How to post photo without it becoming blurry

New Englander · 03-03-2019, 08:31 AM

Originally posted by BrianR

When you downsized it to 1400x900 (and 527KB) on your computer, are you happy with the appearance before you uploaded it?

If yes, the likely culprit is it being resized even further by your browser.

If no, then you might want to take a look at the software you're using for doing the resizing and the compression settings you're using.

The downsized image was very soft before uploading. But when I uploaded a sharp un-resized image (sharp before uploading to the forums) it also became blurry on here. It was a full-size untouched file that the forum somehow allowed me to upload here.

pschlute · 03-03-2019, 08:54 AM

Originally posted by New Englander

Here's the latest.
The forum guidelines say it must be no larger than 1400 width / 900 height, and no larger than 1.00 MB.
My orig pic starts at 4929 x 3264 and 7.2 MB. So...when I downsize it to the 1400 x 900 allowable size, it drops the MB size down to 527 KB
and at that point the pic becomes wicked soft/blurry, even before I upload it to here. Guessng that's part of the issue?
Also, I uploaded a "original", not-adjusted pic to here that wassharp and it still arrived 'here' very soft.

What software are you using to downsize the image ? What sharpening are you doing to the image (at any stage) if any ?

Can you supply the original full size image via a dropbox link or similar ?

One final thought.... after downsizing or uploading a picture on here you are not trying to view it at larger than 100% are you ?

texandrews · 03-03-2019, 10:10 AM

Ed Hurst is one of the posters in the medium format photography forum whose images look consistently sharp. I asked and he told me his for-web sharpening routine. It's alarming!!!! I would NEVER have thought to do what he is doing, but they look great here.

pschlute · 03-03-2019, 11:00 AM

Originally posted by texandrews

Ed Hurst is one of the posters in the medium format photography forum whose images look consistently sharp. I asked and he told me his for-web sharpening routine. It's alarming!!!! I would NEVER have thought to do what he is doing, but they look great here.

Except that the OP seems to have a very sharp large image which loses something when downsampled. Sharpness should not really be an issue. In fact I see nothing wrong with the image he posted earlier in the thread. Which is why we need to get the original files.

**Des** · 03-03-2019, 03:44 PM - **1 Like**

To produce an image of 1024 pixels on the long side and <1m for uploading to PF, I've tried outputting from my processing program (DxO PhotoLab) from the original RAW image or using IrfanView to downsize the full size jpg (which has been output after processing the RAW file in DxO). Either way, the results have never been as good as posting from Flickr (which I use to host full size processed images). Somehow Flickr does quite a good job at reducing the image size without degrading the image.

Here's one that I outputted at 1024 from DxO (ie an export from the processed RAW file) and uploaded here to an album.

Here's the image posted from Flickr at 1024 (from the full size image):

**Joseph464** · 03-04-2019, 06:48 AM - **2 Likes**

I hate to say it, but whatever is going on to handle images at PentaxForums, it's not up to snuff.
On Fuji-Forum the results are always perfect. I can upload a file of 5MP or more through Firefox, and their "machine" resizes it and renders it beautifully.
The problems with PentaxForums persist and despite hours of effort on my part to meet your requirements, the results are always disappointing.

Is it possible that PentaxForums is viewing user images within your realm and not as they are being received by us? By which I mean, we're looking at different results?

**acoufap** · 03-04-2019, 08:03 AM - **1 Like**

Every time you resize a jpeg image it loses detail because the jpeg compressing algorithm isn't lossless.

So, if you shoot in jpeg, the first step of loss you get with the out of camera jpeg. If you then resize, it's the second step of loss. If the jpeg still is too huge for a website it resizes it again - the third step of loss. With every conversion the image loses quality.

I shoot in raw and then generate small sized web image representations. There's only one step of loss!

Since I read the forums not only at home but when I'm riding by bus or subway, I'm happy when people don't upload too large sizes. It doesn't give you much advantage but when reading posts you need a lot download capacity, so it's expensive and slow.

Smaller sizes (by example max. 1000px) at the long side of an image yields to short download times and the images are big enough to get a good impression of them.

New Englander · 03-04-2019, 09:31 AM

Originally posted by pschlute

What software are you using to downsize the image ? What sharpening are you doing to the image (at any stage) if any ?

Can you supply the original full size image via a dropbox link or similar ?

One final thought.... after downsizing or uploading a picture on here you are not trying to view it at larger than 100% are you ?

I'd post a full size sharp image thru a link but dunno how to do that. Seems I'm not the only one having this issue and as Joseph464 says, I think it's a Pentax forum issue.
Not saying it's not partly on my side either. I'm using my Mac photo software to downsize. And yes, I totally understand that Jpeg loses loss of quality but don't think it should
be as much as is happening when uploading to here.
So, thanx everyone for your input, greatly appreciated. I will poke around for a different photo software to use and see how that goes.

