enlarging pics that are 72dpi originally - bad idea?

[momtutu]

I've got some pictures that are on my phone that I'm putting in a lo but for some reason, they are at 72dpi. I dropped them into a small 4x4 layer of a template and clicked the corner and enlarged the picture just enough to fill up the layer but it didn't take too much to get it to the right size. Is this just a really bad decision and will look awful when it prints? If I enlarge the entire layout on my screen, it still looks pretty sharp but I just want to be sure.

[k23m]

if you didnt have to enlarge them too much, they should be fine! The worst that happens is that its a little blurry....you've still got a memory!

[NeverendingJen]

if you enlarge them 5% at a time, it helps. so start at 105%, save. do 105% again. save. it will get slightly bigger each time. As long as you aren't going too much bigger they should be fine

[Laura_A]

Originally Posted by NeverendingJen

if you enlarge them 5% at a time, it helps. so start at 105%, save. do 105% again. save. it will get slightly bigger each time. As long as you aren't going too much bigger they should be fine

Great tip! I'll have to try this next time. Thanks

[kristijoy]

Why 5%???

[tanyiadeskins]

I have done this before but they turned out absolutely awful When I got the page actually printed it was too blurry, but online it looked ok.

BUT... that was also like 3 years ago when the mp of the phone cameras were way less, you could always try and do a 4x6 at walmart or something for way less than a buck and see how it turns out, then you would know if it would be worth the time and money later.

[jessica31876]

One thing to remember...all designs are usually made at 300dpi (or ppi...I always get those confused LOL) so if you lower all your graphics to 200dpi then adding the photo at 72dpi and using resize to 105% at a time it is enough to make it look ok and won't effect the graphics that much by changing them to 200dpi.

[momtutu]

Thanks for all the info!!

[origami]

Originally Posted by momtutu

I've got some pictures that are on my phone that I'm putting in a lo but for some reason, they are at 72dpi. I dropped them into a small 4x4 layer of a template and clicked the corner and enlarged the picture just enough to fill up the layer but it didn't take too much to get it to the right size. Is this just a really bad decision and will look awful when it prints? If I enlarge the entire layout on my screen, it still looks pretty sharp but I just want to be sure.

I found this to be an interesting article about pixel dimensions. Some cameras do save photos at 72 dpi, but that doesn't mean that they are necessarily going to result in poor quality. You should be able to use some simple math to figure out what size you can print your photo at.

http://www.istockphoto.com/article_view.php?ID=199

[SeattleSheri]

Originally Posted by kristijoy

Why 5%???

The idea behind using small incremental increases is that when the program resamples (guesses at what pixels to fill in gaps with), it will improve the quality.

[SeattleSheri]

Originally Posted by momtutu

I've got some pictures that are on my phone that I'm putting in a lo but for some reason, they are at 72dpi. I dropped them into a small 4x4 layer of a template and clicked the corner and enlarged the picture just enough to fill up the layer but it didn't take too much to get it to the right size. Is this just a really bad decision and will look awful when it prints? If I enlarge the entire layout on my screen, it still looks pretty sharp but I just want to be sure.

It depends on the pixel dimensions of the image. Do you know what the are?