Photo resolution improver

[backontrack]

Hi,

Does anyone known of a good free online website that you can use to improve photo resolution? It's a bit like increasing the pixels on a YouTube video from 144p to 480p.

(Mods, feel free to delete once finished)

 

[AM9]

Hi,

Does anyone known of a good free online website that you can use to improve photo quality? It's a bit like increasing the pixels on a YouTube video from 144p to 480p.

(Mods, feel free to delete once finished)

Not sure whatyou mean as increasing the number of pixels in an image (or video) doesn't improve the quality because it isn't there in the first place!
If you are looking for an program that does things like Photoshop but is free, then there are two worth mentioning:
1) Zoner Photo Studio Free -
http://zoner-photo-studio-free.en.softonic.com/
This is easy to use and has most of the facilites that you will need to grade and touch up your still images
2) The GIMP -
http://www.gimp.org/
This is a very comprehensive program which is well supported by add-ins. In many respects it's capabilities are as great as Photoshop professional but it's interface is different so my have a learning curve ot overcome.

As far as video is concerned there area few editors but little is offered free.

 

[bb21]

I use GIMP for image processing despite having Photoshop myself, as I find that I have greater control, but GIMP is quite techy so is not everyone's cup of tea.

 

[backontrack]

Sorry, but I was looking for an online website that would improve the resolution. I should have been clearer.

 

[AM9]

Sorry, but I was looking for an online website that would improve the resolution. I should have been clearer.

You can't 'improve the resolution' unless you use a higher resolution camera to take pictures. If the detail isn't in the image taken by the camera, increasing the number of pixels won't do anything to improve the picture as whatever you use doesn't know what detail wasn't captured.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

If you are wanting to improve the quality of a photo or batch of photos that you have taken yourself, then posting an example (or a link to one) in the Photography Advice & Discussion forum may get you some helpful advice from one of the many experienced photographers who are part of RailforumsUK.

 

[NSEFAN]

You can increase the physical number of pixels in an image, but you cannot add meaningful data to them. Any tool claiming to increase resolution will in fact be guessing what the missing data is using some algorithm. Increasing the video resolution on YouTube just moves closer to the original video quality: you can throw away quality an resolution but you can't get it back.

 

[maniacmartin]

Someone's been watching too many Hollywood movies!

 

[ainsworth74]

Someone's been watching too many Hollywood movies!

As soon as I saw the thread title I was reminded of videos like this from certain american police procedurals:

[youtube]3uoM5kfZIQ0[/youtube]

Or even this compilation of such things:

[youtube]Vxq9yj2pVWk[/youtube]

 

[backontrack]

Someone's been watching too many Hollywood movies!

Me?









I actually don't understand this joke.

 

[dosxuk]

Me?









I actually don't understand this joke.

You need to describe exactly what you want to achieve, because what you're asking at the moment is only possible in Hollywood.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Just a thought... maybe the OP has badly phrased the question and might simply be asking if it is possible to sharpen up a slightly blurred photo? Something I've often wondered myself...

 

[yorkie]

Sorry, but I was looking for an online website that would improve the resolution. I should have been clearer.

How can you improve the resolution? What is it you actually want to achieve?

 

[Flying Snail]

Me?









I actually don't understand this joke.

The joke is that that sort of nonsense is made up by Hollywood to plot their rubbish scripts.

If you have a poor quality image then it is not possible to increase the size of it and get a higher quality image.

An exception to that would be a small print from a film camera, depending on the properties of the picture a 35mm negative can produce a very detailed image.

http://www.irfanview.com/ is a free image conversion tool that will allow you to change size, format and play around with some of the basic properties of still images.

If you want more advanced manipulation you need Photoshop or similar as discussed earlier in the thread.

 

[Crossover]

I think what you are trying to achieve is what may be referred to as 'upscaling'

As others have said, it'll be a waste of time as the additional pixels generated (remember resolution of images is measured in DPI, Dots Per Inch) but with no data for those pixels, you're not going to achieve a higher quality image

 

[PaxVobiscum]

I fear the solution to the OP's problem may lie in the use of the "re-shoot filter" which alas is not part of any software package, online or otherwise.

 

[Clip]

.

That went from New York to Miami in one fell swoop

 

[LexyBoy]

Although you can't generate information that is not there, it is possible to upscale images such that they look better at a given resolution than the simplest solution of just duplicating pixels (as you get e.g. by zooming an image in most viewers). More sophisticated algorithms recognise shapes, or edges, or do other clever things tailored to different types of image, which gives a sharper image. See Wikipedia.

Fo example my DVD/Blu-ray player will upscale DVDs to HD, and this gives a much better picture quality than you get watching SD TV broadcasts (which get scaled on the TV by doubling pixels).

Can't help with the original question though.

 

[Bevan Price]

You can increase the physical number of pixels in an image, but you cannot add meaningful data to them. Any tool claiming to increase resolution will in fact be guessing what the missing data is using some algorithm. Increasing the video resolution on YouTube just moves closer to the original video quality: you can throw away quality an resolution but you can't get it back.

Should anyone want to investigate further, this might be of interest:

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-interpolation.htm