How to make small images bigger with out making it look pixelated?

I found a picture of my little sister in my moms photobucket account, but it is really small. I was wondering how can I make this picture bigger with out it looking all grainy and pixelated? I tried to resize it in photbucket, but because it is so small I can no longer make it any bigger I can only make it smaller. I have no idea where this picture came from so I can't re scan it or anything. Someone help pls!How to make small images bigger with out making it look pixelated?
Sorry but you cant.


There are programs out there that ';claim'; they can but if the resolution is not in the original, it wont be in the final edit.


Our company has tested many photo enhancing software and really it comes down to the fact that if the original photo is not high enough resolution to blow up, then it will always look pixelated.





You ';can'; blow up the photo in photoshop and smooth out the pixelation, but the quality of the original image will always remain with the original version as the best quality, there is no software that can ';add'; more resolution.How to make small images bigger with out making it look pixelated?
There so many ways to blow up pictures.. you can convert small pic to vector then export to jpg.. And I dont agree to the BEST ANSWER... because I can Blow up 320x240 to 3520x2640... if still got that picture send it to me let me blow that up... mamacmarino@yahoo.com.ph .... email your pic Kellz Report Abuse

print out picture-perhaps original size is 8';x4';. Take photo of that photo with a great camera. Blow that up to maximum size- with super hi res camera.Blow that up.








You can take a slide picture of original printed out picture too with regular camera (such as a Nikon) as a slide --then, take the slide to a full service photo place (I use Blacks here in Canada--maybe Kodak places also have thi service of slide to CD transfer) and get them to transfer this slide onto a cd in the ***largest possible format***. (SPECIFY to technitian that you want to be able to blow this up to poster-sized format--and state size)





Then you can go to a special-services print/photocopy shop and print this on an oversized piece of paper or fabric...costs about 5 bucks per square foot... it will be HUGE.





(By ';huge'; I mean 3 feet by 2 feet or larger.) ^^





So, to re-cap, for highest enlargement, take a slide.





For less enlargement, take hi resolution pic of picture with digital camera.
I agree that you, basically, can't do this. Increasing the resolution of a small resolution image will only result in the same, big pixels as you get when you simply enlarge the image. What happens when you double the resolution, for example, will be that each individual pixel will turn into four identical pixels which, to the eye, look like one huge pixel.





You can ';fake'; a tiny bit if resolution bump, which can minimize SOME of the appearance of pixelization, but it subtitutes noise and a grainy appearance for the jagged pixels.





You can experiment to see how well this may work for you.





Take a copy of that small image and bump up the resolution to a bit more. Take your low res image, which is probably about 72 dpi. Bump it up to 100 dpi. Now, go to your filters menu and add a bit of noise. Don't do much, make it about 5%.





This will replace some of the larger pixels with a bit of random color, or ';noise.'; I will take some of the jagged edges out. Make a test print and compare it to a print made of the original low res image and you will see what I mean.





Save the new version and then do a ';save as'; and rename the file. On this new file, you can do some experiments to see what you can do about reducing the noise level, such as using some of the smoothing and bluring filters. Or, you can use the blur tool (looks like a drop of water, to selectively blur certain areas. The blur tool helps blend in the noise pixels into whatever background is around it.





Your experiments may yeild some more improvement. However, you really can't expect too much improvement. The example numbers I gave you are, actually much higher than I would try in a serious attempt at fixing a low res image. Too high a degree of change will result in a very artificial, ';fake'; looking picture that people will see has been doctored. Some trial and error will show you how much you can get away with.