This guide will teach you how to enlarge an image to print. We will go through some of the basic requirements for printing an image and the best tools that can help you enlarge images before printing.
How Do I Make a High Resolution Photo for Printing?
Here are some guidelines for getting the best quality prints from your photos:
To get the best resolution when printing, you need to signal to your printer how many pixels per inch (PPI) you want it to print. If you send too few pixels to the printer it will just make pixels up in an effort to fill the page. If you send too many it has to shrink the image smaller. This resizing does bad things to image quality, especially if the image you are sending to the printer is a JPG because JPGs will not maintain the pixel integrity of your image as well as a PNG file type will.
Understand DPI and PPI
300 DPI means “dots per inch” as in: the printer is going to spit out 300 little dots of ink for every inch of your photograph. So your image file should contain the same number of pixels per inch that your printer is going to be printing per inch. (Keep in mind, some printers may print at a smaller or larger DPI, so you’ll want to be aware of that when sizing for prints.)
Since we know the printer is going to print at 300 dots per inch, all we need to do is figure out how many pixels to give the printer. To do that, just multiply 300 by the number of inches the print is going to be. That means in order to create a 8 x 8 print on a 300 DPI printer, you want 2400 x 2400 pixels.
If you don’t feel like doing the math, here’s a handy table:
Pixels to Inches Conversion Chart
| SIZE IN INCHES | SIZE IN PIXELS |
|---|---|
| 3 X 5 | 900 X 1500 |
| 4 X 6 | 1200 X 1800 |
| 5 X 7 | 1500 X 2100 |
| 8 X 8 | 2400 X 2400 |
| 8 X 10 | 2400 X 3000 |
| 8.5 X 11 | 2550 X 3300 |
| 9 X 16 | 2700 X 4800 |
| 11 X 14 | 3300 X 4200 |
| 11 X 16 | 3300 X 4800 |
*Currently, the PicMonkey Editor supports a canvas/image size of 6400 x 6400 maximum.
If you are using an image as the background you can use the Resize tool if the image is already the right shape. If not you’ll need to use the Crop tool, which allows you to set the size and shape at the same time.
In the Crop tool be sure to check the “Scale Photo” box and then enter the dimensions in the boxes provided. Next, adjust the crop area to keep the parts of the image you want to print, and click “Apply”.
Resizing your Photo or Drawing and Printing it at Home. A Solution!
Have you wondered about enlarging a picture to print on multiple pages at home?
One of the big issues when teaching a portraits workshop is finding a way for students to easily resize and print their photos.
I have suggested a variety of options such as Block Poster (not really accurate enough for what we want to do), taking the photo to a printing shop or Staples. Or using a program such as Rapid Resizer.
I resize photos all the time for my portraits and use Rapid Resizer to enlarge and print them. This is a great program and I will continue to use it.
But I wanted to find a simpler, cost-effective solution for my students!
The Solution – MS Paint
Recently I was at a Fibre Art Network Conference and had a wonderful time catching up with other members. A big part of the conference is sharing information.
Terry Aske mentioned that she uses a program called Microsoft Paint for enlarging and printing her patterns. Paint is a program that comes pre-installed on Windows computers.
Eureka! Problem solved!
Terry was kind enough to send me the instructions that she gives to her students. I have taken them and added detail and photos to make it super easy to follow along.
Step by Step Instructions – for Enlarging a Photo in Paint and Printing it on your Own Printer
The program Paint is found under:
Start Menu: All Programs: Accessories in Windows 2007
Windows 2010 – it is under Accessories in 2010.
The icon looks like this:
- Open your photo in Paint by clicking on the file icon arrow in the upper left and choosing “Open”.
2. Browse to where your photo is on your computer, select the photo and then click “Open”.
3. Open “Properties” by clicking on the file icon (in the upper left corner) and selecting “Properties” to see the current size of your photo
4. Click on the circle next to “Inches“. It will be black when you click on it.
5. Note the size of the photo shown in the boxes. The key measurement for portraits is the height. Changing the height will resize the rest of the photo.
The Process for Resizing your Photo
6. Determine what size you want your full-size photo or drawing and thus how much you need to enlarge the photo (percentage). The current size of your photo is 100%.
So if your photo is now 6” H and you want it 18” H, you would set the percentage increase at 300% (18 divided by 6 =3) and 3 x 100, so the photo would be enlarged by 300%.
7. Next, c lick the file icon again and select “Print” – “Page Setup”.
8. Check that you have set the “ Orientation ” for the direction you want – either Portrait or Landscape.
The orientation for the above photo is “portrait”. Note the box on the left showing the orientation.
