Super Resolution
As I don’t generally print my photos very large, I am not usually very concerned with resolution. The only time resolution comes into my workflow is when I want to crop way into a subject. While surfing YouTube recently, I noticed several videos popup in my feed regarding some new super resolution feature in Adobe Camera Raw. I decided to check out a few videos to see what all the excitement is about. Basically, Camera Raw uses AI to double the resolution of a raw image while maintaining image quality.
Earlier in the week, I snapped a quick shot of a Carolina wren just outside of my home office window. One of the many advantages of working from home is that I can have a bird feeder right outside my office and I always have a camera within easy reach. On this particular day, I had forgotten to raise the blinds, so I took the shot through the blinds. I never thought this image would end up anywhere other than the trash can on my computer. I took the shot more to test out my new Canon RF 70-200 lens that to capture the bird.
Friday evening, I decided to take a look at these images and I was surprised to see that one of the wren shots was actually not bad considering I took it while sitting at my desk, through blinds and a window with no polarizer. The bird was sharp, well lit, and in a nice pose. If I wanted this to be a keeper, I was going to need a massive crop, rendering the image too small to do anything with other than maybe posting on Instagram. I thought, “This might be the perfect image to give that new Camera Raw feature I just learned about a try.”
The results did not disappoint! The first image below is the original, shot with my Canon EOS R with a resolution of 6720 x 4480. I fired up Adobe Bridge, found my image and opened it in Adobe Camera Raw. After right clicking the image, I chose Enhance, checked the Super Resolution box and let Camera Raw work its magic. The resulting enhanced raw file resolution was 13440 x 8960.
Uncropped image.
I then opened the enhanced raw file in Lightroom to apply my crop and some post processing. The final image below is 2608 x 3259. Had I cropped in on the original, unenhanced raw file, the final resolution would have only been about 1300 x 1700.
Final image cropped from enhanced raw file.
I have to admit that I was very impressed with the results. Would you use this feature on every image? No. But if you have older files taken with a lower resolution camera, if you need to really crop in, or if you need to print large, I think this is a fantastic tool.