Yosemite National Park, Ca.
As megapixel counts have risen in cameras, enlarging files hasn’t been as big a priority for many photographers. But let’s face it, there are still times you photograph distant wildlife, crop down to the subject, and then want to enlarge the image. Enlarging RAW files right out of the RAW editor gives fairly decent results. And I have used Genuine Fractuals (now OnOne Resize) for similar results…I don’t see much difference between GF and PS when enlarging images. But then I tried the newest resizing software, Topaz AI Gigapixel, and saw a noticeable improvement.
Topaz AI Gigapixel cost $100, but if you want to ‘res up’ your files, you will want to give it a try. Take a look at the deer crop image above. This shot was enlarged to 150% in PS right out of the RAW editor using a RAW 21MP file (D500). Not bad, although if you look close at the eye and background you can see noise and pixel degradation.
Now take a look at this image. Same shot enlarged to 150% using Topaz AI Gigapixel. This image is noticeably cleaner and has less noise….a better enlargement for sure. I turned off the noise/blur reduction to give as similar a process as the PS version. With the noise/blur reduction turned on in Gigapixel, you get a cleaner result. One note…if you turn it on high, your final image may be flat and needing some contrast. But I will be using Gigapixel as my first choice for image enlargements in the future.
Another great rumor was released today…the new D6 is going to be 60MP! Sign me up, won’t even need to enlarge those files!