Problem with resizing in Lightroom

McSpooky · Nov 1, 2014

I'm having trouble resizing my images in Lightroom and in photoshop CC. I want them at 780x520 pixels to fit with my blog but whenever I resize my image it goes from sharp to looking super soft in preview.

I shoot in RAW. I'm exporting to jpg (can't see option for PNG in LR), 100% quality, colour space SRGB, I've tried all the sharpening options but they didn't change anything. Have even tried sharpening 100% and still they look soft. I'm resizing in dimensions and have tried both 300 and 72 resolutions.

I'm using a Macbook Pro with retina display if that changes anything. I emailed the picture to my boyfriends laptop Macbook Pro without retina and it looked the same.

I have attached a screenshot to show.

The left is after exporting and the right is in lightroom.

snowbear · Nov 1, 2014

It may be my eyes but I don't see any difference in the image you posted.

The dpi (72 / 300) will make absolutely no difference with an image displayed in your browser; it has to do with the size of prints.

McSpooky · Nov 1, 2014

snowbear said:
It may be my eyes but I don't see any difference in the image you posted.

The dpi (72 / 300) will make absolutely no difference with an image displayed in your browser; it has to do with the size of prints.

When the viewer is expanded and the screenshot is opened in a new window the issue is clearer.

The_Traveler · Nov 1, 2014

post an original (or a link to it) and the resized image rather than a screen shot

McSpooky · Nov 1, 2014

The_Traveler said:
post an original (or a link to it) and the resized image rather than a screen shot

Resized image:

Link to original (you need to hover over the image and click the zoom magnifier to see it full size. I can't figure out a better way to do this, apologies):
greenbalmphotofull1of1_zps83b149a0.jpg Photo by helpspooked | Photobucket

I hope you can see, I'm beginning to think it's me going crazy!

The_Traveler · Nov 1, 2014

TBH, I'm not certain what you are seeing.

The jar has a great deal of chromatic aberration around it and the background is totally unfocussed, just like the original.
What are you seeing as soft?

snowbear · Nov 1, 2014

I have to go with Lew - I'm not really seeing any difference in sharpness.

dennybeall · Nov 1, 2014

More detail of exactly what you are doing would perhaps help. What size is the original photo? You say shooting in raw so presume you want to resize from original to the smaller size you mentioned.
Can you zoom in and show the specific area of concern?

snerd · Nov 1, 2014

I can see it. Opening the linked photo in original post and enlarging it full-size, the output is not as crisp and looks a little pixelated. It's easier seen by looking at the text on the mug.

wfooshee · Nov 1, 2014

That looks like a lack of anti-aliasing, but when it's enlarged, it fills my 1280x1024 screen. You can't do that with a 780x520 image!!!! The image is lower resolution than my display, but enlarged to fill it.
It's not softer, it's lower resolution.

If your question is, "Why does it lose detail when I resize it?" then I'm not sure how to answer that without being condescending. But you can't reduce the resolution and then blow it up to see how it looks. Of COURSE it will look bad.

Vince.1551 · Nov 2, 2014

You shouldn't view them side by side. In other words, view it at 100% instead of magnifying the resized image. You have already reduced to 780x520 which is very small (about 2.3 inch for 700 pix 300dpi). So how could it be sharp when you view a magnified/enlarged small image?

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Vince.1551 · Nov 2, 2014

Just saw wfooshee responded with the same remark. Yes that is the issue here.

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McSpooky · Nov 3, 2014

The_Traveler said:
TBH, I'm not certain what you are seeing.

The jar has a great deal of chromatic aberration around it and the background is totally unfocussed, just like the original.
What are you seeing as soft?

View attachment 88512

The background is purposefully unfocussed as I wanted that bokeh effect. Even around the jar I don't mind being a little soft. It's more the writing on the jar that is soft for me and a concern.

dennybeall said:
More detail of exactly what you are doing would perhaps help. What size is the original photo? You say shooting in raw so presume you want to resize from original to the smaller size you mentioned.
Can you zoom in and show the specific area of concern?

I do product reviews for my blog. Resized from the original raw file that was 5472 × 3648 pixels. The main area of concern for me is to retain the sharpness of the text on the jar. Everything else is fine.

snerd said:
I can see it. Opening the linked photo in original post and enlarging it full-size, the output is not as crisp and looks a little pixelated. It's easier seen by looking at the text on the mug.

Thank you! Was starting to think it was me going crazy. Do you have a Mac with retina display by any chance? Or are you viewing it on a regular screen?

wfooshee said:
That looks like a lack of anti-aliasing, but when it's enlarged, it fills my 1280x1024 screen. You can't do that with a 780x520 image!!!! The image is lower resolution than my display, but enlarged to fill it.
It's not softer, it's lower resolution.

If your question is, "Why does it lose detail when I resize it?" then I'm not sure how to answer that without being condescending. But you can't reduce the resolution and then blow it up to see how it looks. Of COURSE it will look bad.

Vince.1551 said:
You shouldn't view them side by side. In other words, view it at 100% instead of magnifying the resized image. You have already reduced to 780x520 which is very small (about 2.3 inch for 700 pix 300dpi). So how could it be sharp when you view a magnified/enlarged small image?

I'm not sure what anti-aliasing is, could you explain to me please? I don't mind you being condescending if it gives me some sort of explanation. I'm a beginner here.

I haven't enlarged the image or zoomed in. Viewing at 100%. I will attach a copy of the resized 720x520 image below again.

If a lower resolution is the issue, how would I go about fixing that?

Thank you everyone for your patience with me!

McSpooky · Nov 3, 2014

For anyone with a similar problem, I came up with a solution.

Images being resized to 780x520 in Lightroom export with lower quality. This I can't help. However, I figured out that the lowest it could be resized to whilst retaining sharpness was 1500x1000 pixels.

I imported the 1500px image into my blog and manually altered the size of the image with html. By doing so, the photographs came out looking clean and sharp!

I have no idea why this is, I'm just happy to have found a temporary solution.