfect Effects, The first filter layer I'm going to add is Dynamic Contrast - Natural.  There are a few modifications I want to make on the Dynamic Contrast layer.  On the right side of the window, under Filter Options, there is a section called 'Detail'.  Here you have the ability to adjust how the Dynamic Contrast is applied to the image.  'Small' makes contrast adjustments to all of the small or fine details within the image.  I used a setting if 10.  Next, 'Medium' effects the contrast of the medium or mid size-details within the picture.  Most of the areas I want to see more contrast in are within the medium range.  Therefore I used a setting of 25 to get the amount of contrast I liked without over doing it.  'Large' effects the larger areas and textures in your image.  Here I don't want to add much contrast to the background, so I use a setting of 2.  You might be thinking - how do I know what settings to use?  The best thing to do is play with the sliders and see what you like.  Experimentation is the best way to see how things work and are affected by different settings.

Perfect Effects 8 - Bleeding Hearts Image with Dynamic Contrast Applied.

Next, add 2 new filter layers by clicking the '+' in the filter layer stack.  I want to enhance the color of the image, so I'm going go to the Filters on the left side of the window, then find 'Color Enhancer'.  For the first filter layer, lets choose 'Increase Color'.  Reduce the layer opacity to 40% so the effect is not over done.  On the next filter layer, again go to 'Color Enhancer' and choose 'Red Enhancer' to help bring out the magenta in the bleeding hearts.  Reduce the layer opacity to 20%.  I also made some adjustments in the filter options of the 'Red Enhancer' layer.  Under 'Color Range' I increased the saturation of both Magenta and Green just a touch to help it all pop a little more.     

Perfect Effects 8 - Color Enhancer Filters

The next adjustment is to add a 'Sunshine Filter'.  The sunshine filter really helps warm everything up and gives it a slight glow.  It helps convey a warm, happy feeling through the image.

Next we need to apply some sharpening to the image to help tighten everything up.  To do this, add a new layer in the Filter Stack.  Then, look under 'Sharpening' in the Filters list on the left hand side.  Select 'Amazing Detail Finder'.   Reduce the layer opacity to 90%.  Finally I think a vignette will finish off this image nicely.  Again, add a new layer in the Filter Stack.  Choose 'Vignette', then select 'Subtle'.  Now the image is complete.  Click 'Apply' at the bottom right hand side of the window and the filters will be applied and brought back into Lightroom. 

I hope this tutorial helps you to further understand how Adobe Lightroom and onOne's Perfect Effects can be used together to create great images.  If you have any questions, leave a comment below.  Thanks!

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Lightroom 5 - Creating Metadata Presets

Metadata Presets

Setting up a metadata preset in Adobe Lightroom 5 is not only a timesaver, but it allows you to easily apply additional metadata information to any image file.  What is metadata?  Metadata is all of the information associated with your photograph.  For example, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, location, capture date/time and more.  Creating a preset is easy and only takes a few steps. 

In the Library Module, select an image.  Look on the right hand side of the screen for a tab titled ‘Metadata’.  Expand the tab.  Here you see all of the information that is associated with your images.  Take a look through all of the fields and fill out the ones that you would like to apply to your images.  Generally, the metadata information that I add includes my name, address, email, website and copyright information.  Once you have your information filled out you are ready to save it as a preset. 

Go to the top of the Edit Metadata Presets dialog box you’ll see the word ‘Preset’.  Click the pulldown menu and select ‘save current settings as new preset…’.  Name the preset and click ok. 

Now your metadata preset is all set up and ready to be used.  You can apply the preset on your images as you import them into Lightroom or to images that are already in your Lightroom library.

Thanks for watching!

Lightroom 5 - Creating Import Presets

Looking to speed up your Lightroom workflow?  Creating import presets is going to help you do that.  Import presets allow you to make all of the choices about how to import your images and where to store them and then save those settings as a preset.  Each time you import photos simply select your preset and all of your settings are applied automatically!  It’s a great time saver and prevents you from having to make all of the same choices and selections each time you import photos.   If you have any questions about setting up import presets in Adobe Lightroom, leave me a comment. 

Thanks for watching!

Before/After Image Processing - Old School Gas Pump

Recently I was looking through some old images and I came across the image below.  It is a photograph of an 'old school gas pump' in front of a vintage hardware store.  I liked the photograph, but I thought it looked flat, dull and needed some cleaning up.  The photograph was taken in Lancaster Pennsylvania back in 2008.  

