Help! I took this image to a nasty printer who shoved a magnifier in my face and said she wouldn't print it because of the pixelation. Though brutal, she was right. Anyone know how I can fix the resolution? This image started life as a somewhat lo-res digital photo. I'm kinda hoping I don't have to do a re-shoot.

I have found that by using a program found on Fred Miranda's site (mainly photography) called "Stair Interpolation" I get excellent results in printing photos and artwork I do. The progran was free last time I checked. It is a photoshop action so you will of course need photoshop to run it.

I have PS7. I'll try this. Thanks!

if the image is actually THAT size, no interpolator in the world is gonna give you a nice picture man, sorry to say.

True....no program is going to give you more than what you have in the original image. But photoshop can improve how the data appears. A small image in reasonably good shape can look ok with the stair interpolation....much better than what photoshop can do by itself.

This is the thumbnail. The actual image was a 3"x5".

...which I only want to blow up to an 11" x 14". I blew it up to 8" x 10". That is when the pixelation occurred. I should mention that this only happens on the printed image. The digital image looks great on my screen!

A digital image looking great on screen is one of the main problems I encounter almost daily. People want me to use their digital photographs in print. The issue is that to make a good print you need 300 dpi. Screen resolution is 72 dpi. For a 11"x14" print, the screen size should be 44"x56". Although modern fotoprinters seem to produce rather good images on lower resolutions. There is a lot more information in the Photoshop manual (that large book that came with the cd). There is other software that claims it can enlarge up to 300% with no loss of quality. But I can't remember the name. I have been trying for half an hour now.

Hmmm...I'll go back and look it up in my manual again. I must have missed something. I admit to scanning the text and not always reading it thoroughly. ;) I did read through the help section which was hopefully confusing. The nasty printer lady did tell me that if I got this problem licked I'd be in good shape. I've changed the resolution on my digital camera for this reason. Thanks all for the terrific suggestions. I'll give'em a whirl.

Actually you'll want to get as much information regarding "resolution" "DPI/PPI" "scanning for printing output" and other related topics because they are critical to getting the best output from your work. Trying to keep the information straight is another matter ;)

:)
retrocity

BTW, soon there will be a new "backroom" here in the forum, with many tutorials and tip sheets...

I use genuine fractals. it works great

Fractals...now that's an idea!