seeking help for photo manipulation

edX

edX

mac shaman
ok, i've tried playing around with the tools in Graphic Converter and i still can't figure out a few things. i know this is probably simple and probably in some help manual or something, but i can't seem to find it anywhere easily.

to start with, i want to be able to increase the size of my digital camera pix to 6x4 roughly. Once i have scaled them, how do i get back some of the crispness of the original image? i have tried unsharp mask and sharpen edges, but don't really understand how they work. I also don't understand resolution adjustments.

and do i deal with this before or after making brightness/contrast adjustments?

TIA !!

(even pointing me to the answer would be helpful)
 
Okay, firstly there is actually a difference between print size and pixel size. Knowing that will help you make sense of some of those resize dialogues.

Now, suppose you wanted to print out the image at 300dpi (example only) at a size of 6x4 inches. In GC, you select Picture -> Size -> Scale. Set the X and Y resolutions to 300 (for your printer) and then the size in inches. The pixel dimensions should change to match. Use High-quality scaling and apply.

The amount of sharpening depends on the original image, and how much it has been changed in size. As a rule though, in GC select Effect -> Sharpen Edges and start with something pretty close to the values in the hint (90% for normal is usually pretty close). Don't be afraid to experiment here as the results will be different for any image, camera, display and printer.
 
But if you scale a 72 dpi image to 6X4 300dpi image, you will get some nasty pixels. If you want to print your photos, I would try scaling them to 100 dpi at the most, and make them 6X4. But that is just me, and just a guess. It seems like printers help smooth out pixelized images.
 
thanks guys. every little bit helps. i've gotten some other help on how to use the unsharpen mask effectively as well and my pics are starting to look better.

so far i'm not doing any printing, just posting to the web and storing on my HD. but the pixel info is good to know anyway.

if only GC didn't want another $10 for a manual !! and who knows if it's even any good?:confused: if i knew it would answer all my questions, i would spring for the money. but considering the poor amount of help on their site, i am a bit wary.
 
We used GC once a year or so ago, before the ownership changed. Used to be you could download and use on 10 images, then buy it, or loose it. We used it to enlarge a 5x7" 300ppi image to 60"x 80" (or about), @ 125ppi. We were amazed! Our plotter had no trouble ripping the tiff file, and the color stayed with good density. I'm not sure it's for everyone, but in the print trade where people think you can print anything, "because it work's fine on the web site", it's well worth the $40 (including the manual) US.
 
so horqdog, you've seen the manual and would say that it is very comprehensive and would answer my question fully? i already paid for the app. and just want to learn how to use it effectively. like yesterday i got some nice redwoods shots and now am motivated to want to make half decent desktops out of them if i can.
 
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