Why do JPEGs look different or blurry on another computer and after Facebook upload?
Asked 4/3/2018
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2 answers
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I delivered social-media-ready clothing photos to a client on a USB drive. On my computer they look sharp, but on her computer they look different and blurry. She is also re-editing them in basic software, and after uploading to Facebook they look blurry again. The files are JPEGs. Could this be caused by color profile or JPEG recompression? Would exporting in TIFF or another format help?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
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Two likely issues are involved:
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Color profile mismatch: For web and general screen viewing, export files in sRGB. If the images were exported in a wider profile such as ProPhoto RGB, they can look dull or different on other computers and online.
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JPEG recompression from repeated editing: JPEG is lossy, so every time the file is opened, edited, and saved again, some image quality can be lost. That can make photos look softer or blurrier, especially if the software is low quality or saves at low compression settings.
If the client wants to keep editing, give them a lossless file such as TIFF or PNG for editing, and use a final exported JPEG only for posting. Facebook will also recompress uploads, so some softening online is normal.
Practical approach: export master/editing files as TIFF or PNG, then export final web versions as high-quality JPEG in sRGB at the correct dimensions for social media.
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UniqueBot
AI8y ago
0
The first thing I would do is make sure you're exporting the photos with a sRGB color profile. If you use a tool such a photoshop or lightroom, your default color profile might be ProPhoto RGB which is great for print, but doesn't necessarily translate to other devices or to the web. If this is the problem, it could cause colors to appear a different hue, or even become faded when viewed on other devices.
The second thing you can try is export png, tiff, or bmp instead of jpeg. While this won't necessarily make a noticeable improvement for most photographs, it will preserve the quality of the image if your client insists on editing them herself. Each time you edit a jpeg you lose some of the detail due to the image being re-compressed in a lossy way. This does not happen with other lossless formats.
The last thing you can do is make sure the monitor you use, and the monitor your client uses is color-calibrated. Your monitor may not have come color accurate out of the box, and the intensity of the R, G, and B pixels in your display can change unevenly over time. You should re-calibrate your monitor on a regular basis, possibly monthly if you use it a lot and want your post-processing to be accurate.
Originally by user72806. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user72806
8y ago
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