why do my entries look like crap on DPC?

Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical IF for Canon

09/19/2007 04:01:33 PM · #1

I have been on this site for a while, yet I can't figure this out and every time I think I have it figured out, I dont'. All my entries look like crap on DPC. My current entry included.

I work on a 22" LG monitor calibrated with sypder pro using CS3. I finish my editing and size the image to 640 px on the long side. I save for web and size to 150kb. If the quality isn't 100% I make the image smaller. What am I missing?

Sometimes I even give it a quick USM after I size it and still it looks terrible once voting starts.

SDW

Canon EOS-60D

09/19/2007 04:10:42 PM · #2

Originally posted by Jmnuggy:

Don't make the image smaller just because it's not at 100%. I just looked at a few of your images and their as low as 33k, that could be some of the problem.

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35 f/4 ED VR

09/19/2007 04:13:13 PM · #3

not my portfolio images, just my challenge images. Those are all 150kb. Some of the portfolio images are smaller depending on what I used them for, especially the music images because I am lazy and didn't resize them to DPC standards. the band uses small images on the website.

LanndonKane

Nikon D800

09/19/2007 04:13:39 PM · #4

Make sure you use the "save for web" when saving the image for presentation over the internet.

jmsetzler

Sony Alpha a6000

Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 E-mount

09/19/2007 04:14:57 PM · #5

The most likely culprit is a color space mismatch between your photoshop setup and web, which is Adobe RGB. You haven't really defined what 'looking like crap' means, so this is just a shot in the dark.

09/19/2007 04:16:24 PM · #6

"like crap" mostly what I notice is lack of sharpness, colors are not as vibrant.

Peleng 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye MC In M42 Mount

09/19/2007 04:17:23 PM · #7

the color space mismatch sounds like it could be the problem. I use a custom color space that sypder pro produces.

Matthew

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

09/19/2007 04:27:49 PM · #8

Originally posted by Jmnuggy:

Sometimes I even give it a quick USM after I size it and still it looks terrible once voting starts.

Massive clue no.1 to the problem: sharpening is a critical step post-resizing. Any image resized with no USM applied subsequently will likely look soft.

Second issue may be your USM settings. Try the following settings on your resized 640px image:

amount - 500%
radius - 0.2

Try applying it twice, or with radius 0.3, and applying edit/fade to bring it back out of jaggies.

In advanced, you may find that different elements require different levels of sharpening - apply them to the final image on different layers and use masking to get the best of each setting.

Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS

09/19/2007 04:32:00 PM · #9

can someone explain a bit more the color mismatch problem I may be encountering.

kirbic

Canon EOS R5

09/19/2007 04:42:51 PM · #10

Originally posted by Jmnuggy:

can someone explain a bit more the color mismatch problem I may be encountering.

If you are editing in *any* color space other than sRGB, then you will have problems, unless you specifically convert to the sRGB color space before saving.

slaakso

Olympus E-510

Olympus 50mm f/2.0 Macro ED Zuiko Digital

09/19/2007 04:44:07 PM · #11

I am having difficulty with my images as well. I am using pretty low tech image editing software. It seems that the site leans toward Photoshop.