Does anyone know how much we can enlarge a LO from 12x12 (300 ppi)? I have a friend that's having an event and she wants to display the enlarged layouts on easels. I'm trying to figure out what I need to do to so that the images do not become pixelated/distorted.

It all depends on the quality of files you used to create the layout. For example, if you used 6mp or better photos and didn't do too many destructive things on them, that's great. If your elements were all high quality pngs.. super. However, if your photos were 3mp say and were saved only as jpg and then you did a ton of saving and editting of them... they will not look great when enlarged.

You will need to use Bicubic Smoother in photoshop as you change the image size.. or even better, you could try third party plugins that special in this type of things like Geniune Fractals...

Like everything else.. it depends on the original and the quality of it.

Go up to 24x24 and you should be just fine.

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especially if you just want to view them from far away.. they will be more forgiving if you are not standing 1 foot away. A trick that you can do to be sure... just blow the thing up to the size you want, crop an 8x10 section away and print it. If you like the way it prints for that section.. then you will like the rest when printed... professional photographers do this all the time to test large resizings..

Thanks!! See, what I've realized is that people that are not into photography or scrapping tend to save pics at the lowest resolution. The pics look fine when they are emailed but I've had a hard time explaining that it won't look nice when enlarged.

I don't know right now how her pics are saved but I tell people I need at least 300 ppi.

Do you know more about the Bicubic Smoother...as in how to use it. I've seen it when I go to the Image Size window but I want to be able to adjust it properly. I know they say you can make 10-20% in changes BUT how do I do it?


Thank you...I'll ask her how big she wants to have them printed. Hopefully 24x24 is okay with her.



WOW!! I love this trick! I never thought of that! You know I was thinking I would have to do test prints at the printers each time!! WOO HOO!!!

So Pesto, are you saying the 24x24 300dpi print will only look good from afar?

You would go to Image Size and enter the dimensions you want.. 24x24 and then choose bicubic Smoother and hit ok. The layout will double and you can then crop out a 8x10 and print it.

No.. I'm just saying that typically when you blow up photos or photo quailty layouts, you will get a better appreciation of from further back. That's why 8x10 is such a popular size (but not good for most digital slrs!).. it looks good close up and from a moderate distance.. however, put an 8x10 on a large wall and it gets lost. Put a 16x24 up in its place and you have yourself a very nice looking print.. that's what I meant.

Good luck.. you should be just fine for this size. You might look into getting these printed professionally.. the prices aren't much more than getting them done locally and the quality is amazingly better.

I use www.whcc.com exclusively for my professional photo printing.

Good Luck!

Thank you thank you!! I feel so much better now. I was feeling really nervous about enlarging the LO's.

Nah.. it's easy and should work out ok.. just do the crop and print and check out the results.. if you are happy with the grain and don't see much pixelization... I'd say you'll be happy with the results blown up on all the layouts. Good luck!