9. Find “Scaling” in the lower right and then click on “Adjust to” and enter the percentage for enlarging. Click OK.
Choose “Adjust To”
Printing
10. Click on the file icon and select “Print” – “Print Preview”.
11. Look at the enlarged photo or drawing and check that it isn’t too pixelated to use. You can also see how many pages will print by counting the pages that you view (click on the down arrow repeatedly).
12. To print: select “Print” and choose the size of paper that you want to use (letter or legal). You can usually find this setting under “Preferences” and then click on Print.
Assembling the Photo
13. Lay out the printed pages and number them in the order that you want them.
14. Trim the borders , allowing some overlap for the adjacent page(s) and tape them together in order.
I have presented here a simple way to enlarge and print your photos or patterns at home on your own printer. I would love to hear what you think about this idea and what solutions you may have found. Leave a reply below!
I look forward to hearing from you!
If you would like to get a PDF of these instructions (for a PC) so that you can have it handy when resizing your photos, you can get it here.
This entry was posted in Portraits on October 14, 2018 by Valerie Wilson .
16 thoughts on “ Enlarging a Photo and Printing it at Home (PC) ”
- Rose Anne BurdenyOctober 22, 2018 at 12:06 pm Thank you for this MS Paint tutorial.
I’ll have to try it with some project one day.
Much appreciated.
- Valerie Wilson Post author October 22, 2018 at 7:13 pm You’re welcome!
- Valerie Wilson Post author January 11, 2019 at 12:12 pm Vickie – Here is the MAC version: https://valeriewilsonartist.com/enlarging-and-printing-a-photo-at-home-the-mac-version/ Terry also mentioned in the group about how you can enlarge a photo via a PDF, so you may want to check that out as well.
- Valerie Wilson Post author February 2, 2019 at 8:26 pm Currently, I do not have it in a printed form. Send me your email address. You can do that here: https://valeriewilsonartist.com/contact/ and I will see what I can do.
- Valerie Wilson Post author February 22, 2019 at 1:07 am Judy – Some good ideas! Thanks, Val
- Valerie Wilson Post author January 13, 2020 at 11:15 am Sahil – any laptop will do that has Windows as the operating system.
- Valerie Wilson Post author May 2, 2020 at 5:31 pm Karen – You first need to know the size of your original photo and how much you want to enlarge it. If you are doing a portrait and the head is 3″ (7.5cm) high in the original photo and you want a picture where the head is 9″ (22.5 cm) high, then you want to increase the photo by 300%. Or if your original photo is 15 cm x 15 cm and you want it to be 75 cm x 75cm you will enlarge it by 500% (75 divided by 15 =5 or 500%). 1. In MS Paint when you are ready to print, go to File – Print– and click on Page Setup. Look for “Scaling” at the bottom right of the window. Choose “Adjust to” then you can put in whatever percentage that you would like your picture enlarged. Click OK.
2. Go to File – Print Preview to see how it will print. The arrows at the top left let you scroll through the pages. Let me know if this helps.
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Basic Requirements for Printing an Image
There are several factors that you need to consider when you want to print an image. For starters, it all comes down to the quality of the photo that you are using. Quality comes first if you wish to avoid problems encountered when printing images.
Essentially, the quality of an image can be defined by the following aspects:
DPI
The term DPI is also known as dots per inch; this measurement shows the following.
- The total number of dots that a digital image has. Most common images found on the web have at least 72 DPI. However, this is not the bare minimum required to produce a good quality print. Whenever you want to print an image, check to confirm the DPI and ensure it is not less than 150.
- Any image with less DPI than 150 is likely to give you a poor-quality image. The total amount of DPI will determine the amount of ink you need to print a quality photo. Also, ensure the printing machine that you use can print images with at least 300 SPI.
Pixels are affected by altering the size of a bitmap. If you are keen enough when enlarging an image, you will see each pixel with your eye. Luckily, you can now eliminate the pixelation problem with an online tool.
To learn how to enlarge an image to print, you must first check its resolution. This is determined by the number of pixels. An image with a high number of pixels is likely to remain unaffected by enlarging. Therefore, put in mind the resolution of the image before you decide to enlarge an image.
How To Enlarge an Image to Print
Knowing how to enlarge an image to print can come in handy when you want to hold on to a picture as a memory. What’s more? You enlarge a photo for the following reasons:
- To use it as a wall art
- To use it as posters
Below are some things that you should pay attention to when trying to enlarge an image to print.
