When iv had pictures developed from the shops and i like a paticular photo and id like to enlarge it, will i loose the quality of the picture when enlarged?, if i do, how do i get round this?

Almost certainly. Blowing up any picture will cause grain to show and it gets worse if the picture wasn't great to start with and remember shop processing is usually mass produced by machines that usually give just average 'holiday snapshot' quality. The only way to make sure that you get consistently good 'blow upable' pictures is to take them with a reasonable camera using slow as you can film. I havent used film cameras for years, preferring digital, but I found the best medium for enlargement was slides (transparencies), in my case Kodak 25 and 64.

Thats a real pain, freinds and family are asking me for pictures for thier houses, but if the quality gets worse whats the point!!!!!, what about a project you set your self? What are you supose to de then?!!!!!!!!

i'm a little disapointed with digital, upgrading from a 2/4MP to a 6/12MP (fuji CCD's stack their sensors differently so get a suedo larger MP)so i have realised you dont get finer detail just larger pictures
it can use RAW format but unfortunatly the provided software only converts it to TIF

[ 10. April 2005, 07:15 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

Enlarging from a good quality 35mm neg should easily withstand 20 X 16 provided cropping is kept to a minimum. The quality of camera is also a consideration. Get hold of Amateur Photographer and check out CoLabs.

For sharpness a slide takes some beating, but Kodachrome 25 is no longer available, but neg film is still pretty good. 10 X 8 for albums should be pin sharp.

[ 11. April 2005, 07:27 AM: Message edited by: Peter Waller ]

If you have a digital file, then an easy way to increase the print size is to interpolate the file to a larger size in photoshop, using "Image" then "Size".

Enter the new dimensions that you want to print too and set the dpi setting to 300dpi. To get a decent A3+ sized print, you'll need to increase the longest edge to around 5700 pixels.

most quality films ie kodak and fuji will give you a good quality blow up to around 20x30 inches no problem these days. 25&64 are a bit old hat now due to T Grain technology.

The basic physics of the photographic medium means that the larger you blow up a photo the further away you tend to be when you look at it.

A 20x30 print might look grainy if you view it from the same distance as a 6x4 but this is rarely the case.

Regarding digital photos go to

www.picasa.com/index.php

and download the FREE viewer there, you will be amazed at what it will find on your PC and what you can do with the images.

Moody, you could give this a try, if you don't mind risking a couple of quid.

Sign up for Photobox.co.uk (free registration) and post them your print, and ask them to print you one of the size you decide on.
I have used them and have been absolutely delighted with the results...super quality...super colour..super next day delivery.

So good that they look like proper photo prints (film)

If you like the result you can get photobox to send more copies to wherever you ask.

Den

I've found Fujichrome film (slides) to be best, using Fuji's own in-house processing.

Dunno whether it still applies - though I don't see why it shouldn't - but if I was taking pictures that I knew I wanted to enlarge I used the slowest film I could get away with in the prevailing light conditions.