trying to get the best quality export to a pdf... still gets pixelated. Newbie

I am exporting a file that contains a background photo with text over the top. When I export, the text is great....crisp and clean however my background image is becoming pixelated since I am making this a large print. Any tips to increasing resolution to photo files. I see there is a way to increase / bring in files at their actual size. So I may need to try that. Others?

You are always going to get a degraded image if you try and export it at a larger size than the original. There's no way around that.

As in every large format print job, you'll require a high resolution image for your background image. You cannot increase the dimensions of any image without loss of quality (in any application). You need to start with an appropriately scaled image at full resolution (if you need a 24" x 36" print, you need to start with a 24" x 36" image at 300 dpi). You can always decrease scale and maintain quality, but you can't do it the other way around - impossible task.

Thanks! I was afraid of that.

Thanks... I will make sure to implement this print with that in mind. Anyone have any laymans explanation to what is happening when you export and use settings to set dpi. I am learning that there are several different dpi types (print, page, image...).

I export everything the same (300 ppi) for print, page, images.

When you have increase your bitmap to the required size, with the bitmap still selected, have a look on the info bar if it is less than 150 dpi then your picture is going to be pixelated. There are some online firms which will increase your dpi of bitmap but this comes at a cost. With most mobiles/smart phones now with cameras with sensors well over 14 Mpix there is no excuse. Also have a look at this site for a better explanation of mega pixels to print size at 300 dpi: http://www.design215.com/toolbox/megapixels.php

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Albacore

With most mobiles/smart phones now with cameras with sensors well over 14 Mpix there is no excuse.

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I have several excuses:

1. I don't buy gadgets every six months: I have a mobile phone that I have kept for eight years and pay under £6/month for unlimited phone calls. In desperation, I might use its 2M pixel camera for a once in a million shot (still got 999,784 to go).
2. I use a 5M pixel Olympus camera with proper lenses for fine work; it beats the 14M pixel camera my wife has for quality.
3. I use Irfanview to upscale low resolution photos for free.
4. I bought AKVIS Magnifier to do the same; it eliminates the normal JPEG blocking, jaggies and pixelation that simple upscaling might give.
5. I experiment with an early DjVu rendering engine (http://djvu.org/files/DjVuSolo3.1-noncom.exe) that adds detail that isn't in the original. It thinks "I'm looking at hair here so this part must also be hair". I did say "experiment".

I can therefore have images from a variety of sources or I may want to blow up part of an image to outside the size convention dictates.

You may be surprised.
Acorn

Let's see some 'before and after' of these upscaled images, Acorn.

You can get away with a little upscaling, but sharpness and quality drop off after that. I'm with Albacore on this one.

As far as phones go - each to their own.

The OP asked for help for an existing jaggie. I suggested two free products and one bought one.
Perhaps they might help him. You can decide what works for you.

I'm with the tiger guy (http://www.grafphoto.com/articles/printdogma.html) who upscaled a 5" x 8" (2.7MB 300dpi JPEG) to 24" x 36" with stunning effect.

A quick DjVu play with a 1/5th part of a 245dpi image given to me.
As I stated earlier, it is experimental and they result has over-smoothed the detail and added a few DjVu artefacts but the jaggies have been banished. I would not normally use DjVu here but I don't have access to AKVIS Magnifier at the moment.

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Acorn