Enlarge Pictures to Posters
Thanks in part to the growth in the popularity of photography brought about in part by the digital camera, many people are now turning their pictures into posters. If you have a high-resolution camera this is no problem. But if your digital camera has a fairly low resolution (1 or 2 megapixels), expanding and printing pictures often result in a pixelated and unsatisfying image. Solving this problem can also be done using the freeware version of the GIMP application.
Instructions
1. Go to the GIMP site (see the Resource section of this article) to download and install the latest version of the GIMP program. Don't use the beta version, which will have flaws. A shortcut to GIMP will be placed on your desktop.
2. Load the picture onto your computer. Transfer it from a digital source, such as the camera itself or an SD card. Don't scan it.
3. Open GIMP. Select "File" and click "Open." In the search dialog, browse to and open the picture you loaded.
4. Select "Image" from the menu and click "Scale Image." In the "Scale Image" dialog, change the increments to "Inches." Be sure the "Constrain Proportions" lock is turned on. Set the interpolation to "Linear." If you have a high-resolution camera, increase the width and height to at least the size of the poster you want, click "OK" to close the dialog, and skip to Step 6.
5. Increase the size of the image by 10 percent (if you have a less powerful camera). Repeat this step as many times as it takes to get both the width and height to at least the size of the poster you want. Unless the proportions of the image and the poster are the same, either the width or the height number will be higher than the poster's.
6. Select "Image" and click "Canvas Size." In the "Canvas Size" dialog, turn off the "Constrain Proportions" lock. Change the increments to inches and reduce either the width or the height (whichever is greater than the size of the poster) to the same size as the poster. Click "OK."
7. Select "File" and click "Save." In the dialog name you file and save it as a JPEG.
Tags: size poster, width height, Canvas Size, Constrain Proportions, Constrain Proportions lock