Hi all,
Im starting a new layout project for a publication and was wondering about low res stuff. I have several things to convert but I need to get them to 300 dpi minimum. Anyone have any methods they would like to share.

Would pasting into a 300 dpi file then stretching the image and applying a filter clean up pixilation?

The DPI setting of a file has nothing to do with pixel resolution.  If the pixel resolution is 800x600, and DPI is changed, the image will not change at all.

Someone may have a different answer for you, but as far as I'm aware, if you start with a low rez image and enlarge it, there's no practical/simple way to create detail where there was not any before, so you get pixelation.  I guess you could blur it, but that wouldn't create any detail, it would just be blurry.

Thanks was really hoping I could do something as I cant replace some of the low res stuff I would like to use.

If you un-check "resample image" the file diamentions will shrink giving you the a smaller file size at 300 dpi. So if the file was 8" x 10" at 72 dpi it will be 2" x 4" at 300 dpi which will give you a good resulotion for print. Unfortunatly you get a small picture.

if you do resample and set it to 8x10 at 300 dpi then zoom to 100% on your screen you will get an idea of how it will print although monitors tend to display a bit sharper than printers print there is no magic button for your dilemma some subject matters are more forgiving than others on resamples skies hate resampling, forests or busy shots do not a few tricks would be to add noise and or sharpen i think ps3 has a reduce digital artifacts function, but i forget where it is in the menu

I vaguely remember hearing about a program or filter/plugin that helped in making small/low res. images bigger but I can't remember where, if I find it I'll be right back...

Here are some you may want to look at:

http://www.alienskin.com/blowup/

http://www.fixerlabs.com/EN/upsize/sizefixer.htm

http://www.ononesoftware.com/

Thanks Lucie some of those look like they will do the trick.

As pjz99 was getting at, your dpi doesn't mean much. What are the ACTUAL pixels of a sample image you are talking about?

You got an 800x600 image, or 2,000x3,000 or 4,096x4,096? You can change dpi's all day long, and those are STILL gonna be the same dimensions - so what are the image dimensions you are starting with? They might actually be fine for print dimensions - also we need to know HOW they are being printed - CMYK, inkjet, minilab digital printer, billboard, etc.?

Need more info - sorry for being vague and not actually giving you an answer.
-Lew ;-)

A little trick I use sometimes with moderate success is to insert your photo, image or picture into a 3D program, (The Higher End a Program the Better). Put it on a 2D plane then bring it into the camera as close as you can get it, DO NOT STRETCH TO FIT!!! Then Render at your Res and DPI and there you have it. Of course you will need to set the lighting and such to make it the best it can be, but you can come up with some nice larger images this way.