Photography Upload Quality For Dummies

Before you upload, zoom in on your image to 100% magnification. If you see any blur (fuzziness) or noise (speckles or blotches), then don't upload that one. That's just a quick rule of thumb, but it saves a lot of hassle later!

Edited to add: The three photos you've posted so far are tiny - is that the largest size you can get from your camera? I wouldn't be happy with the bird photo myself - there are some rather bad artefacts around the edges of the branches.

You need to start by setting the camera to shoot at the largest size it does, save the pictures at the highest quality setting and don't do any "resize for web use". The bird looks as if it has been cropped out of the centre of a small picture and blown up to web size (has it been "digitally zoomed?") - the blocks of colour - pixellation - are probably caused by saving at a low quality setting. The sharpening settings look too strong to me, I would turn them down if your camera lets you do that.

The quality that the images appear at on the site is the same as the quality you upload, so if you get your image processing right you should be OK.

first as stated make sure your camera is set to the highest pixels size on the finest quality. like on that bird, it's very small. and the compression is very poor, it won't print as it sits, not even as a card.

the last one you smoothed out, but its very small. they look like phone pictures.

look at the image at a 100% - then look for - compression blocks, jpg artifacts (that dove has this issue), noise, motion blur issues, cropping edge issues, probably a few others.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

What camera are you using? How are you processing the shots afterwards and with what software? The images are all roughly 9X7 inches which is very small. Some of mine here are 51X34 inches and the smallest I aim for is 30 inches on the tallest or longest end. In your processing software, it may show the image size as pixels, so your images would show as something like 960X700. Again, very small. Any other quality issues at tis point is almost moot because of the size issue where right now you should only be able to print out cards and maybe the smallest size print.

Hi Jennifer, First I do not call myself a photographer so can't get into the how to... I just visited an artist page that really impressed me with the quality of his work. I would venture a guess that all of his work's quality is perfect and everything will print. As I decide to do more photography it is one that I will hold my own standards up to.

Lol almost forgot the link: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/joe-bonita.html I find it helpful to see how my work should look as far as quality and this this portfolio is such a good example. There are many others too and what do they say ...a picture is worth a thousand words :)

Joe Bonita photography for Val

Thanks Roy...don't know how to do that :)

Thanks Roy...don't know how to do that :)

Oops don't know why that happens either

Thank you all so much!!! I am currently using a Panasonic FZ70. So I had to use digital zoom and I don't have all of the fancy options. I don't even know how to us the program that came with the camera to edit my images. (I have no internet on my computer) so I use my phone to do any editing of photos.

don't ever use digital zoom. only optical. otherwise your taking a tight crop of an already compressed image and it would only look good in the camera. best thing to do now is to learn how to use software. you should be able to get much larger images from that camera. the camera claims it has a 60x optical, you shouldn't ever have to use a digital zoom on it. don't use your phone you'll never see the details well enough and it probably saves it at the tightest compression.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

"I don't even know how to us the program that came with the camera to edit my images."

You're really putting the cart in front of the horse, so to speak, putting images on a for sale site and not knowing how to get the best image to begin with. Learn your editting program on the computer, just the basics, like how to get the best bang for your buck on a larger image. I don't know anything about your camera, but a quick search finds that B&H PHoto has it rated pretty good. It should give you pretty good results at a pretty decent size. Make sure the camera is outputting it at the highest resolution possible.

Since you don't have internet on your computer, but editting on a computer is much better than on a phone, get a flash drive, edit the pictures on your computer, save them to the hard drive and then copy the ones you want to upload here or anywhere else to the flash drive and use a friends computer to load them.

It's really worth it to learn the tricks of the trade.

