Loss of quality

[Djay404]

hello everyone,

                I have Photoshop cs 6 extended running on windows 8.1 64 bit. Started to experience loss of quality of any picture shot on canon 5d mark 3 on large size with

   aspect ratio of 16:9 when resized using free transform tool. Once resized using free transform tool picture sharpness is being reduced and gets pixelated more at 100% zoom.  Tried resetting preference of Photoshop but no use. My work as come to an halt due this major issue, please need immediate solution. 

[davescm]

Hi

You need to give some more information, so that we can try and help you.

What is the size in pixels before you resize?

What are you using to resize (e.g Image Size or crop etc) and do you have a resample algorithm set (e.g Bicubic etc) ?

What is the size in pixels after you resize?

Dave

[Djay404]

Hello Davescm, thanks for stopping by.

   Size of image in pixel is Width -2400 and height -3600

   Using bicubic automatic resample algorithm.

   Using free transform tool to resize it.

Problem here is whatever image i open and make a copy of same image above original image, when i use free transform tool to resize not crop to fit, when zoomed in its pixelated,sharpeness is reduced and image becomes soft. even though if i bring back to its original size also there is loss in quality. if i dont use free transform tool image will be fine

[davescm]

Hi

I am assuming you are enlarging the image (you did not state the final pixel size). Increasing pixels will always introduce some softness as Photoshop has to use the algorithm to insert the extra pixels. The actual affect will depend on the algorithm used and the degree of enlargement.

If you know you will be changing size several times - put the original layer in a smart object. (Right click the layer and choose Convert to Smart Object).  That way each transform is based on the original layer inside the smart object rather than the errors compounding with each transform.

Dave

[Djay404]

hello,

       Yes i am trying to enlarge the image. I am creating a wedding album of 12x36inch size document. i tried by unchecking resample image option but its pixelating still. its simple when i open an image and make a copy of it and then i enlarge or reduce the dimensions using free transform tool of that duplicate image, i deleted the original image and made duplicate image to its original size now its all pixelated and not usable for prints. i hope i you are able to get what kind of issue i am having. i am not resampling image. I am trying to change image dimensions. when i convert image to smart object there is no issue in quality!!! i am really confused about the issue here

[D Fosse]

Don't use transform for this - transform will always resample. That's what it's for.

What you want is the Image Size dialog. Here you can set a physical print size, with or without "resample" checked.

Try without resampling first. With this option, no pixels in the original file are altered. The pixels you have will just print at the required size (and the resolution change accordingly).

If it turns out that the required print size results in a very low resolution, you can then try with "resample" checked. But do this carefully and as little as possible. You don't really gain anything other than reducing the chance of visible pixels, although you may recover an illusion of sharpness by careful sharpening after resampling.

Exactly how much resolution is needed depends on the viewing distance. At arm's length, anything below 150 - 180 ppi will probably not look good, and you should really reduce print size to bring up resolution.

[Djay404]

Hello D Fosse

         Problem is i am loosing image sharpness when i use free transform tool thats it. As doing collages you have to put images in different size to look like collages right. I am not worried about printing here. Before it was not happening, after using free transform tool when zoomed in its pixelated and image sharpness is reduced badly. Is this something image problem or photoshop

[davescm]

Hi

Sorry if this is just me mis-understanding you.

Your aim, from your posts above, appears to be a picture 12 inches high and 36 inches wide and you are producing this from a picture which is 3600 pixels high and 2400 pixels wide?

If so, you will have to crop as those two stated dimensions have a different aspect ratio

If you don't touch the width then you are looking at 36" from 2400 pixels which is 67 pixels per inch. Those pixels will be very visible at wedding album distance i.e. medium arms length. Any resampling will soften the image - although with sharpening you will make this less noticeable.

Even if the 3600 pixels will be your long side - then that is still only 100ppi. So some resampling may be needed to prevent visible pixels.

If those dimensions are incorrect - please put me right.

Dave

[Djay404]

hello,

Problem is i am loosing image sharpness when i use free transform tool thats it. As doing collages you have to put images in different size to look like collages right. I am not worried about printing here. Before it was not happening, after using free transform tool when zoomed in its pixelated and image sharpness is reduced badly. Is this something image problem or photoshop

[masudr6167678]

If you transform your image you will loss quality. But after transform you need to add sharpness to your image from filter.

[D Fosse · Accepted solution]

i am loosing image sharpness when i use free transform tool

If you use the free transform tool it will get resampled and thus softened. That's just the nature of the transform tool working on a pixel-based raster image. You can't avoid that and you never could.

However, the softening effect is much more pronounced when upsampling than when downsampling. Don't upsample too much.

The proper way to deal with this is by careful sharpening after resampling/transforming. By careful I again mean not too much, or you'll get halos and artifacts. That never looks good. I'd recommend the Camera Raw filter over Unsharp Mask, which is a pretty coarse tool. With the ACR filter you have much more control.

[shelleys61521487]

I am having the same issue. When creating cards or books, anytime I move the image onto the template and use Ctrl + T to transform the image to fit in the space I need, the image goes from sharp to looking pixelated. I am using bicubic automatic. I have never had this issue before so not sure why it just started up unless I have somehow changed a setting in PSD. I use a ton of card templates and book templates and all of my images are being affected when I attempt to move them into a "photo box" on a card and size using Transform tool. I use Transform (to scale).