Soft JPGs?

[DReali]

Whenever I've finished editing a photo (in cs3) I save both a .psd and .jpg version. When I view these side by side in adobe bridge the jpg version is always soft in comparison, why is this? What am I doing wrong? I've tried flattening the images before saving them and I've also tried saving these files directly as jpg in the "save as.." menu. The result is the same either way....Has anyone else encountered this problem?

 

[musicaleCA]

What settings are you using when compressing the JPEG?

 

[DReali]

ICC Profile: Adobe RGB (1998)
Image Options: Quality 12 (maximum)
Format Options: Baseline ("Standard")

I never understood what the format options were so I just left them as they were.

 

[DReali]

I'd really like to know what I'm doing wrong....this is really bugging me

 

[Derrel]

JPEG images can almost always benefit from having some Unsharp Mask applied to the data before the Save As step that will create the JPEG image. Unless you have applied some type of image sharpening in the RAW workflow (which is possible to do), you'll probably want to perform some sharpening to give the JPEGs some bite.

 

[ANDS!]

I'd really like to know what I'm doing wrong....this is really bugging me

Upload an example so we can compare and contrast. You might not actually be seeing anything.

 

[icassell]

Just curious -- why are you saving in Adobe RGB colorspace? Most online printers want sRGB files.

 

[DReali]

Upload an example so we can compare and contrast. You might not actually be seeing anything.

Do you mean a psd and jpg version of the same image? can you upload psd files?

 

[ANDS!]

Upload an example so we can compare and contrast. You might not actually be seeing anything.

Do you mean a psd and jpg version of the same image? can you upload psd files?

Well, no not PSD files. You can send me an email at [email protected] - and I can look at them right now.

 

[battletone]

Is it possible Bridge is showing an outdated preview of the JPG?

 

[DReali]

Just curious -- why are you saving in Adobe RGB colorspace? Most online printers want sRGB files.

I print all my photos at home using my epson r2400 (thing is a beast). I print directly from photoshop using the printer's custom profile.

Well, no not PSD files. You can send me an email at [email protected] - and I can look at them right now.

I tried but hotmail wont accept any attachments larger than 10mb, enough for the jpg but much too small for psds. Thanks anyway.

Is it possible Bridge is showing an outdated preview of the JPG?

Outdated how? do you mean the original pre-edited version? I alwasys shoot raw so the jpg I see in bridge is the final version.

 

[JayCanon]

There's a possibility that the JPEG files are appearing softer because of the overall quality being degraded. JPEG files are obviously very compressed to being with, and the small, convenient file sizes come at a price. The more editing and subsequent saving you do to a JPEG file, the more compression artifacts and softness are going to appear. Without examples, it's tough to say if that's what's causing your images to look soft, but JPEG files have lower tolerance for being edited than a lossless TIFF file, for example.

 

[musicaleCA]

Well, no not PSD files. You can send me an email at [email protected] - and I can look at them right now.

I tried but hotmail wont accept any attachments larger than 10mb, enough for the jpg but much too small for psds. Thanks anyway.

Upload it here.

Is it possible Bridge is showing an outdated preview of the JPG?

Outdated how? do you mean the original pre-edited version? I alwasys shoot raw so the jpg I see in bridge is the final version.

No, not so. Bridge needs to generate a JPEG preview of the RAW file so that it can actually display, you know, an image. RAW files aren't images in and of themselves; they need to be converted to something else first.

 

[lbridges]

First, I think you need to change color space from Adobe RGB to sRGB before using the "save as" option. Alternately try the "save for web" option (if that's in your version). Once viewed outside of the Adobe program, I believe the OS and most other image programs expect an jpg image to be in sRGB.

 

[musicaleCA]

Colour space does not effect sharpness.