more blurry pix (Full Version)

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shirleyscrystal -> more blurry pix (4/1/2007 3:01:26)

I am having problems with my images. I have some really nice images on my site but it seems all the images I do now are terrible. I think I'm doing it the same now as before so I'm getting confused as to why my images are so bad now. I use FP 2000, PS for images. This is an example of my good pix: (just so you will see that I can do some ok) http://www.shirleyscrystal.com/lilies_of_the_nile.htm (click on the pix to go to the thumbnail which I think is pretty good).
These are the some of the one's I'm having problems with now that I can't seem to fix: http://www.shirleyscrystal.com/bead_earrings.htm I have tried fixing them many different ways without success. They are perfect in PS & FP but after I publish they are a mess. I do have a new Dell computer now that is giving me alot of problems but I wouldn't think that would affect the pubishing of my pix. (still using XP) I've tried resizing my thumbnails in FP & in PS but I seem to get the same results.



jaybee -> RE: more blurry pix (4/1/2007 7:15:40)

Right, graphics take some getting used to but in your case, if you look at the ones you are happy with closely you'll see some fuzziness. Those however are quite large on the screen so it doesn't particularly interfere. The others are much smaller, you've shrunk them right down so it makes a big difference.

With all images it's file size over quality. Jpegs are the worse as they're what's known as lossy format, the smaller you make the file size the worse the picture. You're not helping matters by turning them into button shapes as the shading round the edges adds to the size.

Plus, if you keep resizing jpegs they get worse and worse, you should always resize from the initial clean image.

I suggest you go back to the original. pull it into Photoshop, use Save for web, On the resizer tabs to the right set the size in pixels, then apply it.
Now go up the top and play with the file type, you may find you can use png-8 and have a small weight, the size in kb appears under the image as you change it. If you can't use png-8 without it being huge then use jpeg but play with the quality settings.



shirleyscrystal -> RE: more blurry pix (4/1/2007 18:49:05)

Thank you so much jaybee, I thought I could only use jpg on my site cause they are small. I'd always thought I got better quality when I started the pix with a png but for some reason, with this new computer, the application I use to download, won't let me do a png on my original, but I could on my old computer with the same application. I tried changing the settings but my only options are jpg, bmp, or tiff, whereas before I could choose a png. Do you think that moving the original pix to PS & then save for web as a png-8 & then fixing it will work?

I agree about the buttons, starting with less quality pixs the button did made the picture worse. I have been using save for web on most of my pix but when I started having all these problems I tried some without with no luck & so have gone back to SFW. Are you suggesting that the thumbnail be a png-8 but not the larger pix?



jaybee -> RE: more blurry pix (4/1/2007 19:42:39)

Sorry not with you, what do you mean the application you use to download? Are these pictures you've taken yourself and you're downloading from your camera?

You could try saving onto the machine as a tiff, then open it in Photoshop and play around in File>Save for Web. You ought then to be able to save it as a reasonable jpeg file but, get rid of the button thumbnails and go with plain ones.

Two reasons. 1. they're very 1990s and 2. as soon as you start doing that with jpegs you increase the file size enormously which then means you're reducing the quality a lot more to get reasonable download times.

This might help you



shirleyscrystal -> RE: more blurry pix (4/1/2007 22:51:15)

Yes, from my camera (Canon PowerShot A75), it is downloaded into a program called Zoombrowser. It goes from my camera into the program as a jpg, I used to be able to select a picture & save as a png by putting it into a different folder. It won't let me do that now, I don't know why. I've checked all the settings & I cannot change it in Zoombrowser. I will need to research the camera to see if I can change that in any way.

I tried taking the pix from Zoombrowser & saving it to a folder as a tiff, then opened it in PS & adjusted the pix as I usually do. There is a big improvement, http://www.shirleyscrystal.com/white_pearl_crystal_earrings.htm
On this page, the top pix is done the new way & the bottom pix is the old one. There is a big difference but I think the new jpg still looks a little fuzzy, do you think it could be clearer or is it just because it's a jpg? If you click on that picture it will take you to the thumbnail that I did over & that is also alot better than before. I think the thumbnail looks clearer than the big one, is that because it's smaller? A big difference that I see is in my name, it is finally clear. I couldn't figure out how to make it look like that doing what I was doing before. Even my good pictures that looked better have my name fuzzy so I'm really happy to be able to fix it. Thank you so much for your help & the link that will help me understand the picture types better, I really appreciate it. Shirley



jaybee -> RE: more blurry pix (4/2/2007 2:44:42)

Huge improvement. Slight fuzziness may be down to your monitor or graphics card. That looks pretty good to me on my Mac.

You could try checking out your camera to see if it will save the pics in .RAW format rather than jpeg. Much larger files but pin sharp and you may be able to get a slightly better result but to be honest, what you have there now is fine.



shirleyscrystal -> RE: more blurry pix (4/2/2007 5:39:28)

Great, couldn't have done it without you. [:)]I can check on a connector to connect my camera to the computer instead of just the memory card & then I might be able to load something besides a jpg. In Zoombrowser there was a setting for that but it couldn't find my camera, so that is an option.

I've also found a way to move the pictures in Zoombrowser and save as a png into another folder using XP Windows Explorer. I looked up the original pictures so I could do my web pix over again. I moved them into another folder as a png but I haven't tried to fix those pictures yet to see how it works as compared to how I just used the tiff. Right now it appears that using the tiff is easier & involves less steps & since I have so many pix I will take the fast & best. I'll let you know how that comes out.

