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Photo Pixelization

  1. nopaneblog
    Member

    Hello, WordPress users! We are new to the WordPress platform, and we are looking forward to using a more dynamic and more mature blogging platform than the one we're currently using!

    I am attempting to upload a custom header photo to our blog, and I'm having difficulty. The photo can be viewed here: http://www.bustawindow.com/imagepages/no-pane-blog-header-photo.html

    I have saved this same photo on my hard drive, and it looks just as good. I have optimized it with Corel Paint Shop Pro to avoid pixelization, particularly around the text.

    I have spent many hours trying to get this photo to upload without pixelization on the blog itself, with no luck. I can't come up with anything on this forum or in the FAQ to resolve this issue.

    Is this simply unavoidable? Possibly this is the best I can expect? Thanks!

  2. nopaneblog
    Member

    By the way, our blog is nopaneblog.wordpress.com, in case you want to see how the photo looks on the blog.

  3. trent
    Member

    I guess I am having a little trouble understanding what the desired result is. I can see that Kubrick (theme) makes the image a bit smaller and rounds the edges, but it is pretty close. What is the desired result?

    Trent

  4. ellaella
    Member

    I agree with trent that they're very, very close.

    That said, if it's the appearance of the text that bothers you, you might try saving it as a gif. There's almost no color in that image and even a gif 16 might work.

  5. thesacredpath
    Member

    Make sure that the header is sized to the exact size before uploading it. For the Kubrick theme you are using, that is 760 x 200 pixels: http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/07/08/which-themes-can-i-add-a-header-image-to/

  6. vivianpaige
    Member

    Looks fine to me in FF and IE.

  7. timethief
    Member

    Looks fine to me too. But maybe we should wait when it comes to giving advice until the OP answers Trent's question.

    What is the desired result?

  8. nopaneblog
    Member

    The fact that none of you can really see a difference between the two images is encouraging. I'm using a 19" monitor, and there is obvious pixelization around the text in the photo on the blog. There is no such pixelization on the photo I've uploaded to my own domain. If none of you can see a difference, perhaps I shouldn't be worrying about it.

  9. thesacredpath
    Member

    Was the font you were using a true-type, or a bitmap? Also, check the program you used to create the image and see if it has an anti-aliasing capability (type it into help is the easiest way if you are not familiar with it). Typically if it does, there will be settings like none, sharp, crisp, strong and smooth. I would try sharp and crisp and see what they do for you. Strong will make the text bolder, and smooth will make it look smoother (and possibly fuzzy). You will have to work on the original image before the whole thing was turned into a jpg or gif or png.

  10. nopaneblog
    Member

    Thanks for the tip!

  11. thesacredpath
    Member

    You're welcome.

  12. nopaneblog
    Member

    In case anyone was following this post, I discovered that there were actually three things that were making my custom header photo lose quality once uploaded to WordPress: (1) I was saving the photo in JPG format, which loses quality every time you open and close the image -- I saved the image in GIF format, as thesacredpath suggested, and that helped a good deal; (2) I had misread the pixel specifications given by WordPress, and had created a 720x200 image instead of a 760x200 image -- hence, when I would upload the photo, WordPress was forced to "stretch" the image into place (this one was discovered by a non-WordPress blogger friend of mine); (3) I have been reading the manual that came with my Corel Paint Shop Pro program and discovered a method of cleaning up the "noise" that was pretty much all over the image, not just the text.

    I hope this helps anyone dealing with this issue.

  13. thesacredpath
    Member

    From me, you are welcome, and the header looks much better. Thanks for posting back here and letting us know.

    Happy blogging!

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