When/Why Enlarge or Upscale Your Photos?

Why Enlarge Your Photos?

It’s helpful to understand why you’d want to enlarge your photos before diving into the various ways you can do so. We agree that the base reason is that we want to take an image file with one resolution and increase it to a larger resolution, and that is the very definition of enlarging an image. So, what are some of the reasons for needing to enlarge, or upscale, a photo?

Heavy Cropping

Cropping is one of the most common edits photographers make during post-processing. It’s one of the first steps I take when editing my photography because my priority is to establish the photo’s composition. In some cases, I have to apply heavy cropping if my desired composition, or the primary focus point, is too small or far in the distance. That often happens when I don’t pair the ideal lens and focal length with the desired composition. As a result, my post-cropped photos tend to lose a lot of resolution, and upscaling is the only way to regain it.

Massive Printing or Displays

As you can imagine, the resolution requirements are strict for large digital billboards or ad campaigns, and sometimes photographers have to apply a significant upscale to meet their needs. The same upscaling requirements are valid for photographers who need to print their work for large displays.

Enlarging and Sharpening Mobile Photos

The state of mobile photography has come a long way over the past decade. I’m constantly amazed at what I can achieve with that slab of glass, metal, and circuity in my pocket. Despite some smartphones pushing the boundaries of megapixel counts with their sensors, the image file output often requires much work when upscaling to achieve a sharp larger resolution.