Printing an old black and white photo

[kimb]

Hi, I have photo taken in the 1930s which has been emailed to me and I would like to it printed as a photo.

I have tried loading the photo onto different layers and then using different effects on each layer, then taking the opacity down of each layer, as well as playing with the colour type, but when I upload it to send to the place that does my printing, I get a message that the resolution is too low to print it as a photo.

Is there any way that I can get the photo to look better than when it was taken in the 30s ... or at least, how can I get it to look the best that it possibly can?

Thanks
Kim

 

[jmgalvin]

What's the resolution of the one emailed to you. People have a habit of scanning in pics at 72 dpi and think that it will print. They also have a habit of saving in jpeg format at quality setting less than 100% (12 in PS parlance).

It should have been scanned at a minimum of 300 dpi (the more the better) and saved in at least a full quality jpeg. Without that, you're pretty much dead.

If you're just printing the thing on your own photo printer, you can try vastly increasing the resolution - 1200 min and see if the resulting interpolation helps. The worst that can happen is that you'll waste some paper and ink.





Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4

 

[kimb]

I'll try that, thanks.
Kim

 

[mscallisto]

I agree with jmgalvin and may add

if the pic is yellowed and you want to return it to its orig black and white you can try the following:

Image > Mode > Lab color

Windows > show channels

from the channels pallet drag the A channel to the trash can then drag the Alpha 2 channel to the trash can

then image > mode > gray scale.

 

[WLRJR]

2 Questions.....
Why "Lab Color" instead of RGB Color?
And, why not this sequence...img-mode-greyscale-discard color info----img-adj-shadow/highlights, to lighten any really dark areas, and then img-adj-brightness/contrast
to give the final image a bit more snap?
WLR

Keeping the friendly skies safe.

 

[cebebe]

There are 10+ ways to transform your pics in grey scale, the main issue for kimb seems to be the file size. Too few pixels in his image. Resolution is a very bad notion, as it depends on print size. Number of pixels don't vary. 1500 pixel-wide is needed and generally sifficient for a 5x7 print (no matter the resolution settings)