When it comes to enlarging a picture for printing, you should prepare the images appropriately. You can consider factors such as color profiles, ratio, and file formats. One of the main benefits of considering these factors is to ensure that its contents remain detailed.
Read on to find out about the steps you can follow to enlarge a photo you want to print. The steps are detailed and will ensure you enlarge images without impacting their quality.
1. The Quality of the Picture
The quality of your photo is one situation that you need to consider before you work with a low-quality image. Smaller images can be cumbersome to work with since they may end up appearing blurred. For this reason, check to confirm if the ideal resolution is achieved.
2. Sizes of the Print You Desire
The print size of an image directly depends on the total number of pixels per inch on a picture. Be sure to select a photo that meets the following requirements:
- 100-150 DPI
- 150-300 DPI
- Above 300 DPI
3. Sharpen Your Photos
When you want to enlarge your image for printing, you can use the sharpening strategy. The best part is: There are several options that you can use to increase the quality of your print picture. One of these methods includes utilizing an unsharp mask.
All you need to do is copy your photo, make the image you want to print a bit blurry than the original one. What follows is combining the two versions. The result will be a sharp and enlarged image.
4. Avoid Using JPEG Formats
Many people don’t like files saved in JPEG formats since they lose some details after enlarging the image. Working with a file saved in JPEG format is challenging; you may end up losing critical details in the image. Besides, JPEGs were designed to look attractive on the web.
5. Use an Advanced Computer
An advanced computer is likely to give the option of improving the resolution of your picture through hardware optimization. Also, enlarging a photo requires a lot of memory, as it consumes up the memory of a PC.
Methods That You Can Use To Enlarge an Image To Print
Using offline options to enlarge an image to print is not as effective as online tools. If you would like to know how to enlarge an image to print, here are some methods you can use.
1. Windows Paint
If you choose to use Paint to resize an image before printing, follow the steps below:
- Go to your Windows Search Bar and type paint.
- Double click on the program to launch it.
- Click on Open to find the image on your PC and upload it on Paint by hitting the Open button.
- From the Home tab, click on the Resize option and Skew Icon.
- You can adjust the height, width, and resolution.
- You can use the Text tool in Paint to add a caption.
- Click the main tab, then choose Save as.
- Next, choose JPEG, then enter a short descriptive name and save the image.
2. Re-Sample Using Online Editing Tool
Whenever you try enlarging a photo, it can lose some resolution. Luckily, there are ways you can use to ensure you don’t interfere with your picture quality. Re-sampling is a useful method when it comes to enlarging a photo.
It entails managing the color, composition, and other crucial details.
To resample a photo successfully, work with smaller increments. This way, your final image will be well prepared since you have emphasized the primary focus of a picture.
3. Scanning Technique
The scanning and printing technique is a suitable method for enlarging a photo. It is among the effective methods that you can use to enlarge the size of a print photo. However, it highly depends on the resolution of your scanner. A scanner with a high resolution can enlarge the size of an image up to 5 times bigger. Before you scan a photo, adjust the scanner settings to 1,200DPI. When you are scanning, alter the resolution of the digital image.
4. Using Adobe Photoshop
To enlarge an image using Photoshop, follow the steps below.
- Open your image
- Select image size
- You’ll see an Image Size dialog box.
- Set the resolution, document size, and pixel dimension.
- Next, select Resampling Method, then click OK.
You have successfully resized your image.
5. Using Adobe Lightroom
If you have never used Adobe Lightroom, you should know that it has a Super Resolution feature. This feature can enlarge photos to triple their size. The best part is: It does not affect the quality of the image. Follow the steps below if you want to use Lightroom to enlarge a photo.
- Open the image in the Lightroom editing tool
- Hit the Import button to upload your image from your PC.
- Select the photo you would like to resize and click on File then Export.
- Choose your settings and change the size of your image, including width and height.
- Click on the Export button to save the image.
5. Using PixCut
PixCut is an online image enlarging tool that enlarges images without affecting their quality. The best part is: You can enlarge the image up to 400%. All you have to do is follow the steps below to learn how to enlarge an image to print using PixCut.
Step 1
Step 2
Hit the Upload Image button to upload your image from your device. You can also drop or copy and paste the image you would like to resize. The tool will automatically enlarge the photo. It can enlarge the photo up to 400%.
Step 3
Once PixCut has finished enlarging your photo, you can download it.
PixCut has proven to be more effective than other online enlarging tools on the internet since it uses an Automatic AI. Essentially, this is one of the best features that make PixCut stand out from its competitors. Also, it is fast, making sure that you save time when it comes to enlarging a photo.
