Photo Enhancement & Upscaling Specialist for Life-Size Historical Displays

We are looking for an experienced photo editing, restoration, and image upscaling specialist to help prepare a series of historical figure images for life-size displays being created for the Association for Career and Technical Education’s Centennial Celebration. We have already created full-body, photorealistic reconstructions based on archival photographs of each historical figure. We are not looking for someone to redesign or recreate the images. The existing images are where we want them visually. Our primary need is to professionally enhance, upscale, and retouch them so they are suitable for high-quality life-size printing. The finished standees will generally be approximately life size, around 72 inches tall, depending on the historical figure. Our selected printer, Cardboard Cutout Standees, recommends that the subject within the submitted image be at least 2,800 pixels tall and specifically advises against simply enlarging a low-resolution image before submission. Their team evaluates submitted images for print quality before production. Because our current images need additional resolution and detail for life-size production, we are looking for someone with strong experience in professional image enhancement and large-format print preparation. What we need: Professionally upscale and enhance the supplied images while maintaining realistic detail Preserve each subject’s facial features, likeness, proportions, expression, and historical appearance Retouch artifacts or imperfections that become more noticeable when enlarged Pay particular attention to faces, hair, hands, clothing, shoes, textures, and other fine details Maintain a natural, photorealistic appearance without over-smoothing or creating an artificial look Preserve the complete figure, including hands, feet, and the top of the head Improve the underlying image detail, rather than simply increasing pixel dimensions or changing DPI metadata Evaluate each source image individually and advise us if additional manual retouching or reconstruction is necessary Prepare final images so they are suitable for professional life-size printing and meet or exceed the printer’s recommended image-quality standards Recommend appropriate final resolution and file preparation based on your experience with large-format printing There are approximately 13 to 15 images in the overall project. Source quality may vary somewhat between images. Printer Requirements and Guidance Our selected printer is Cardboard Cutout Standees. Their published guidance includes: The subject within the image should ideally be at least 2,800 pixels tall. They advise customers not to enlarge low-resolution images before submission. The full body should be visible without missing hands, feet, elbows, or the top of the head. Their professional photo editors review submitted artwork for acceptable print quality. Background removal is not required, as the printer can remove backgrounds during production. We are looking for someone who can take our existing images and prepare them to achieve the best possible quality at approximately life-size dimensions while preserving their current appearance and historical likeness. When submitting your proposal, please include: Before-and-after examples of relevant image enhancement, restoration, or upscaling work Examples showing your ability to preserve realistic facial detail when significantly enlarging an image Any experience preparing artwork for large-format printing, life-size displays, museum exhibits, trade show displays, standees, or similar applications The software and tools you would use A brief explanation of how you would approach this project Your recommended final file specifications Your proposed pricing structure for approximately 13 to 15 images, including whether you recommend per-image or batch pricing Your estimated turnaround time Please note: Simply increasing an image’s dimensions or changing its DPI setting without improving the underlying detail will not meet the needs of this project. Attached is one representation reconstruction at its current resolution