TRAGIC....Please read!!!

[jleev]

Good morning all,

A good friend of mine recently invested in a D1 dig. camera with the intention of shooting the birth of his first child. The good news is that the birth was text book, mother and baby healthy and happy and Dan "snapped" away while as his new daughter was born.
The not so good news (the tragedy) is that the whole event was captured with the D1 inadvertently set to low res. JPEG!!

Is there a specific application or PS technique that will up res. or other wise interpolate these files enough to get at least a decent 4 x 6 or 5 x 7 print from these digital files?
Due to the graphic and personal nature of the shots I am unable to post an example but I think we all know what a low res. JPEG image looks like and the blocky problems associated.

All input much appreciated.

Cheers,

J

[Leah]

Are they low-res and high-compression? Or just low-res with low compression?

So far as JPEG compression artifacts go, depending on the picture applications like NeatImage (has several presets designed for JPEG artifact removal) or NoiseNinja can do a decent job on removing or reducing the blockiness.

And for upscaling the resolution, if native Photoshop resizing and interpolation doesn't cut it then maybe try Extensis SmartScale or Genuine Fractals (I know you can get a free time-limited trial download of SmartScale)? What pixel dimensions are the files he has?

Then maybe try some smart sharpening techniques before actually printing?

[Ed_L]

What is the number of pixels on the low res file? A decent 4X6 should be obtained from a 600X900 pixel image, and a 5X7 should be available from a 750X1050 pixel image. That will give you 150 ppi. I should be noted that "decent quality" is subjective, but most should be satisfied with 150 ppi.

Ed

[jleev]

Thanks for your replys.
I beg your pardon.....was actualy a D70 Nikon. The Exif indicates a 160 x 120 JPEG at a res. of 300, 8 bit RGB. i.e. Not very many pixels!!! No indication of compression settings if any.
Leah, I have neat image and will experiment further and let you know. In terms of work flow......does one up res. or process with an app. such as NI first then interpolate?

Much appreciated,

J

[T Paul]

I've heard that you can increased the photo by 10% over and over in PhotoShop and get fairly good results (not perfect mind you). Some vary this and apply USM every 2 increases or so.

1. Open Image

2. In the image size menu check resample, change the unit of measurement to percent and type in 110. This will increase your image by 10%

3. Keep doing this until you reach the type you want. I'm not sure how well it will work with a low res image.

[Janet Petty]

I posted a help note on 2 August in the "help" section on nearly the same problem. My heart goes out to you. There is nothing like expecting good pictures and having the disappointment of failure at some level. If I knew how to link to the post I made I would. There were some good comments there as well. Good luck.

[PatrickB]

Guess that's the thread you were referring to Janet?

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/non-retouchpro-resources/8628-need-suggestions-rescuing-pictures-cd.html

[Mr. Pickles]

How can the Nikon D70 take images that small? Are you sure you are not looking at a JPG thumbnail size, and the REAL image is a NEF (RAW) image that would be mucho large???

I'd explore the possibility that they are RAW and learn about how to look a them.....

Mr. Pickles

[Doug Nelson]

Mr. P has an excellent point, the smallest listed image spec for that model is 1504 x 1000.

[Duv]

I have a D100 and quite frankly, there is no way that at the lowest settings it can't turn out a decent 4 x 6. Something is amiss. Perhaps this thread is dead. If not, perhaps post your image to see what we are dealing with.

Cheers
Dave

[Photo678]

not to be rude, but sounds like another case of the amatuer using the prosumer camera without reading the manual

[JohnnyT]

Check out www.interpolatethis.com for some excellent info regarding interpolation.

They also have a free photoshop action for the increase by 10 %.

www.interpolatethis.com/actions.htm

Hope this helps