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Pictures are slightly blurry on WordPress

  1. readingtofour
    Member

    I recently moved to WordPress from Blogger and the one thing that bothers me is my pictures are not crisp and clear. I am doing everything right, my brower is not zoomed in, I really believe it is an issue with WordPress; they were fine in Blogger.

    Here is an example:
    Image on my blog: http://justmovingforward.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/356-11-nate-the-great/

    Same image on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/followingfour/4266162962/in/photostream/

    The one in Flickr is noticeably sharper.

    Is there anything I can do to make the pictures sharper on my blog?

    The blog I need help with is justmovingforward.wordpress.com.

  2. dreamsburnred
    Member

    The difference on my end is so little, I mean I seriously can't tell the difference.

    They are fine, it's only "blurry" because the image is larger. Edit the post, hover over the image, and make it smaller.

  3. readingtofour
    Member

    I just did that and no change.

  4. panaghiotisadam
    Member

    @readingtofour: Right, because the above reply is incorrect.

    Images resized by WP lose some color and sharpness. So what you should do is upload and insert copies of your images after you downsize them (using an image editing application) to fit the main blog column (in the theme you're using, 600px).

    If that doesn't completely correct things, then switch the editor to html and delete the width and height commands from the image code.

  5. readingtofour
    Member

    I have had several people notice the same thing (all but one a WordPress user and the other one was my sister who asked why there were less sharp without me mentioning it to her), so I don't think it's just me.

    However, it could be Firefox, although I did check in in IE and it was still blurry. I don't know. Something isn't right. The pictures definitely look a touch out of focus in WP.

  6. dreamsburnred
    Member

    Edited images lose quality.

    Images are also compressed on wordpress.com so they won't be the highest of detail.

  7. readingtofour
    Member

    Panaghiotisasam - thank you, I will do that! I am willing to try anything.

  8. readingtofour
    Member

    Okay, I just got a 500 pixel wide version from Flickr and added the html code to the post. That did the trick.

    Thank you!

  9. readingtofour
    Member

    To those interested, I have a comparison of the Flickr pic, sized at 500 pixels and the one uploaded directly to WP, so you can see the difference. The Flickr one is definitely sharper.

    http://justmovingforward.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/356-11-nate-the-great/

  10. panaghiotisadam
    Member

    @readingtofour: You're welcome.

    More details here:

    http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2008/05/03/how-good-is-wordpress-at-resizing-and-resampling-your-images/

  11. ronsrealm
    Member

    @dreamsburnred
    Edited images lose quality.

    No it doesn't, not necessarily - you simply can't generalise like that, it all depends on what you are doing when editing. Resizing - making smaller - done correctly, will not affect quality.

    I've downsized and uploaded more pics than I care to think about over the past 6 years, for both my blogs and for my website - and, god help me, on Facebook - and quality has remained unaffected.

    Making pictures larger, either by just dragging the handles or in PhotoShop, will reduce quality, but that's not what we're talking about.

  12. webbeetle
    Member

    I've published several posts about image types and their use in web design; in my wordpress post about jpegs [ http://webbeetle.wordpress.com/2009/12/29/image-types-and-their-compression-1-the-jpeg/ ] I wanted to demonstrate, among other things, how image compression can affect the quality of specific colours in a jpg.
    I then noticed that wordpress applies such a high pre-set compression value to all uploaded images that this comparison didn't work at all.
    Ah, all the advantages you get with "free hosting"... (Hence I will move my blog, once I found the time to set up my domain.)

  13. webbeetle
    Member

    WordPress pre-set compression - one example:
    A photo, showing red chillies, was 18.613 bytes when I uploaded it "full size", yet when I save it again from my blog it only has 16.934 bytes = that's ~10% more compression than I had applied to this photo!

  14. panaghiotisadam
    Member

    @webbeetle: Did you read my first post above?

  15. webbeetle
    Member

    @webbeetle: Did you read my first post above?
    "Images resized by WP lose some color and sharpness. So what you should do is upload and insert copies of your images after you downsize them (using an image editing application) to fit the main blog column (in the theme you're using, 600px)."
    -------------
    That's what I am disputing: the images on the page I mentioned before were created [!!] 200x249, resp. 200x247 pixels in size = exactly the pixel size I have uploaded them in and they are displayed "full size" on the blog page!!
    Only difference: I created one file with low compression, another with high compression. The file with really low compression was re-compressed during upload! There's no arguing with this fact (if you like to see prove provide your email address and I can send you the original for YOU to compare).

  16. timethief
    Member

    Why on earth are any of you disputing anything? Life is far too short for that. It only leads to unecesary angst that solves nothing.

    We do not know what changes Staff have made or may be making since Richard wrote his post in May of 2008.

    @webbettele
    Staff are the only ones who are up to date and in the know. Why not communicate with Staff directly?http://en.support.wordpress.com/contact/

  17. timethief
    Member

    Here's the clckable link http://en.support.wordpress.com/contact/

  18. panaghiotisadam
    Member

    @webbeetle: This is your left image:

    http://webbeetle.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/redchillies1.jpg

    I copied it in my desktop, and info says it's 18.613 bytes alright.

    So I'll ask again: Did you read my first post above? Try what I suggested in the last paragraph and check the results.

  19. mrbisogno
    Member

    Photoshop is the safest place to resize an image file for the web. Normally images bound for the web are being downsized so use bicubic sharper in the image size window. After you have resized, sharpen in Photoshop. PK Sharpener is an excellent PS plug-in that demystifies sharpening for the web. As far as correct color goes, make sure you have tagged the image with the Adobe sRGB profile (Edit/convert to profile/Adobe sRGB)..

  20. timethief
    Member

    re: Adobe sRGB profile
    Note http://en.support.wordpress.com/images/troubleshooting-images/#color-profiles

  21. mrbisogno
    Member

    I believe Mr. Rockwell was referring to Adobe RGB. I was referring to Adobe sRGB 1998.

  22. timethief
    Member

    @mrbisogno
    Thanks you for correcting me politely. Much appreciated. :)

  23. mrbisogno
    Member

    No problem. You've taught me so much about WordPress.

  24. panaghiotisadam
    Member

    As for what I suggested in my first post above, details and demonstration here:

    http://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/image-quality/

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