Loosing hope

[avidhunter]

Hello everyone. My name is Lance. I am new here. I do not know a thing about photography. I have a picture of my grandpa that I would like to have upsized to a 8x10. The picture is smaller but in new condition. I tried walmart and they turned out horrible. This picture was not taken with a top of the line camera. Thats probably why they are not turning out very good. I also tried a very reputable photographer. His work turned out ok but not as good as I would like. Someone please advise on what I should do and who to have do it?

 

[reznap]

Ok. Do you have the negative? That would be extremely nice. I'm guessing that's a no though.

If it's just a 4x6 photo or something, scanning it at a decent dpi and enlarging with something like 'genuine fractals' (computer software, works with photoshop) is going to be your best bet. I'd give it a shot if you wanted to post it here.

 

[tirediron]

You could try contacting a local camera club in your area - there's more than likely someone who would be willing and able to do a good job for a very reasonable or even no charge.

 

[avidhunter]

Ok. Do you have the negative? That would be extremely nice. I'm guessing that's a no though.

If it's just a 4x6 photo or something, scanning it at a decent dpi and enlarging with something like 'genuine fractals' (computer software, works with photoshop) is going to be your best bet. I'd give it a shot if you wanted to post it here.

Thank you for your reply. Where can I find a dpi scanner? Walmart? The scaner there is a HP and seems to be Just Ok in my opinion. I sure do appreciate your help. I do not have the negative. I think its a little smaller than a 4x6. Would be the next step down. I think its 3.5 by something.

 

[reznap]

Thank you for your reply. Where can I find a dpi scanner? Walmart? The scaner there is a HP and seems to be Just Ok in my opinion

The dpi - or 'dots per inch' - is like the resolution of the scanner. Higher dpi generally results in higher resolution images as far as I know, but I don't really know too much about this area.

Like I said though, if you want to link to a digital file I'll see what I can do if you'd like.

 

[avidhunter]

Ok. I will work on getting it scanned and I will let you know when its ready. Thanks again

 

[avidhunter]

Ok. I called my walmart store and there scanner is a HP scanjet g3110 DPI is up to 4800 from what HP's website is telling me. Will this scanner be ok to use? Walmart said I cannot save the scanned picture to a memory stick I would have to have it saved to a CD. Will this work?

 

[gsgary]

If the negative is 4x5 (medium format) you will get a fantastic print from itif you take it to someone with a darkroom

 

[JG_Coleman]

Ok. I called my walmart store and there scanner is a HP scanjet g3110 DPI is up to 4800 from what HP's website is telling me. Will this scanner be ok to use? Walmart said I cannot save the scanned picture to a memory stick I would have to have it saved to a CD. Will this work?

Yeah... same thing, really. Wal-mart just doesn't offer a service where they give you a digital copy on a memory stick... instead, they would ordinarily provide the customer with a CD. But the media to which it is saved is irrelevant... the digital file remains identical.

I can see a few potential problems with Wal-mart, though. Primarily, Wal-mart's services are aimed at individuals that don't really plan to do any editing to the digital files. Therefore, I wouldn't be surprised if they give you the photographs in JPEG format, which is not optimal if you plan to draw the best possible quality from the scanned result. They may also put the photograph through their own "Photo Fix" filter which could "bake in" modifications to the scanned data that may not be favorable. And, finally, they probably won't give you the full-resolution scanned data, which could be truly enormous... the image will likely be shrunk to a more "manageable" size, which basically means throwing away important detail that would ideally be retained throughout the process of revitalizing the photograph.

Personally, I would try to find a decent flatbed scanner and scan at the photograph at a high-resolution... being sure to save the result as a TIFF at full-size without any "canned" adjustments. This will give you the closest you can get to a "digital negative" given that you don't have the actual negative. From there, you'll have a scanned version, at the highest quality available, to tinker with and optimize.

Although I could be wrong, I'm pretty sure Wal-mart will not do this for you... it's just not part of the services that they offer.

 

[ann]

you don't indicate your location, but since this is important to you i would suggest you find a high end commerical digtial printing shop. They should have the equipment and experience to do what you want with better than just ok results. they should have high end scanners, but also the talent and knowldge that comes with the use of that type of equipment.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

I agree with ann.

Walmart may have equipment that is fine but the problem, aside from what JG has already mentioned, is the people running the equipment probably don't really know how to use it.