BY RALPH EBERHARD

Anyone working with raster images knows they can be a challenge. From printers to digital photographers, everyone in the graphics industry will come across these file types at some point.

When I started with digital photography, I was immediately frustrated with not being able to enlarge photographs as I once had with ease in the darkroom. The new concerns of image size, file size, pixels, and resolution, were quickly made visible. Working with vector graphics gave me some hope that digital imaging could be easily scalable but here also there were limitations. Vector graphics such as those from Illustrator are easily scalable but lack a photo-realistic look that is sometimes necessary. Thankfully PhotoZoom Pro 2 has taken us a step closer to having truly scalable raster images.

Before we talk about PhotoZoom Pro 2, let's discuss why the application is even necessary. Most people today handle digital photo files (raster images). Common file types for raster images are JPEG, TIFF, BMP, GIF, and so on. These images are made up of individual pixels; if you zoom far enough into an image you will see each pixel clearly defined. When viewed at the proper scale, all of the pixels form an image. In the past, it has been very difficult to enlarge these types of files in applications such as Photoshop.

Say you have a 4X6-inch image and want to enlarge it to an 8X10. Isn't it as simple as increasing the file size? Unfortunately, the process is not that simple. If you only increase the file size, Photoshop will interpolate the image or add pixels. If you think about it, you are making a larger image; you now need more pixels to fill the extra space. Applications such as Photoshop add these pixels using mathematic algorithms that are hit and miss at best. PhotoZoom Pro 2 uses this same process but utilizes a different set of algorithms that will greatly help scale your photos.

Honestly, PhotoZoom Pro 2 is one of the easiest applications I have used in quite some time. The interface is amazingly simple for such a powerful program, and at US$149, the price cannot be beat. If you are familiar with image sizes, pixels, and unsharp masking you will be right at home.

To get the most from your images, simply open the image and the existing dimensions and resolution will fill the boxes in the left-hand side of the window. From here choose what pixel dimensions and final print size you would like. You can also choose to work in various units such as pixels or inches.

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