Whatever your large-format printing needs, the experts at SpeedPro can help.
Photo Enlargement Service – Increase Image Resolution 600%
With our professional photo enlargement service, we can increase your image resolution up to 600%. This means you can now print 4×6, 10×8 and even poster sized prints from your small photos! If your photo is only 1,000 pixels, we can enlarge it up to 6,000 pixels without losing any quality.
For example, if your photo is only 500 X 667 pixels in size, we can enlarge it up to 6X to make it 3,000 X 4,002 pixels. To give you a better idea, we have a photo print size chart below. As you can see, the photo which was originally under 640 pixels (less than 0.3 megapixels, was not even large enough to make a 3.2″ x 2.4″ print. After we enlarge and enhance it, the photo increases to around 6 megapixels in size, and can make 15 inch prints!
Get your digital photo enlarged for only $9.95
Some professional services specify lower resolutions for image sizes, so you could get away with smaller image sizes.
Kodak, for example, suggests these resolution/file sizes:
For a 4″ x 6″ print, the image resolution should be 640 x 480 pixels minimum.
For a 5″ x 7″ print, the image resolution should be 1024 x 768 pixels minimum.
For an 8″ x 10″ print, the image resolution should be 1536 x 1024 pixels minimum.
For a 16″ x 20″ print, the image resolution should be 1600 x 1200 pixels minimum.
For a 20″ x 30″ print, the image resolution should be 1600 x 1200 pixels minimum.
For a Wallet-size print, the image resolution should be 320 x 240 pixels minimum.
Crap
Horribly pixelated blocky mess, like something out of 1987
OK
Looks reasonable enough, but nowhere near photo quality
Good
Pretty good all round, with a fair bit of detail
Very Good
This will be fine for most uses, unless you get up reeeeal close
Excellent
As good as a photo for most purposes
Photo Quality
Woohoo! Fantastic quality print, full of detail and perfect for your picture frame or for your showing off your very best shots.
Increase image resolution instead of just enlarging pixels
We increase your image resolution in a natural way. This is extremely difficult to do. Most upscaling algorithms don’t know how to accurately fill in missing pixels, so you end up with blocky low-quality results.
We are continuously trained on a wide variety of sample images to understand how photorealistic detail looks. After learning from millions of images, our programs can increase image resolution on a wide variety of different subjects (portraits, wildlife, landscapes, architecture, etc) and image types (DSLR, web/compressed, illustrations, CG). The results are often magical. Give us a try!
What’s the Right Size and Resolution?
First and foremost, you need to make sure your images match the right specifications needed by the print solutions provider. More often than not, the print vendor will give you their preferred specifications, but some of the terms can be confusing.
Pixels per inch, or PPI, is the standard measurement for image resolution. An image’s PPI refers to the density of pixels per square inch of space they occupy. The higher the PPI, the higher an image’s resolution – and the sharper your image will look as a large-format graphic.
You may want to ask your print solutions provider about their PPI preferences, but as a general rule of thumb, most commercially printed materials have roughly 300 PPI. This is also the standard benchmark for the minimum number of pixels per inch that create a large-scale, high-resolution image.
Conversely, many smaller photos, including most of the images you’ll find on the internet, are 72 PPI. This is why an image may have become pixelated and blurry when you’ve tried to enlarge it on your computer screen.
Higher resolutions allow for photos to be enlarged with less pixelation, because the more pixels per inch, the less each pixel is distorted when the full image is enlarged.
How Do I Account for the Image’s Viewing Distance?
Depending on the venue and nature of each large-format graphic, audiences will view the images from different distances.
For example, just as you look at a phone screen closer than you would a TV screen, there will also be variation in your audience’s proximity to an image on a menu versus a billboard.
Viewing distance and audience proximity are other important considerations for large-format graphics since understandably, larger viewing distances will also require larger images. And, as images are enlarged, their effective resolution decreases.
At the same time, however, the larger the viewing distance, the lower an image’s effective resolution can be. A photo that’s 300 PPI in a magazine would only be 14 PPI when stretched across a 15-foot banner.
That’s because while a photo may appear pixelated close-up, it looks perfectly fine when viewed across a room – and in order to enlarge the photo, the number of pixels per inch will inherently decrease.
Although 300 PPI is the general industry standard, your print solutions provider will be able to tell you if you can get by with a lower resolution.
Which File Format Should I Use?
There’s a vast number of image file formats out there, so finding the right one for your needs can quickly turn into an overcomplicated endeavor. Here’s a quick overview of some of the most practical formats available:
- JPEG – Jpeg files are the most commonly used option, and the format uses a process called lossy compression to shrink an image’s file size. The more you edit and resave a JPEG, the lower the quality of the image becomes since each edit raises the likelihood of compression artifacts being introduced. As long as the size and resolution of the photo remain high, the JPEG format is perfectly fine to use for most all your photo needs.
- TIFF – The TIFF, or tagged image file format, is used when image quality is paramount and file size is not a concern. This is the preferred file format for a lot of professional photographers since it uses something called lossless compression. While the file size remains higher than a JPEG, TIFF files can be edited and resaved as many times as you like – without degrading the image quality or introducing compression artifacts.
- PNGs and GIFs – The PNG, or portable network graphic, and GIF, graphics interchange format, types should be avoided for the most part. Both of these file formats are designed for digital use instead of print.
