Problem with my LO's in the gallery

[christaec]

For some reason whenever I upload my layouts to this gallery they get a bit blurred...I haven't noticed the same problem in other galleries. Is there anything that I can do so that this doesn't happen?

[Shannon]

Hi Christa - What program do you scrap with?

[christaec]

Paint Shop Pro 9

[Shannon]

Hmm, I'm not familiar with the functions of that program. Is there a Save For Web feature?

I'm not sure why it would show up blurry on ours and not others. Most digital sites allow files sized at 125K or smaller and we allow up to 150K. We don't reduce the quality in any way. So I'm not sure why it would show up blurry here. I'll post at photopost and see if they have an explanation. Could you please link me to one of your blurry layouts here as well as one at another site that also uses photopost but is not blurry?

[christaec]

here you go Shannon :

DST layout

SBB layout


The SBB layout just looks sharper, the DST one more blurred (the picture isn't great quality anyways but I am going by the elements). Do you see what I mean? And no PSP 9 doesn't have a re-size for web. I have always noticed that my layouts do lose quality when re-sized, but not usually as 'blurred' as on here.

Thanks for your help Shannon

[Lauren]

What size are they (pixel wise) when you upload them? I checked out the image location and they are in the "medium" folder which suggests that you're uploading something larger than 600 pixels wide which is the largest DST allows. The gallery will automatically resize anything wider than that, which is where your bluriness would be coming from. SBB appears to be doing the same thing, but they may be using a different imaging tool on their server which is causing the difference. I would suggest resizing a "web version" of your LO before you upload, that should improve your image and also allow you to set it at a higher quality since the larger dimensions will be using up a lot of your allowable file size.

Shannon, I don't think this is something you can control because it's a feature of ImageMagick installed on the server but you could check with Nick whether he is able to change the settings. It could also be the commands that PP is sending to Mogrify, he could maybe take a look at those as well.

[Shannon]

Geez-a-Lou Lauren! You are freaking smart! I'm so impressed!

[Lauren]

Well that's why you hired me! Although maybe we should wait to see if I'm right before you get all impressed.

[christaec]

Thanks for your help Lauren! I usually just resize them to be under 100 kb....never thought about the actual dimensions.

Thank you!

[jennt1111]

Christa - make sure you resize the actual size - not just the filesize. When you finish your LO, save it as a PSP image first. Then, merge all your layers (Flatten). Then go to Image|Resize - first change the resolution to 72 and then make sure that your Pixel Dimensions don't exceed 600 in either length. That should make it the right size for most web galleries.

Then, when you save, do you use PSP's JPG optimizer? You can use that to better control your filesize now that your image size is the correct size. Adjust the slider to make sure your final filesize is less than whatever the galleries recommed (I usually do <125 because some are OK with 150 and some want 125 - some still just want 100).

Hope that makes sense & hope it helps some!

(There are also scripts available that do all this for you. Lorraine Yuriar at SOTB comes to mind. Hey, it's free even. Check it out: http://www.scrapoutsidethebox.com/st...oducts_id=3635)