You can effectively increase the resolution of a photo in Adobe Lightroom by using the Super Resolution feature. Lightroom doesn't allow you to decrease the resolution directly like you might in other photo editing software. Instead, it focuses on enhancing resolution through AI-powered upscaling. Here's how to increase resolution:
- Select the Photo: Right-click (or Control-click on Mac) on the photo you wish to enhance.
- Access Enhance: Choose "Enhance" from the context menu.
- Enable Super Resolution: In the "Enhance Preview" dialog box, check the "Super Resolution" box. This will tell Lightroom to use its AI to double the resolution of the photo.
- Enhance: Click the "Enhance" button. Lightroom will then create a new DNG file with the increased resolution.
- Edit the New DNG: The new, higher-resolution DNG file will be added to your catalog. You can now edit this file as you would any other photo in Lightroom.
Important Considerations:
-
DNG Format: Super Resolution outputs a DNG file. This format preserves the maximum amount of image data, ensuring the highest quality result from the upscaling process.
-
Computational Intensity: The Super Resolution process is computationally intensive and can take some time, depending on your computer's hardware and the original file size.
-
No Resolution Decrease: As mentioned, Lightroom primarily focuses on increasing resolution. To decrease resolution, you'd typically export the photo with specific size settings, which impacts the output resolution indirectly. To do this:
- Select Photo and Export: Select the photo you want to resize and go to File > Export.
- Image Sizing: In the Export dialog, under "Image Sizing", check the box "Resize to Fit".
- Specify Dimensions: Choose "Width & Height" or "Long Edge" and enter the desired dimensions. Lightroom will resize the image accordingly during the export process, effectively lowering the resolution if you specify smaller dimensions than the original.
- Export: Click Export.
While Lightroom excels at enhancing resolution using Super Resolution, controlling export settings provides an indirect way to lower resolution by resizing images for different uses.