BrianR · 03-04-2019, 10:02 AM

Originally posted by New Englander

The downsized image was very soft before uploading.

That means tinkering on your end is needed

. If you upload an image as an attachment that is under the size guidelines, the forum does not alter the image (according to Adam's post and my own tests). If you try to look at the image in a browser whose window is too small to fit it (and the text/layout of the page), resizing will happen.

So the first step is to tinker with your programs settings to resize it so you're happy with the result on your computer before uploading.

Originally posted by New Englander

But when I uploaded a sharp un-resized image (sharp before uploading to the forums) it also became blurry on here. It was a full-size untouched file that the forum somehow allowed me to upload here.

The forum lets you upload the full sized image, but it will resize the image itself if it's over the limits, and you may be unhappy with the results.

The jpeg loss of quality from two or three extra saves will be essentially unnoticeable if you're using reasonable compression settings.

**paulh** · 03-04-2019, 11:00 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by BrianR

So the first step is to tinker with your programs settings to resize it so you're happy with the result on your computer before uploading.

Originally posted by BrianR

The forum lets you upload the full sized image, but it will resize the image itself if it's over the limits, and you may be unhappy with the results.

this ^^

There is usually a loss of sharpness in the resizing process, so you may have to apply a bit of sharpening to the final image.

pschlute · 03-04-2019, 11:38 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by New Englander

I'd post a full size sharp image thru a link but dunno how to do that. Seems I'm not the only one having this issue and as Joseph464 says, I think it's a Pentax forum issue.
Not saying it's not partly on my side either. I'm using my Mac photo software to downsize. And yes, I totally understand that Jpeg loses loss of quality but don't think it should
be as much as is happening when uploading to here.
So, thanx everyone for your input, greatly appreciated. I will poke around for a different photo software to use and see how that goes.

It would help you and others who may have similar issues if you would try and answer the questions posed by those who are trying to help you.

I have asked the following questions in preceding posts:

What sharpening are you doing to the image (at any stage) if any ?

after downsizing or uploading a picture on here you are not trying to view it at larger than 100% are you ?

Is your editing app using correct colour management settings, and is your computer screen colour calibrated ?

Only by eliminating the obvious problems can we get to the root of the issue.

**Ex Finn.** · 03-05-2019, 05:12 PM - **1 Like**

I just uploaded an image to "post your best KP pictures" I followed the image size rules to the T.
Half the detail got wiped out without a doubt.

New Englander · 03-05-2019, 08:47 PM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by pschlute

It would help you and others who may have similar issues if you would try and answer the questions posed by those who are trying to help you.

I have asked the following questions in preceding posts:

What sharpening are you doing to the image (at any stage) if any ?

after downsizing or uploading a picture on here you are not trying to view it at larger than 100% are you ?

Is your editing app using correct colour management settings, and is your computer screen colour calibrated ?

Only by eliminating the obvious problems can we get to the root of the issue.

Very little sharpening done to the original image, as it it is already very sharp.
Not trying to view it at more than 100%.
Dunno about color mgmnt settings.

BrianR · 03-05-2019, 09:22 PM

Originally posted by Ex Finn.

I just uploaded an image to "post your best KP pictures" I followed the image size rules to the T.
Half the detail got wiped out without a doubt.

The image here? Post Your Best KP Shots - Page 72 - PentaxForums.com

It does not look like it has been re-compressed by the forum software. Can you post the image you uploaded somewhere you know it won't be modified so others can try to see what you're seeing? Dropbox, googledrive, etc.

This request also goes for anyone claiming the forum has degraded their images, yet they uploaded a file under the forums size restrictions.

**Ex Finn.** · 03-06-2019, 04:45 AM

Originally posted by BrianR

The image here? Post Your Best KP Shots - Page 72 - PentaxForums.com

It does not look like it has been re-compressed by the forum software. Can you post the image you uploaded somewhere you know it won't be modified so others can try to see what you're seeing? Dropbox, googledrive, etc.

This request also goes for anyone claiming the forum has degraded their images, yet they uploaded a file under the forums size restrictions.

That`s the one. I`ll see if I can get it uploaded on Flickr after work.

03-03-2019, 10:10 AM	#18
texandrews Moderator Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Baltimore Photos: Albums Posts: 3,392	I, too have had this problem Ed Hurst is one of the posters in the medium format photography forum whose images look consistently sharp. I asked and he told me his for-web sharpening routine. It's alarming!!!! I would NEVER have thought to do what he is doing, but they look great here.

