is it better to do the enlargment from the scaner or in pho.shop.program

[HAIAM]

hellow to every one:
this is my first thread, but i've been reading almost all the threads since i loged in nearly a year a go and it helped me a lot to improve my work and i am very greatfull to every one on this site .
now to my enquiry, i always enlarge the photo to size A4, this is all what my client wants, so is it better to do the enlargment from the scaner and send it to photoshop 6 under a resolusion 300 dpi and finish the enhansment there or scan it at higher reso. and do the enlargment in ps, i see the first way will save me a lot of trouble. i use hp flat bed scaner. and could any one tell whats the different, thankyou
haiam

[DJ Dubovsky]

Hello Haiam,
Nice to hear from you. If that is your normal output size then I would scan for that size. It's easier for you and doesn't seem to be a problem so go for it. However, I need to warn you that I am not that knowledgeable in this area so I will leave the more indepth answers for those who really know what they are talking about. I'm usually the one asking resolution questions.
DJ

[Ed_L]

Welcome Haiam! Like Deb, I'll let the more knowledgeable people handle this one. The one thing that I would say however, is that you should not scan at a higher resolution than the optical resolution of your scanner. While this will give you a larger file size, it will not add any *real* information. If you absolutely must make the file larger than the optical resolution permits, Photoshop will probably do a better job with resampling than you would get from your scanner. If I'm wrong on anything, someone will surely straighten me out!

Ed

[Doug Nelson]

I would divide one dimension of the original into the corresponding dimension of the output, then multiply that by 300.

So if your original is 4 inches wide and your output is to be 8 inches wide, 8/4=2, and 2x300=600, and your final scan would be 600ppi.

This also allows for a bit of cropping and for possible future enlargement (not a lot, but some).

But, to avoid all this, I simply scan at maximum optical resolution all the time, then resize and/or reduce the resolution in PS. This has been covered (with many opinions) in another thread, but with fast computers and cheap storage nowadays, the only harm of having unnecessarily too-high a resolution is slow print times (and I always make a separate printing file anyway, since you need to do a custom USM for each printing size).

[HAIAM]

thanks to every one for there replies

D. NELSON thanks to your information actully this is what i normaly do, but will you please tell me exactly what do you mean in (and I always make a separate printing file anyway, since you need to do a custom USM for each printing size).
and what is the USM
haiam

[jeaniesa]

HAIAM,

There's no need to cry - we're happy to answer your questions...

USM is the UnSharp Mask filter. It is used to make a photo appear sharper by increasing the contrast between light and dark pixels. What Doug meant by "and I always make a separate printing file anyway, since you need to do a custom USM for each printing size" is that the USM filter should always be the last thing that you do to a photo because any other operation you might do causes a slight blurring effect. Thus, you want to resize your photo to your intended output size and then run the USM filter. If you want a different output size, then go back to the original (final) photo, resize to a different output size and run USM again.

Hope this helps. If I've just confused you more, please ask more questions!

Jeanie

[admin_fff]

Hi-

I was reading the post that Haiam put up. Thanks for asking what USM was. I had the same question. I was wondering if anyone could elaborate on what the settings would be for the USM filter. I assume that this is a standard filter for Photoshop?

Thanks.

[Doug Nelson]

USM is very important, and there are several threads here already concerning it. Try a search for 'unsharp'. Once you've digested the basics, start a new thread with any specific questions.

In answer to your question, there's no standard settings. It must be done visually.

[admin_fff]

Thanks Doug. I apologize if that issue has already been addressed.

[HAIAM]

Opps, thanks to you all for the details, at least from now and on i will understand the short name for the most filter that i use all the time and made all that Q. about it , any way i am happy that someone else needed to know, and for you admin_fff, this is the link for the best thing ever about using USM
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/smart_sharp.htm, best luck