We all love capturing special moments with our cameras, and later on upload to our social media channels for our friends and followers to like.
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But just imagine that you are browsing your old digital photo album, and you come across a high quality image according to you.
However, as you are about to save it, you come across the bitter reality that the picture loses its quality upon expanding. This is a hard fact to absorb and you have to find a remedy for this.
Table of Contents
Why do pictures become blurry when enlarged?
Digital images are made up of pixels. When we resize, the pixels either shrink or expand. The pixels are not noticeable when you decrease the size and you see no loss of quality in the image.
However, when you increase the size of a picture, the pixels become more visible and pronounced. As a result, the picture appears blurry and distorted – lacking the quality your audience wants to see!
The solution!
We all know that high-quality images are critical for internet users. According to Search Engine Watch:
- 90% of all the data the brain transmits is visual.
- The human brain processes one image in the same amount of time it would take to read 1000 words. (Yes, turns out the old adage is indeed rooted in scientific fact.)
- The recall value of visual content even after three days is 65%, whereas the recall value for written text is merely 10%
Of course, the ‘demand’ for pictures doesn’t mean that you upload just about any picture on the web. While your audience enjoys seeing visuals, they will not appreciate a blurry, pixelated, and low-quality image that is improperly sized.
Thankfully, technology comes to the rescue here as well and helps enhance the image’s size without compromising the quality.
One of these is called ‘fractal interpolation’ and compensates for each enlarged pixel, so it matches the properties of the nearest one.
There are dozens of software in the market that use fractals to enlarge picture resolution. Some of the best ones include:
- AI Image Upscaler by Stockphotos
- Deep Image
- Photoshop
In this guide, let’s take a look at how these tools work and ways they help cater to all your modifying needs.
1. AI Image Upscaler by Stockphotos
Key Features:
- Drag and drop interface
- Artifacts removal
- Options for social media cutouts
- Supports JPG, PNG, WEBP, and BMP
The AI Image Upscaler by Stockphotos.com is one of the most user-friendly tools in the market. It is built in the website so you can directly use it without the need of downloading.
The tool offers free upscales up to three images. However, their premium plans are pretty budget-friendly and will open access to additional features.
It will also let you enhance 2x, 4x, and 8x from the actual size while supporting output remains at 8000 pixels.
With the help of this tool, your picture will come out larger, sharper, and in high-resolution.
See below an example of image upscaled by Stockphotos upscaler. You can also see a real-time comparison of the original vs the resized image using the sliding bar.
In our example, the picture was enlarged 2x and the resolution increased from 1000×750 to 2000×1500 pixels.
Below is another image I upscaled. But this time, I enlarged it at 8x. Can you notice the difference between the original image and the enlarged pic in the bottom?
As you can see, the image was enlarged to 8x without losing quality.
2. Deep Image
Key Features:
- JPG artifacts removal
- Live chat support
- API integration available
- Supports JPG and PNG
Deep Image is another web-based tool that allows you to test drive 5 image upscales for free. However, you will have to sign up for an account before availing the free service.
Plus, they have a mobile app that is compatible on both – Android and iOS. You can also apply for API integration that will let you use Deep Image in your website and app.
The upscale resolution limit on the tool is 2x, 3x, and 4x. A resolution calculator automatically calculates the pixels on the picture you upload and suggests the limit accordingly.
For our trial, we tried upscaling at 3x. You can compare the before and after results below.
As you can see, the resulting image has not sacrificed on quality. In fact, it has enhanced the sharpness of the picture when you compare it with the original image.
3. Photoshop
Key Features:
- Numerous editing options
- Premium quality outcome
- Subscription plans available
- Supports JPEG, PNG, TIFF, GIF, PDF, PSD
Photoshop is one of the most popular image editing software. And while it is a little challenging to comprehend, it gives professional quality results. This is why it is mostly used by expert illustrators and designers.
However, getting the hang of it is pretty easy and you can master the tool by following a few tutorials.
To upscale on Photoshop, open the image you want to modify.
Click on Edit > Preferences > Technology Previews.
Then put a check on Enable Preserve Details 2.0 Upscale.
Now return to the image and click on:
Image > Image Size.
From there, open the Resample list and click on Preserve Details 2.0.
Now you can choose the percentage of the size you want. For our example, we choose to upscale by 1x or 100 percent only. But you can go further to reduce the noise present in your picture. However, make sure not to overdo it because you may end up losing the details.
Final Thoughts
In this post, we have explained the best ways to enhance your images without losing quality.
Image quality is a vast subject that has the interest of the professional as well as the novice photographers. You can use the above tools and see which one works best for you. Good Luck!
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