Testing my Camera/Lens Sharpness??

[The_Caper]

Hi all:
I am convincing myself that the image that I downsize to bring to photobucket and this forum loses quality from the original. A test shot I took of my Manfrotto tripod using the word MANFROTTO up close seems sharp as a Tack! The image on photobucket seems to be fuzzy around the edges of the letters?

Do photos/images lose quality when downsizing and if so is there a correction for it? Here is the shot. Does it seem sharp to everyone??

 

[Sw1tchFX]

when photobucket does the downsizing, yes. but if you resize it yourself, you have control how much compression is used and that's what you should be doing anyway.

 

[Don Simon]

As Sw1tch says you will get better results if you do the downsizing yourself. I had a similar problem uploading to this forum... It says somewhere that the height and width of images should be 800 pixels or less... when I uploaded images larger than that it applied compression. Check the pixel limit on Photobucket.

 

[Big Mike]

I agree. I have been seeing many people say how they dislike Photobucket because it messes up their images. I've been using it for years and I've never had a problem.

The key is to resize the image yourself and set the compression so that the image is within the limits set up on Photobucket. Also, it often helps if, after resizing, you sharpen the image, just a little bit. USM; use a high amount but a low radius.

 

[Corry]

I'm the same as Mike....have been using Photobucket for years with no problems.

 

[LaFoto]

I downsize all my photos that I plan to upload to the web to a 800x533 px and they go into a folder of their own called "Websize", and I then save them at 10, which is still "maximum" but no longer quite as "maximum" as 12. You can even go lower, but you need not, for photos that size saved at 10 are no longer being downsized additionally by Photobucket. They stay just the way you saved them.

 

[The_Caper]

Thanks all, muchly appreciated:

Sorry Sw1tchfx: I have not been messing around with digital imaging for very long.

How do I control the compression. When I downsize my self I just change either the width or height size keeping same ratio which ends up changeing the other automatically.

Should I be downsizing by another method like changing the percentage or pixels?

Lafoto: What do you mean by 10 or 12. I am not sure what is meant by saving the file at 10 or 12?

Thanks again for the help all, it's appreiated and much needed.


Paul.

 

[Big Mike]

There are two things you do...first, is to resize the image by changing the size in pixels...this you are doing, so that's good.

The next step is to save a JPEG copy of the image. When you save a JPEG it compresses the image file...and with most software you can set a compression level. More compression is a smaller file but you loose quality.

Photoshop, the software of choice, uses a quality scale of 1 to 12. With nice sharp images, you can probably use a level as low as 6 and still get pretty good quality for web viewing. I like to use 8-10 for most stuff.

 

[The_Caper]

That certainly helps alot Mike thank you.

The program I currently have for PP is Microsoft Digital Image Suite Anniversary Edition. I am not sure if it has the option of Choosing the compression but you answered my big question which was what the numbers 10 and 12 meant :thumbup:!! Thanks Mike!



Paul.