Cliff Swallow (major posting problem, help needed)

[Dorian Anderson]

This is the first photo I edited in my new iMac (and using the most up-to-date version of LR), and I'm having a major posting issue. The jpeg I have on my desktop (1600 x 1067 pixels, the same dimensions I always use to post) looks
amazing, but the image is getting blurry/soft as I post it to this site. This NEVER happened with my old computer and software. What the heck is happening?!?!? I am happy to email the jpeg so you can see what's going on.


Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS R5
1/3200 at f/4, ISO 2000
Processed in LR Classic on CC

[Daniel Cadieux]

Dorian, the image is appearing nice and sharp as posted for me. What do other folks' images look like? Are they all soft compared to before?

[Dorian Anderson]

Dorian, the image is appearing nice and sharp as posted for me. What do other folks' images look like? Are they all soft compared to before?

I wonder if it's an issue with my display. It's interesting, I was looking at my website (https://www.dorianandersonphotography.com/) at the Apple Store the other day and though that the
images looked softer than they did on my home computer (i.e. my old iMac). When I looked at my website on this, my new iMac, they also look softer than I'm used to seeing. As I test, I just
pulled up my website on my old iMac (sitting on my desk next to my new iMac) and there does appear to be a display difference, the images all being sharper on the old computer. The monitor
is fine as the swallow jpeg I have on me desktop appears tack sharp, but something is getting lost (at least on my monitor) when I post that jpeg to this site or my website.

As another test, I just looked at a bunch of recent posts on this site on my old and new computers, again side by side, and all images look slightly sharper on my old screen. So, it looks as
if my new computer is having some difficult displaying online data as compared to my old one.

Dan - could I email you a screenshot of my original jpeg next to the BPN posted image to confirm there is a difference before and after posting?

[Daniel Cadieux]

Glad to know it is looking like it is not just BPN (but no fun for you!). Maybe your new computer's resolution is not set to its recommended setting? Sure, you can send me a screenshot - at least it would confirm what you are seeing - send it at dancadphotography@gmail.com

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Dorian ... regardless of your issues , here all looks good .
Hope you can sort out your problems .

A super image of the fast flying darters , very well in capture .
All works well for me here , no nits .

TFS Andreas

[Dorian Anderson]

Dan confirmed there is a sharpness difference when presented with a screenshot of my the original jpeg (on my desktop) juxtaposed to my BPN post. It seems as though BPN is being displayed slightly differently on my old and new computers. Same for my website. Interestingly, my images as displayed in the Macaulay Library (a permanent electronic database to which I donate all my images) look sharper than on my old computer! Images on Facebook also look better on the new machine. So, it seems there's some amount of formatting/display/compression differences between the various websites which host images. The important thing for anyone reading this is that my images are coming through sharp on your end of BPN.

[Colin Driscoll]

Yep, actually the sharpest of you postings of the species IMO. Surely you can sort the problem out, Maybe a faulty monitor? Otherwise you will likely end up over sharpening.

[Dorian Anderson]

Yep, actually the sharpest of you postings of the species IMO. Surely you can sort the problem out, Maybe a faulty monitor? Otherwise you will likely end up over sharpening.

I agree. This is my sharpest of the three Cliff Swallows I've recently posted. And my monitor is fine because the jpeg I exported from LR looks fantastic when I open it from my desktop. There's something with how my monitor is
displaying web images on some pages. Your Lorikeet, for example, looks slightly sharper on my old iMac than it does on my new iMac. I might need to change a resolution setting (though I'm not sure how that happens on a retina
display). Interestingly, my images posted to other websites look sharper on the new machine versus the old. It'll be interesting to see if anyone can make heads or tails of this.

[Steve Kaluski]

Dorian, the file is only 1600px wide (actual size), 4.5 inches in old money, if viewed bigger than this, then it will appear not pin sharp.

[Dorian Anderson]

Dorian, the file is only 1600px wide (actual size), 4.5 inches in old money, if viewed bigger than this, then it will appear not pin sharp.

I understand this. What is your email? I will send you an example of what I'm talking about. You know lots about this sort of stuff so I'd love for you to see what I'm seeing. Thanks!

[Steve Kaluski]

Dorian, happy to look but can’t guarantee I will have the answer.

In the meantime do me a favour… grab a PLASTIC ruler, open the image in PS, or export to the desktop and measure across the 1600px, 4.5 inch width, is it correct? On my Brand I can adjust so I see the actual output size at it’s true size.

[Steve Kaluski]

Dorian, thanks for the screen shots, but in all honesty they don't help.

Is your monitor 4k, if so, images appear far sharper than they are, it's the nature of the monitor.

In Lr I assume you crop within the Dev module?
Are you exporting from Lr or Exporting from Lr then sharpening via PS?
If Exporting in Lr for web are you inputting the setting into the respective dialogue boxes? If so can you send me a screen grab of the boxes.

[Dorian Anderson]

I do everything in LR. No PS. This is not a workflow problem as I am doing everything exactly the same as I did on my old computer.

I don't know what my monitor is. It's whatever the newest iMac is. I think that's 'retina 4K'.

And I sent a screenshot of my export settings. Thanks.

[Steve Kaluski]

If in LR, I assume you set the output size ie 1600, file size and sharpen screen???

[Steve Kaluski]

Ah, ok saw the second email, looks right, so no idea. As I don’t use 4K, or have an Apple I’m unsure, no idea if you can set any Prefs on them, or calibrate. If anyone else has the same monitor as you, do they see your images as soft?

I still think within BPN, files are scaled up for viewing but no one has confirmed that? Sorry drawn a blank.

Can you try uploading at 1920px see if it looks soft?

[Dorian Anderson]

Image at 1920 wide:

[Dorian Anderson]

Yeah, same problem on my new iMac. And, again, it looks great on my old.

[arash_hazeghi]

Image looks good in terms of sharpness, colors a bit muted

Dorian, the softness or crunchiness is because of the display scaling. The Apple monitor has far more pixels than a standard monitor (most iMac is 5K) but it is only 27" or 24", this means the pixels are tiny. If every pixel of content is mapped to one pixel on the monitor text and icons will become so small they won't be readable. To get around this Mac OS groups display pixels and repeats the same information for 2 or 3 pixels. This is a form of up-sampling and makes small content appear large and readable on a retina or super high-res screen. It works well for text but can make the images look a bit crunchy or soft, in other words it is not ideal for reference content creation.

To get around this there are several solution, in programs like photoshop scaling can be disabled so the image will look crisp although might be too small. In Safari you can simply press CMND and - key to "zoom back" until it looks ok. If you have an external monitor or reference monitor like the Apple Pro XDR you can disable scaling entirely. I believe you cannot do that with the internal iMac display but I could be wrong. I disable scaling on my 32" 4K LG monitor, the fonts are a bit small and sometimes I need to magnify text to read it but it works


go to settings-->display--> and chose "more space" in the resolution settings. if you hold your mouse over the example it shows you a number below the icon, if that number matches the nominal resolution of your monitor it means scaling is off. if this number is smaller than the resolution of your monitor it means scaling is active

this article is not 100% correct but explains the concept behind display scaling

https://appleinsider.com/inside/maco...e%20penalties.

[Steve Kaluski]

Nice one Arash, suggest you copy this to Digital Workflow as this is a huge help IMHO.