Photo enlargements... Help for an amateur...

Hello,

I'm new to these boards, and new to photography in general... I thought the members here might be able to offer me some help.

I just got married not to long ago and recently received my order of photo enlargements. The quality of my enlargements are no where near the clarity and crispness of my proofs (which were 4x6). I am told the same printer was used for both proofs and enlargements.

My question... When enlargements are made from negatives, is some of the clarity of the photo lost in the enlargement process? Or should the enlargements look just like the proofs, but larger? Any thoughts on this topic would be greatly appreciated! As you can see, photography is very new to me!

Thanks in advance...

I'm not really qualified to answer this, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so here goes...

I would assume (and we all know about assuming) that the shots taken were in focus enough to look good at 4x6 but not enough to measure up when they were enlarged. That happens to me more often than I care to count. I would also speculate the printer has less to do with it than you think. There may be more to why they look like that, but that's one of the most problematic things for me, so I thought I'd share.

Adam

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Originally Posted by newbie21

Hello,

My question... When enlargements are made from negatives, is some of the clarity of the photo lost in the enlargement process? Or should the enlargements look just like the proofs, but larger? Any thoughts on this topic would be greatly appreciated! As you can see, photography is very new to me!

Thanks in advance...

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Yes, there is a loss in image quality involved when enlarging from a negative. The smaller the negative, the more obvious it is. That is why most wedding photogs use medium format cameras. That is why prints from a 110 camera don't look as sharp as those taken with a 35mm camera - the negative on 110 is much smaller.
I have also noticed however, that some one - hour photo places raise the temp of their developer to reduce the time it takes to develop prints. This can degrade the print quality in my opinion. I have gotten some very disappointing 8x10 enlargements that could have been much better if printed by a pro.