Enlarging a 60+ year old photo

[dlanter]

My sister and I are planning a surprise 70th birthday party for our mother. I have several photos of her when she was a little girl and I am thinking of trying to enlarge them to display at the party.

The original photos are in good condition but only about 3 by 4 inch and of course black & white. My first bright idea was to take a picture of the original photo and enlarge it from there, that didn't work very good at all. So now I'm assuming my only option would be to find a high resolution scanner and then enlarge and enhance it in the computer. I am not wanting poster size but I thought it should be 11 by 14 at least.

So my first question would be where in the north DFW area would you go to get these digitized on a high resolution scanner?
After it is in the computer what software would you suggest to try to make this much of an enlargement? This might be pushing my limited skill with PS.
Is there a photo lab in the north DFW area that could scan & print the enlargement with good quality without having to take out a loan?

If this idea doesn't work, my backup plan is to take several of the photos of her and make a collage and then make a big print.

Thanks for your suggestions.

[kenw]

You need to scan it at a higher than normal resolution, and for 11x14, in all honesty a scan at the local walgreens or walmart will probably do just fine. You can save the scan to CD, then take it home to work on it.

When you resize it in the computer, check the various methods available for enlarging, my editor has: pixel resize, bicubic, bilinear and one called smart size, which is what I use. You'll have to experiment with your editor to find which method works best.

As far as local labs in DFW, I'm not going to be very helpful in that area. Hopefully someone else will pop in with a solution there.

[rbalcom]

The grain structure in old photos does not enlarge well. Even though you scan them at a very high resolution, when you look at them, you get a sharp copy of a very large piece of grain. The result is a very unsharp picture.

You can not create sharpness that is not there. I wish you luck, but think that your collage idea is your best bet.

[dlanter]

Thanks guys,

I'm going to give it a try and see what happens. The Walgreens scan couldn't cost that much and I can print a 11x14 myself, so I'll waste a sheet of paper and see what happens.

Originally Posted by rbalcom

You can not create sharpness that is not there.

Very good point. I may just be enlarging the imperfections of the original.

[venchka]

Chances are good that these old photos are contact prints, or very close to it, from large negatives. They should scan just fine. I would ask around and see if you don't know someone with a flatbed scanner. Everyone who owns an "All-in-one" printer, copier, fax machine also has a decent flatbed scnner in the package.

I'm working my way through my parents photos from the 30s & 40s and they enlarge just fine.

Good luck.