16 x 20 too pixelated

[Familyphotog]

My client loves this one image and wants to blow it up, and it was a bit underexposed so I just fixed it up with curves and some actions, looks great on the computer but my lab is telling me it is too pixelated when blown up. In looking at my exif data, it looks like my iso was on auto and was up too high, I think that's what causing it. Is there any way to fix something like this?

 

[Big Mike]

"pixelated" usually a result of not enough resolution. High ISO and fixing under exposure usually lead to digital noise. Those are two different things and require different solutions.

 

[KmH]

As Mike mentioned ISO has nada to do with pixelated prints. In fact it's probably not even pixels that are causing the issue. It's more likely JPEG MCU's that are becoming visible.

At any rate, what are the pixel dimensions (resolution) of the original photo you uploaded to the lab, and what PPI dios you assign to it? It had to be cropped from a 3:2 to a 5:4 so it could print at 16x20 right?

 

[gsgary]

can you post the shot, what camera ? was it shot in raw ?

 

[KmH]

The OP's profile says Nikon D90 as the camera.

 

[gsgary]

The OP's profile says Nikon D90 as the camera.

That should do a 16x20 with interpolation Understanding Digital Image Interpolation probably shot on small jpg

 

[Familyphotog]

The lab is telling me it's pixelated. I think it's probably too grainy if the ISO was too high. Is there any way I can blow it up and make it look better?

 

[Dao]

But ... pixelated and too grainy are 2 different things. Pixelated means images details appears to be in blocks instead of fine dots

i.e.
This is a pixelated Mario

 

[EchoingWhisper]

But ... pixelated and too grainy are 2 different things. Pixelated means images details appears to be in blocks instead of fine dots

i.e.
This is a pixelated Mario

And with blocky JPEG compression.

 

[Big Mike]

What are the details of the image you sent to the lab? What was it's size (in pixels)? What did you have the PPI set to?

 

[KmH]

Ya, I asked for those same parameters yesterday.

It may be that the OP doesn't know how to find the numbers we are asking for.

Apparently the OP has some rather large gaps in their basic understanding of digital photographs.

 

[Familyphotog]

Sorry I didn't get to your questions sooner. I resized it to a 16 x 24. PPI at 300.

 

[Familyphotog]

7227 x 4800 Pixel dimensions 99.2

 

[KmH]

Where did all the extra pixels come from? Because the D90 doesn't have near that many (7227 px x 4800 px = 34.6 MP).

A 16x24 print will be viewed from far enough away that 300 PPI isn't really needed.

 

[Familyphotog]

I just pulled up the image info in PS, when viewed at 100% those are the dimensions. 4288 x 2848 was the original when I pulled the exif data.