knowing what photo will look like by enlaging before printing

[alggomas]

I want to make sure that my photo will be sharp/not blurred when I send it away for printing.
If I enlarge my photo in Elements 7 to say 10"x16" , will that give me an idea of what the printed photo will look like please?

Thanks.

[tim]

No need, just zoom in to 100% and if it looks sharp, the print will be sharp.

[FlyingPhotog]

If you really want to sweat the small stuff, send a 100% cropped corner to the printer and have them run a quick test print.

Unless your original image is a 10th generation jpeg thumbnail, you should be fine.

[D Thompson]

In addition to what Tim & Jay said there is a little trick to viewing the actual print size @ 100%. I forget where I found this and I rarely use it, but it comes in handy from time to time.

First you need to find out your screen resolution and then actually measure the viewing section of your monitor. So, my screen is set to 1920 x1080 and the width is 20 7/8 inches (or 167 eighths). I need to divide, so 1920 * 8 = 15360 which divided by 167 gives me 92 (rounded). This number doesn't change unless you change screen resolution or a different monitor.

I use CS6, not Elements so I hope this is the same. Let's say you're going to print a 8x10". Go to Image/Image Resize. In the Document Size enter 8" width, 10" height. In the Resolution box, enter the number from the calculation (92) and click OK. Now when you view at 100%, it should appear on the screen sized as 8x10".

Do not forget to Undo the Image Resize. In fact, I'll usually create a Duplicate file to do this on. Hope it makes sense.

[Rimmer]

Yes, follow Dennis's instructions, then in Elements go to Edit > Preferences > General > Units & Rulers to enter your screen resolution. Then, when viewing your image, do View > Print Size.

One further trick: do Window > Images > Float in Window, then select the "full screen" icon on the image's window to maximize the view.

(Based on Elements 9; Elements 7 menus are the same, I think.

[alggomas]

Thank you all for this information.

Will now be able to check printability!!

[tim]

Some people obsess over irrelevant details. Believe it or not absolute sharpness is a detail, maybe an important detail, but sometimes the moment is more important than things being totally sharp.

[alggomas]

I agree that composition and subject matter is also important but I am speaking about very blurred here ,in a normal photo of a bird.
It also depends what you print it on. If on canvas it is seldom sharp unless you step back a bit. Which I suppose is true of every large photo/painting.

[tim]

If an image is clear on the screen it will be clear in print. If it's very blurred on the screen it will be very blurred in print.

I still think you're overthinking.