03-03-2019, 03:44 PM - 1 Like	#20
Des Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Victoria Australia Photos: Albums Posts: 6,423	To produce an image of 1024 pixels on the long side and <1m for uploading to PF, I've tried outputting from my processing program (DxO PhotoLab) from the original RAW image or using IrfanView to downsize the full size jpg (which has been output after processing the RAW file in DxO). Either way, the results have never been as good as posting from Flickr (which I use to host full size processed images). Somehow Flickr does quite a good job at reducing the image size without degrading the image. Here's one that I outputted at 1024 from DxO (ie an export from the processed RAW file) and uploaded here to an album. Here's the image posted from Flickr at 1024 (from the full size image): Last edited by Des; 03-04-2019 at 02:51 PM.

03-04-2019, 06:48 AM - 2 Likes	#21
Joseph464 Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 163	I hate to say it, but whatever is going on to handle images at PentaxForums, it's not up to snuff. On Fuji-Forum the results are always perfect. I can upload a file of 5MP or more through Firefox, and their "machine" resizes it and renders it beautifully. The problems with PentaxForums persist and despite hours of effort on my part to meet your requirements, the results are always disappointing. Is it possible that PentaxForums is viewing user images within your realm and not as they are being received by us? By which I mean, we're looking at different results? Last edited by Joseph464; 03-04-2019 at 10:35 AM. Reason: spelling

03-04-2019, 10:02 AM	#24
BrianR Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Ontario Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,332	Originally posted by New Englander The downsized image was very soft before uploading. That means tinkering on your end is needed. If you upload an image as an attachment that is under the size guidelines, the forum does not alter the image (according to Adam's post and my own tests). If you try to look at the image in a browser whose window is too small to fit it (and the text/layout of the page), resizing will happen. So the first step is to tinker with your programs settings to resize it so you're happy with the result on your computer before uploading. Originally posted by New Englander But when I uploaded a sharp un-resized image (sharp before uploading to the forums) it also became blurry on here. It was a full-size untouched file that the forum somehow allowed me to upload here. The forum lets you upload the full sized image, but it will resize the image itself if it's over the limits, and you may be unhappy with the results. The jpeg loss of quality from two or three extra saves will be essentially unnoticeable if you're using reasonable compression settings.

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03-03-2019, 08:31 AM	#16
New Englander Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 216 Original Poster	Originally posted by BrianR When you downsized it to 1400x900 (and 527KB) on your computer, are you happy with the appearance before you uploaded it? If yes, the likely culprit is it being resized even further by your browser. If no, then you might want to take a look at the software you're using for doing the resizing and the compression settings you're using. The downsized image was very soft before uploading. But when I uploaded a sharp un-resized image (sharp before uploading to the forums) it also became blurry on here. It was a full-size untouched file that the forum somehow allowed me to upload here.

03-03-2019, 08:54 AM	#17
pschlute Moderator Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Surrey, UK Photos: Gallery Posts: 8,202	Originally posted by New Englander Here's the latest. The forum guidelines say it must be no larger than 1400 width / 900 height, and no larger than 1.00 MB. My orig pic starts at 4929 x 3264 and 7.2 MB. So...when I downsize it to the 1400 x 900 allowable size, it drops the MB size down to 527 KB and at that point the pic becomes wicked soft/blurry, even before I upload it to here. Guessng that's part of the issue? Also, I uploaded a "original", not-adjusted pic to here that wassharp and it still arrived 'here' very soft. What software are you using to downsize the image ? What sharpening are you doing to the image (at any stage) if any ? Can you supply the original full size image via a dropbox link or similar ? One final thought.... after downsizing or uploading a picture on here you are not trying to view it at larger than 100% are you ?

03-03-2019, 11:00 AM	#19
pschlute Moderator Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Surrey, UK Photos: Gallery Posts: 8,202	Originally posted by texandrews Ed Hurst is one of the posters in the medium format photography forum whose images look consistently sharp. I asked and he told me his for-web sharpening routine. It's alarming!!!! I would NEVER have thought to do what he is doing, but they look great here. Except that the OP seems to have a very sharp large image which loses something when downsampled. Sharpness should not really be an issue. In fact I see nothing wrong with the image he posted earlier in the thread. Which is why we need to get the original files.

03-04-2019, 08:03 AM - 1 Like	#22
acoufap Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Munich, Germany Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 4,187	Every time you resize a jpeg image it loses detail because the jpeg compressing algorithm isn't lossless. So, if you shoot in jpeg, the first step of loss you get with the out of camera jpeg. If you then resize, it's the second step of loss. If the jpeg still is too huge for a website it resizes it again - the third step of loss. With every conversion the image loses quality. I shoot in raw and then generate small sized web image representations. There's only one step of loss! Since I read the forums not only at home but when I'm riding by bus or subway, I'm happy when people don't upload too large sizes. It doesn't give you much advantage but when reading posts you need a lot download capacity, so it's expensive and slow. Smaller sizes (by example max. 1000px) at the long side of an image yields to short download times and the images are big enough to get a good impression of them.

