Picture zoom in.....

[Washac]

I have come across an old picture on the net of an outdoor concert from the 70's.

I think there maybe somebody I used to know in that picture but need to zoom in to that part of the picture but keep the pictures integrity, IE: No pixelation. Only art package I have is Adobe Photoshop Elements, cannot seem to do it with that, or I do not know how to.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Do you have a link to that picture? If it is only 640 x 480 or 2000 x 1000 or whatever size, then that is the maximum resolution, and will contain all the details already. Zooming in will be possible, but there will be almost no detail recovery, as it wasn't there in the first place.
If you could get your hands on the negative, thinks might look different, as a negative stores more information than it probably was scanned with or now reduced to.

 

[snberk103]

What simsaladimbamba is good info. Unless you have one of those fancy TV show computers that can put detail into a photo where none existed, then you are hooped.

However....if there is still a good amount of detail... just not enough to recognize the person ... there is one technique that may help.

Increase the size the images by 10%. Then 10% again. And again 10%, etc etc This incremental increasing makes photoshop work harder to fill in the missing pixels. No guarantees. I've never tried it, but I've read in several places it produces sharper blow-ups. I've also read that with the new versions of Photoshop it doesn't make a difference.

There 2 other things you could try....

Do a reverse image lookup (Tineye, Google, etc) and see if a bigger version of the photo is posted.

Contact the photographer and see if they will send you an enlarged version of the photo, or at least that section. When you ask the photographer, send them a low-rez version of the photo with an arrow pointing at the person in question. Most photographers (that I know) are nice people and will help out if the "favour" doesn't involve too much work. However, be prepared to offer some $$ for their time. Offer beer $$. Most shooters I know (from the '70s at least) like beer.

Good Luck.