Photography question - can you make a photo of a photo?

[Dee*Jay]

So after spending an UNGODLY amount of time in the garage over the past several days I have finally conceded that I cannot find the negatives from a trip I took to Rome in 1996. There are four photos from that trip that I feel this burning *NEED* to enlarge and hang over the couch. I actually have the pictures from when I got back and had the photos developed, but they are in this tiny little frame (I think I cut the main portion of the image down to about 2 X 3). Is there any way to make an enlargement (say 5 X 7, or even 8 X 10) of those 2 X 3 images? Will it be all blurry and terrible? Can someone please come over to my house and help me look for these negatives...?

(OF COURSE I can find every damn negative from every damn other trip I''ve ever taken!!!) Any advice here will be MUCH appreciated!

 

[yssie]

I'm no photography pro but I've had good luck expanding 2x3s to 5x7s with photoshop. I'll be watching this thread with interest, I'd love to get that pic up to an 8x10..

 

[marcy]

They can make a negative off a photo but it will loose color and sharpness. It will not look anywhere near as good as your original especially blown up in to a 5 x 7 or 8 x 10.

 

[katamari]

My MIL takes old photographs that she wants enlarged to a photography store. I assume they just scan them in and use Photoshop to enlarge them; she probably could do it herself. But, if you don''t know Photoshop or would rather someone who was more practiced doing it, I would assume you could find a similar service.

 

[Burberrygirl]

I''ve scanned in, blown up, and printed tons of pictures for family members and I''ve found that it is always best if you can find the negatives (or slides). You should be able to get a decent copy of a picture just by scanning the original and making it larger but it might not be as sharp as you''d like. Good luck!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Thanks for the input everyone! There is a Wolf (or maybe it''s a Ritz?) Camera store near me so I might as well try having them blow up the pics it because the process won''t damage the original photos (right?) so I figure I''ll just see what happens. The funny thing is one of the reasons I like these photos is because they aren''t particularly sharp (they are pictures of bridges taken in early morning mist) so maybe the blowing up process won''t be *so* bad for them. Will let you all know how they turn out!

 

[soocool]

Believe it or not I took close up digital photos (digital slr) of my parent''s old photos ( 3 x 5) a few years ago and was able to get pretty decent 5 x 7 and 8 x 10 prints made. Mind you these photos were about 30 to 40 years old and they came out well.

I used a table top tripod and came in as close as I could and then Photoshopped them. You could always try and see what happens.

 

[elrohwen]

A photolab can scan the photos and re-print new ones. I did it all the time when I worked in a grocery store photolab as a teenager

eta: I think you would have good luck enlarging to 5x7. 8x10 may result in some graininess, but you don't know until you try.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Hmm...maybe I should have both 5 X 7s and 8 X 10s done. Does this cost a fortune?

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 4/19/2010 10:52:20 AM
Author: Dee*Jay
Hmm...maybe I should have both 5 X 7s and 8 X 10s done. Does this cost a fortune?

When I did it they were maybe $0.50 per picture or something. Definitely expensive to get a whole roll of film copied into new pictures, but for just a few pictures not a big deal at all. It just takes longer because the tech has to individually scan each picture, rather than inserting the whole roll and having the computer read the pics instantly. But it''s not that hard of a process - just like scanning the pictures on your home scanner.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Ok, I''m starting to get excited about this!