What is the best way to print low resolution photo?

[johnharlin]

I've got a black and white historical photo I picked up online of a 9.7 by 7.5 inches old aerial photo of a city when a lot of it was sand dunes at a resolution of 72. Can a reasonable print be made of this and what is the best way to prepare this photo for a good print.The photo also has red/pinkish transparent splotches throughout it which I would have to somehow get rid of.

What is the best way to make good prints out of such low resolution photos and also get rid of the transparent red splotches? I am using Photoshop CS5.

[jerryb]

hi john,
first 9x7" doesn't help any...what would give a clear idea is the pixal resolution...is it 460x480 or 1200 by 1200, etc.... inches and ppi ... don't help much...

pixals deminsion will tell us what the best size to print and also depending on what print size you want you may need to resize using one the alogrythems to get the best results...
note: normally resizing is at the end of the workflow however when working with images and there not enough pixals to work with i'll do resizing at the beginning... but it depends on the image which way i go..

that being said... sounds like the image is damge and it has discoloration/stains ..

your going to have to do some repair/retouching work first....

i can't say for sure what your workflow should be.. so can't say what steps you should do.. but there is alot tutorials on this...

take a look at this group
http://www.photoshopwebsite.com/photosh ... ed-photos/

there a couple of tutorials on this page i think applies like stains and colorolrations
http://www.photoshopwebsite.com/photosh ... ed-photos/

[johnharlin]

Thank you for your reply. I'm going to look at those sites you gave me.

The pixels of the photo are as follows:
Width is 700
Height is 540

[jerryb]

hi,
your welcome....
that 700x500 that really only good for only something like 3"x2"... any larger and it not going to look very good.... so what you 'll end up doing..if you want a larger print.... is that someware along the line...

is enlarging that image....... i would maybe set up for 300 ppi ...
enlarging you can use the 10% rule for enlarging..... that a popular meathod...

once that done then go in and do your retouch and repair of the image...

you might want to look at this site.. it gives recommended demension for printing..
http://www.urban75.org/photos/print.html