Photos lose sharpness when uploaded to JP (rejects for under-sharpening)

[BangaloreAviation]

I am observing that my photos are loosing sharpness when I upload to JetPhotos.

As an example I offer the same photograph uploaded to JP and to Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bangaloreaviation/3612712853/sizes/o/

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewreject_b.php?id=2537519

As a result, I have to over sharpen my pictures before uploading to JP, and then I run the risk of over-sharpening rejections.

The above rejection picture, I had to run USM 50 0.2 0 6~7 times more to get this result which was finally accepted. http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.p...6585180&nseq=0

Is this only me, or is this a genuine issue that needs to be looked at by JP administrators?

Why would the same picture show up sharper on Flickr than on JP ?

If this is happening on my machine, is there something I can do to rectify it?

Thanks in advance

Devesh

PS :
My very special thanks to JP crew member Brian Whitelegg. His patient mentoring helped me improve in a matter of less than a month. From over 20+ rejections and 0 acceptance to over 55 photos. Couldn't have done it without you. Whenever I next visit London, the beers are on me.

[PMN]

Hi Davesh,

JP isn't losing sharpness, it just that the shot isn't sharp enough; both the Flickr and the JP reject images are identical. You might want to consider uploading at a smaller size than 1600 wide, though. The bigger the image, the more clear imperfections are and the harder they are to edit. Try getting it right at 1024 wide and then moving up to 1200 before trying 1600.

Also, be sure to look at the entire image to judge sharpness. You can see in the example you've posted the tail end of the aircraft is sharper than the front and the titles almost look blurry. Stopping your lens down a little at extreme focal lengths may help (depth of field decreases as focal length increases). This shot was taken at f/7.1 giving a shutter speed of 1/1000th. You could maybe try stopping down to around f/9 or f/10. f/10 would have halved your shutter speed from f/7.1 but given you greater depth of field, which may have helped. It's just an idea to maybe try.

Paul

[BangaloreAviation]

Hi Davesh,
JP isn't losing sharpness, it just that the shot isn't sharp enough; both the Flickr and the JP reject images are identical. You might want to consider uploading at a smaller size than 1600 wide, though. The bigger the image, the more clear imperfections are and the harder they are to edit. Try getting it right at 1024 wide and then moving up to 1200 before trying 1600.
Paul

Hi Paul. Thanks for the tips. The 1600px was an experiment. I am scaling back to 1024 and 1280.

Though I have to disagree with you on the sharpness, it could be the way, Flickr is showing the image. But there is a definite degradation between the photos on my computer and after upload to JP.

This is something, I would really like to address.

[Top_Gun]

But there is a definite degradation between the photos on my computer and after upload to JP.

This is something, I would really like to address.

but wouldn't everyone suffer from this issue if this was happening? There would be a much larger out cry of this issue if it was the case.

[PMN]

Though I have to disagree with you on the sharpness, it could be the way, Flickr is showing the image. But there is a definite degradation between the photos on my computer and after upload to JP.

I hate to sound harsh but there's simply no disagreement to be had here. I have 1998 images here and 2391 on Flickr; both sites display the images in exactly the same way. The problem lies in your own processing and it's that you need to accept and work on. Again, the rear of the aircraft is far sharper than the front, which isn't the fault of JP; that's down to you not quite nailing the shot when you took it and no amount of processing will rectify that.

The only way an image will look different on the internet compared to your original is if a photo has Adobe RGB as its colour space. The internet works in sRGB and so if you either shoot in Adobe RGB or convert to Adobe RGB in Photoshop, your image will lack contrast and saturation when uploaded to any site on the net. That doesn't seem to be the case here, you just need to work on your processing and shooting technique a little. Feel free to ask here or PM me if there's any way I can help you do that, I'll be more than happy to try.

Best of luck.

Paul

[LX-A343]

Paul beat to it: it could well be another color profile, with a tad more contrast, which makes the photo look sharper in combination with the original photo not beeing tack sharp for a 1600px wide shot.

Oh, you want to buy Brian a few beers. If you don't know him, he's a handsome looking 44 years old spanish looking guy with a few Canon bodies and lenses around him. Can't miss him. Perhaps you have even better chances to buy him some beers in Zurich ....

[BangaloreAviation]

Paul beat to it: it could well be another color profile, with a tad more contrast, which makes the photo look sharper in combination with the original photo not beeing tack sharp for a 1600px wide shot.

Oh, you want to buy Brian a few beers. If you don't know him, he's a handsome looking 44 years old spanish looking guy with a few Canon bodies and lenses around him. Can't miss him. Perhaps you have even better chances to buy him some beers in Zurich ....

I do appreciate the inputs from everyone. Honestly. I began photography more than 30 years ago. In fact my high school graduation gift was a Canon A1 which in 1980 was about as state of the art one could get from the run of the mill Japanese vendors. Somehow, I forgot to take my camera to the US when I went to study and landed up taking a break from photography for almost 20 years, but the basics still remained in my head. Now I have the challenge of Digital Processing to master.

I am using sRGB on my D90 and sRGB-IEC on CS2. For now, it is back to 1280px and 1024px. But even on these resolutions, there is a sharpness difference between the image as seen on my computer and seen on JP.

The most common rejection I get is "soft". I guess this is partly my judgement based on when I process the image as seen on my computer, and my desire to keep the picture on the softer side.

But now, I am tending to over-sharpen the image, at least as seen on my computer, and this tends to work on JP but I leaves me in tension, whether I have over sharpened.

Another factor I am considering is the watermark. I do not know if this plays a role, and I will try uploading a few pics without them to see the results.

Beers in Zurich - unfortunately, I have not been to Switzerland in more than 5 years. I do have a dear friend who moved back to Geneva from Bangalore 3 years ago and his wine cellar is huge. If I do make it across, it would be wine. Trust that is okay.

Devesh

[LX-A343]

One thing, which just occurs me, when I saw, that you began photography 30 years ago: what may llok sharp on certain TFT monitors is in fact rather soft in reality.

And wine is OK, yes!!