03-04-2019, 09:31 AM	#23
New Englander Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 216 Original Poster	Originally posted by pschlute What software are you using to downsize the image ? What sharpening are you doing to the image (at any stage) if any ? Can you supply the original full size image via a dropbox link or similar ? One final thought.... after downsizing or uploading a picture on here you are not trying to view it at larger than 100% are you ? I'd post a full size sharp image thru a link but dunno how to do that. Seems I'm not the only one having this issue and as Joseph464 says, I think it's a Pentax forum issue. Not saying it's not partly on my side either. I'm using my Mac photo software to downsize. And yes, I totally understand that Jpeg loses loss of quality but don't think it should be as much as is happening when uploading to here. So, thanx everyone for your input, greatly appreciated. I will poke around for a different photo software to use and see how that goes.

03-04-2019, 11:00 AM - 1 Like	#25
paulh Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: DFW Texas/Ventura County, CA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 33,268	Originally posted by BrianR So the first step is to tinker with your programs settings to resize it so you're happy with the result on your computer before uploading. Originally posted by BrianR The forum lets you upload the full sized image, but it will resize the image itself if it's over the limits, and you may be unhappy with the results. this ^^ There is usually a loss of sharpness in the resizing process, so you may have to apply a bit of sharpening to the final image.

03-04-2019, 11:38 AM - 1 Like	#26
pschlute Moderator Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Surrey, UK Photos: Gallery Posts: 8,202	Originally posted by New Englander I'd post a full size sharp image thru a link but dunno how to do that. Seems I'm not the only one having this issue and as Joseph464 says, I think it's a Pentax forum issue. Not saying it's not partly on my side either. I'm using my Mac photo software to downsize. And yes, I totally understand that Jpeg loses loss of quality but don't think it should be as much as is happening when uploading to here. So, thanx everyone for your input, greatly appreciated. I will poke around for a different photo software to use and see how that goes. It would help you and others who may have similar issues if you would try and answer the questions posed by those who are trying to help you. I have asked the following questions in preceding posts: What sharpening are you doing to the image (at any stage) if any ? after downsizing or uploading a picture on here you are not trying to view it at larger than 100% are you ? Is your editing app using correct colour management settings, and is your computer screen colour calibrated ? Only by eliminating the obvious problems can we get to the root of the issue.

03-05-2019, 05:12 PM - 1 Like	#27
Ex Finn. Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Southern Maryland. Espoo. Kouvola. Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 7,975	I just uploaded an image to "post your best KP pictures" I followed the image size rules to the T. Half the detail got wiped out without a doubt.

03-05-2019, 08:47 PM - 1 Like	#28
New Englander Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 216 Original Poster	Originally posted by pschlute It would help you and others who may have similar issues if you would try and answer the questions posed by those who are trying to help you. I have asked the following questions in preceding posts: What sharpening are you doing to the image (at any stage) if any ? after downsizing or uploading a picture on here you are not trying to view it at larger than 100% are you ? Is your editing app using correct colour management settings, and is your computer screen colour calibrated ? Only by eliminating the obvious problems can we get to the root of the issue. Very little sharpening done to the original image, as it it is already very sharp. Not trying to view it at more than 100%. Dunno about color mgmnt settings.

03-05-2019, 09:22 PM	#29
BrianR Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Ontario Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,332	Originally posted by Ex Finn. I just uploaded an image to "post your best KP pictures" I followed the image size rules to the T. Half the detail got wiped out without a doubt. The image here? Post Your Best KP Shots - Page 72 - PentaxForums.com It does not look like it has been re-compressed by the forum software. Can you post the image you uploaded somewhere you know it won't be modified so others can try to see what you're seeing? Dropbox, googledrive, etc. This request also goes for anyone claiming the forum has degraded their images, yet they uploaded a file under the forums size restrictions.

03-06-2019, 04:45 AM	#30
Ex Finn. Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Southern Maryland. Espoo. Kouvola. Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 7,975	Originally posted by BrianR The image here? Post Your Best KP Shots - Page 72 - PentaxForums.com It does not look like it has been re-compressed by the forum software. Can you post the image you uploaded somewhere you know it won't be modified so others can try to see what you're seeing? Dropbox, googledrive, etc. This request also goes for anyone claiming the forum has degraded their images, yet they uploaded a file under the forums size restrictions. That`s the one. I`ll see if I can get it uploaded on Flickr after work.