Thank you so much, Shirley



_gail -> RE: more blurry pix (4/26/2007 14:11:45)

I know this thread is a few weeks old but I'll resond anyway.

I use ZoomBrowser and from within the program, open up the jpg images in Photoshop. I don't see any reason why you need to convert the jpegs to another file type before editing. Edit the jpeg first and then when you save, save in the desired file format.

Unless I missed it, you didn't mention anything about sharpening. Photoshop has a very effective Unsharp Mask tool. Here is my workflow:

- Crop image.

- Reduce image in size to the actual size I wish to use on a website. In other words, I only resize once!

- Do a "Levels" adjustment and/or adjust brightness and contrast (I also do a slight color correction if necessary)

- Unsharp Mask (sometimes selectively after selecting an area with a selection tool)

- Add text at this point if text is needed.

- Save As or Save For Web.

All these photos were put through that process:

http://www.thebeadholder.com/gallery/index.htm


gail

PS The photos were editing some years ago, JayBee, so probably look lousy on your new monitor. [:D]



_gail -> RE: more blurry pix (4/26/2007 14:25:08)

Also, if you use FrontPage to publish your photos, it will further compress images, which may further reduce image quality. FrontPage does let you change the compression when you save an image after it's inserted into a page. Don't keep resizing, saving and overwriting images in FrontPage. Get the image the way you want, and then save.

Here's a few suggestions about FrontPage thumbnails:

http://www.outfront.net/tutorials_02/fp_techniques/photogallery2.htm

Also, and please forgive me if I'm telling you something you already know, when you resize an image in FrontPage, don't forget to resample it:

http://www.outfront.net/tutorials_02/fp_techniques/pictures-toolbar3.htm


If you're taking your own photos, you may also have a depth-of-field issue. Watch where you focus use a small aperture (higher f-stop number):

http://www.digicamhelp.com/taking-photos/advanced-techniques/dof.php



d a v e -> RE: more blurry pix (4/26/2007 15:03:39)

just to add to what gail wrote - if you have a large image then it may help to reduce the image size in two or more steps with a small amount of unsharp mask after each step. also resizing (down) in steps of 50% or 25% and then to the target size (allowing for a sufficiently large starting size in pixels) works pretty well too as the interpolation for steps of 25% is pretty efficient.
if you find that you need a lot of unsharp mask after drastically resizing then the resize-in-steps might prove better.



jaybee -> RE: more blurry pix (4/26/2007 16:49:57)

quote:

PS The photos were editing some years ago, JayBee, so probably look lousy on your new monitor.
Aaaargh! Eeeek!

Actually they look OK. [;)]



shirleyscrystal -> RE: more blurry pix (4/26/2007 17:59:01)

Thank you, _gail, Dave & jaybee,
I've used all of the techniques you've mentioned except the unsharp mask, wasn't sure what that was so I'll look into it. I think the major problem I had was resizing after getting it into FP and so all of my corrections were lost. I did do the resample but it didn't help much if I'd already damaged it by resizing and then adding the bevel. From experience, it's easier for me to get nice pix if I don't start with the jpg, so I change it to the png or tiff now that I know that the tiff is also a raw image. It may be just me but this way is working nicely, it's an extra step but worth it. This is my homepage; http://www.shirleyscrystal.com/ , you can tell the pictures what I've corrected already especially with my name. All of the Wedding & Beaded Earrings pictures have been fixed & I want to fix them all when I can get to them.
Thank you, Shirley



treetopsranch -> RE: more blurry pix (4/26/2007 18:42:21)

Looks much better on my screen. However, your payments page is not secure. When going to the page where I have to enter all that personal data it appears that that page is not secure.

Also there is some side to side scrolling required to view your photos at 800x600 screen resolution.



shirleyscrystal -> RE: more blurry pix (4/26/2007 19:33:03)

Hi Don,
There is a secure page when having to put in credit card information or going to Paypal but not with the name & address. Those are my Mals-ecommerce carts, I don't think I can do anything about that.

I do realize that some of the pictures are very big, but since buying jewelry on the internet is limited and the item can't be picked up or tried on, I give them details. If they are interested in the item, they will scroll. From a designers point of view, I want to see details when looking at somebody's work.

Thank you for your input, I'm always willing to learn [:)] Shirley



d a v e -> RE: more blurry pix (4/26/2007 23:12:59)

some of those pics are still quite a large filesize e.g. Cotton Candy i think even a high quailty jpeg could easily be a third of that 210k, which is still quite high but i agree for this sort of site you need to let the quality come through in preference to filesize ;).

also the thumbnail at 33k still feels too weighty for those image dimensions. what settings are you using in PS?



shirleyscrystal -> RE: more blurry pix (4/27/2007 0:34:19)

I'm sorry, I'm not sure I know. I've found a formula that works & I don't really know why or what it means. When doing a properties on the Cotton Candy thumbnail I get 34152 bytes. Checking it in PS all I can figure out is that it has 72 resolutions. I would have thought that I could have found properties on the thumbnail in PS but I can't find it. If you tell me what & where to look for it I'll have a better idea of the answer. It's really over my head, that's why I'm here [sm=icon_redface.gif] Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you, Shirley



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