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Canon Powershot A80, 7.8mm, 1/500 sec at F/5.0, ISO 50

Step One

First, some background information on this photograph - it was taken with a Canon Powershot A80.  Yes a point and shoot camera!  Regardless of the kind of camera you use, great images can be made with any camera.  You just have to put your mind to it and be creative.  

Adjustments made in Adobe Lightroom's 'Basic' panel

After finding this image, the first thing I did was to bring it into Adobe Lightroom.  As I've mentioned, I keep all of my images in Lightroom.  The first thing I did with the image was to go into the Develop module and make some global adjustments.  I increased the contrast, reduced the highlights, opened up the shadows, subtly reduced the whites and increased the blacks.  I also added a hint of clarity to help tighten everything up a bit.  Be careful with the clarity sliders.  Drastically increasing the clarity can create an unrealistic looking image.  Of course there are always exceptions - for example if you are trying to go for an HDR look for your image, the clarity slider will help you achieve that look.

Original Image out of camera

Image after being processed in Lightroom

Step 2

After some quick global adjustments in Lightroom, it's time to bring the image over to Adobe Photoshop for some retouching and enhancements.  I brought the image over to Photoshop using the Cmd + E shortcut.  You can also select the image, go to the menu bar and select Photo > Edit In > Edit In Adobe Photoshop CC (or the version you have).  

First I created a new layer above the background layer titled 'Retouching'.  I went through the entire image and removed all of the distractions, wires, pavement markings, imperfections in the gas pump, and shadows I didn't want to see. 

Image with Lightroom adjustments in Photoshop.  Yellow arrows indicate the major areas to be retouched.

Image in Photoshop after retouching is complete.

Step 3

Next, I combine the background image and the retouching layer using Shift + Opt + Cmd + E on the Mac (Shift + Ctrl + Alt + E on a PC).  This shortcut makes a new flattened layer of all the layers below it.  

Step 4

The next thing I'd like to do is make some adjustments to help the overall contrast of the image.  I added a curves adjustment layer and created a slight 'S' curve to help darken the shadows a bit and lighten the highlights a little.  Next I added an additional curves adjustments layer to open the shadows up just a little bit.

Curves 1 Adjustment Layer 

Curves 2 Adjustments Layer

Step 5

After the curves adjustment layers, I added a new layer to do some dodging & burning.  The layer was filled with 50% gray and set to the Soft Light layer blend mode.  By using the Soft Light blend mode, the gray will be invisible.  However, any areas that are dodged and burned will appear.  I then used the dodge and burn tools on that layer to darken and lighten various areas of the photo.  This helps bring back some depth into the image.  After the dodging and burning is complete, I lowered the layer opacity to 55%.

Retouched image after Dodging & Burning

Gradient Map Adjustment layer added in Step 6

Step 6

Once I was finished with dodging and burning, I added a gradient map adjustment layer.  I reduced the gradient map adjustment layer opacity to 10% and changed the blend mode to Soft Light.  I felt that it added a little more contrast/punch to the image and gave it that little extra boost. 

High Pass Filter Settings

Step 7

At this point, I felt the image process and retouching were complete.  The second to last step was to add some sharpening to the image.  To do this, I used the High Pass filter.  First, create a merged layer using Sift + Opt + Cmd + E on a Mac.  Next, go to Filter > Other > High Pass to bring up the High Pass filter window.  I used 1.5 pixels for the radius size, but you can play with different amounts to see what works for your image.  Click OK.  The layer blend mode should be set to either Overlay, Soft Light or Hard Light.  Each blend mode will give you a varying amount of intensity of the High Pass layer.  In this case, I chose Hard Light and reduced the opacity to 50%. 

Post Crop Vignette Settings

Step 8

Finally to complete the image, I added a Post Crop Vignette.  To do this, I again merged all the layers together using Shift + Opt + Cmd + E, then went to Filter > Camera Raw Filter.  I then went to the Effects panel and added the vignette.  With the vignette added, the image is complete.  I simply saved it and closed it to bring it back into Lightroom.  Below is the final image I ended up with.  Overall I am happy with the end result.  

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Final Image - 'After'

Original Image - 'Before'