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Enlarging
Digital Images for Publication
by Digital Darrell
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SECOND
TEST - Adobe® Photoshop CS
Next, I used Adobe® Photoshop CS, and its excellent "Bicubic
Smoother" to interpolate (enlarge) the image to 56 megabytes.
In Figure 2 below, you will see a comparison of the original
17.5 megabyte 8-bit TIFF and the interpolated 56 megabyte
8-bit TIFF (13.5x20 inches at 300 dpi). Can you see any differences?
THIRD
TEST - LizardTech®
Genuine Fractals vs. Photoshop CS
Now,
let's see a direct comparison between the Photoshop CS and
Genuine Fractals Conversions. In Figure 3 below we see the
Photoshop on the left and Genuine Fractals on the right. Can
you see a difference in these?
Since
you are only seeing mildly compressed JPEG files, and cannot
see the original TIFF images, let me give you my opinion of
these conversions.
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The
Genuine Fractals® and Photoshop® conversions both
exhibit slightly more contrast.
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The
apparent sharpness of the Genuine Fractals image is a
little higher than the original TIFF.
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The
apparent sharpness of the Photoshop conversion is slightly
less than the original TIFF.
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Both
interpolations maintained an accurate color representation.
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Neither
of the conversions caused much increase in noise (grain).
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Since
the 300x350 interpolated images were reduced by 50% to
the size of the non-interpolated image, there could be
some loss of quality from the reduction. But, amazingly,
the interpolated images are still of similar quality to
the original image. This shows how well the two software
programs do at interpolating.
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Both
enlargements provide an image that may be used in a two-page
magazine spread.
CONCLUSION
Is
there a winner? Well, in my opinion the Genuine Fractals
image was slightly sharper looking than the Photoshop image.
So, personally, I choose Genuine Fractals as my normal conversion
tool. Photoshop CS also provided an excellent image. If
a bit of sharpening were done on either conversion, I think
there would be little difference between them in final appearance.
If you would like to examine the original TIFF files yourself,
I have included links to the individual files at the end
of this article.
Both Genuine Fractals and Photoshop CS were able to provide
a professional level of digital image interpolation. I would
not be afraid to submit a 50+ megabyte file from either
of these fine software tools to a stock agency or magazine.
So, six-megapixel digital camera users can be happy that
the output from their camera may be acceptable for publication
without significant loss of quality from the interpolation
process.
Keep
on capturing time...
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