Increase Image Resolution in Photoshop
This guide shows how to improve a pixelated image in Photoshop by enlarging smartly and sharpening effectively. You’ll set a higher resolution to reach at least 3000 px on the long edge, use Preserve Details for resampling, and apply two sharpening passes. These steps can noticeably enhance clarity in low-resolution images.
Step-by-step instructions
Open Image Size
Go to Image → Image Size.
Set Dimensions to Pixels to work in pixel values.
Increase resolution and resample
Set Resolution to 300 and check the new Dimensions; if the longest edge is still under ~3000 px, increase Resolution to 500.
In Resample, choose Preserve Details (Enlargement).
Set Reduce Noise to 100%.
Click OK to apply.
Duplicate the layer
Press Ctrl+J (Windows) or Command+J (Mac) to copy the layer.
Ensure the duplicated layer is selected.
Sharpen with Unsharp Mask
Go to Filter → Sharpen → Unsharp Mask.
Adjust Amount and Threshold to taste based on your image.
Click OK.
Sharpen further with High Pass and blend
Go to Filter → Other → High Pass.
Increase Radius until you can see a fair amount of detail, then click OK.
Change the layer’s blending mode from Normal to Overlay in the Layers panel.
