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How Big Can You Print

People often ask how large of a print they can make with Genuine Fractals. If your original image is sharp, has good details and little noise you could go as large as 1000% of the original size. 1000% is ten times the size of the original file. For example, an original file that is 8"x10" could be resized to 80"x100". That's pretty simple, no loss in image quality is a bit more subjective. Viewing distance can be a big part of that. Standard viewing distances are 2-3x the diagonal of a print or in the examples above for an 8"x10" it would be 25.6"-38.4". For the 80"x100" you are talking about 21'-32' away. That seems like a lot but that image that is almost 7'x10'. Keep in mind that many photographers scrutinize their images closer than standard viewing distances.

Another way to explain it is that images are perceived in several ways; color, tonality and sharpness. Other interpolation techniques maintain color and tonality but sacrifice sharpness by "inflating" the image uniformly. The image still looks familiar but will not be crisp. Depending on the amount of interpolation this can be severe and noticeable even at standard viewing distances. Genuine Fractals maintains the color, tonality and sharpness of an image at all sizes. That way it will always look the same when viewed at the proper distances.

It is unrealistic to assume that the fidelity when viewed at 100% will be the same for an 8x10 and an 80x100 created by Genuine Fractals. Genuine Fractals will maintain the edges which perceptually make the image sharp, but it can not create detail where there was none in the past. When the shutter is pressed, a finite amount of detail is captured. A good way to think about this is to look at an insect on a leaf. If you look at it with a magnifying glass you will see more detail than you did than when looking at it with the naked eye. Now if you take a digital photograph of that same insect and look at it in the computer and zoom in past 100% you do not see any more detail. The amount of information you see is limited by what the camera captured. Genuine Fractals works the same way, we are just taking the finite amount of detail available and increasing it in size, not creating new detail.

Genuine Fractals isn't magic. We have all watched scenes from movies and television shows like CSI, where they take an ATM security photo and enlarge the reflection in the victims eye to see the killer, with results that look amazing. This is pure science fiction, and I explained why above. You can not create detail where there was none before. Unfortunately many people see these an expect that it is really possible when it is not.

Well enough rambling, the long and short of it is that Genuine Fractals will do a better job of interpolating a digital file than any other software available, believe me I have done hundreds of tests. If your original file has good detail and little noise you will be able to make very good looking enlargements from your files. The chart below can help you determine the size of print you can create. Its interactive so mouse over the megapixel rating for your camera and watch the chart.