General Photoshop Question

[Sobe203]

Whenever I do work with a photo in PS, it looks gorgeous in the program, and in the Mac application Preview. I can also upload them to ImageShack.us and they retain their quality.

When I upload it to Facebook, it looks blurry/shoddy. If I upload it to printing sites like Shutterfly, the site tells me the best size I could order is Wallet because the resolution isn't high enough.

What gives?

[BillFrey]

Hi Sobe203,

You haven't given enough information to answer.

Where did you get the photo that you're editing? What are the dimensions? Is is a scan or direct from camera?

How did you save the photo in photoshop?

Basically without knowing the above, I'd say that you're starting with a low resolution photo or saving it as a low resolution photo.

Let us know the details and I think there will be a simple solution.

Good luck

[Guy Thomas]

Hi Sobe,

It sounds to me like you are dealing with a couple of issues. First off, my guess is that facebook is automatically converting yor uploaded file into a lossy .jpg format to save space on their servers.

As far as the screen vs. printing issue, it's going to be a matter of size. Images meant for the screen are only about 72 dpi. An 8" x 10" image at 72 dpi only has to be 576 x 720 pixels. An image meant for print needs to be in the range of 300 dpi or 2400 x 3000 pixels for an 8" x 10". You can see the disparity there, so you need to look at your image and determine if it is in the "print" quality pixel range.

Again, you are probably dealing with a different problem altogether with facebook, so increasing the image size probably won't help at all.

If you want shutterfly to print your image larger, go ahead and click into the Image> Image Size menu. Put "300" in the Resolution box and click okay. This will increase the size so it is suitable for printing, but the quality will be subpar.

-Guy