Thank you!! I will have to play around with that program some more. This camera has no optical zoom, so I will have to avoid zoom all together. This is a point and shoot, not a DSLR. I am very new to the camera world, but everyone I know keeps telling me I should work on a way to sell my work. So that is what I am attempting to do and I am trying my best to learn everything I can about photography. Every bit of advice is helpful and appreciated. I uploaded some different photos in hopes that I am getting an idea of which photos are decent quality (less pixilation and blur).

but i looked up that camera and it does

https://www.google.com/shopping/product/10496377647871082670?q=%22+Panasonic+FZ70%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox&channel=fflb&sa=X&ei=TLeRVNSwF-HHsQSbi4HYBg&ved=0CPwFELkk

isn't this the camera you just said you had? or is there a number off. i can't believe the camera has no optical zoom, most have a 3x min.

if you have no zoom, then you have to get closer to the subject.


for the people who told you that you should sell it - ask them to buy it, you'll see how serious they are about it. jumping in like this is like saying - i just learned how to drive, now i'm a race car driver, or a taxi or whatever. my suggestions are:

1. learn how to use the camera you have or get a better one.
2. learn how to edit using software.

jumping in blind will only hurt you in the long run, selling isn't easy, and if your friends think you should sell, sell it to them. i'm sure they will be eager to buy it. i but if you can't recognize what is good and bad quality, that's already a sign that you should be going to a class first.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

also the quality is irrelevant when the pictures are that small.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

I thought optical zoom was where you zoom by the lens and not a little button. Now i am very confused.. Lol this camera can only zoom by a button on the top of the camera is what I was getting at. Is that still okay? I have no money of my own at this time because I stay home to care for my mother. So as much as I would love to invest in another camera and have more options, that one is out of the question until I can save some money. I definitely plan to learn more about the program I got with the camera, I just don't understand the new words and the options and setting available in there. It is high tech for me. :(

Yes, that is the correct camera. I meant to add that as well in my last comment.

You're on the internet now, so I assume you can access it sometimes... get on youtube and search for tutorials on how to use your particular camera. Free lessons.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=FZ70+camera

Yeah, I can access internet by phone. :) I have already watched all the youtube videos on this camera. Some of them I have watched twice. I got discouraged when one guy said it isn't a great camera for a few reasons which I agree with him but i make the best of what I have. For one, it is a point and shoot so I am limited with what I can do with it. The aperture isn't great which I agree, the aperture setting is very disappointing. :( The best thing so far is its zoom. Alrhough, now I am not pleased with the zoom unless for my own personal photos.

On a SLR you normally zoom with the lens.On a point and shoot you normally zoom in using a lever or button.On the camera settings you should have a place where you can switch off the digital zoom.If you don't turn off the digital zoom what can happen is that once the camera reaches the limit of the optical zoom it will automatically switch to the digital zoom.
if you haven't done so i would suggest you read the manual to find out where you can turn of the digital zoom

Don't worry to much about getting a better camera. Learn the one you have. Photographers are notorious for always wanting bigger, better gear. I know I am and I have a pretty good camera.

Thank you Roy! I knew nothing about being able to do that. I will check out the manual. :)
Joseph, I wouldn't get to move on to bigger and better for a while anyway. I am just frustrated with this camera because most people discuss the options of a dslr and that kind of leaves me out. They discuss how to change all of these settings and lenses that I don't have so it doesn't help me any. I love what photos I have seen of yours btw. :) thank you for all of your help!

yes, the optical zoom uses a button, or a toggle like switch to move in and out. there is also a digital zoom on the end, you have to turn this feature off in the menu, or it may default to on. optical means the glass lens is zooming. digital means the camera cropped a small part of the image and enlarged it. or in your case made it smaller. the camera you have sounds fine. but it doesn't look like you read the manual, so i would do that first and understand totally how to use the camera.

i wouldn't get anything more advanced until this one is mastered. youtube can probably train you how to use the basics.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Your camera is more than adequate. 16 megapixels is large enough to get good images.

if the camera were a bit smaller i would get it. the one i have now is a 30x optical, i use it for general purpose. this one is a bit on the large side, but it expands what you can shoot once mastered. best thing to do is get the manual - all i saw online were reviews and unboxing, and those won't help you any. move page by page until you understand it all. every new camera i get i read the manual. the last camera i got, has 400 pages.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Thank you Mike, I have read the manual and have gone back through it a few times since reading it the first time. It just isn't a very thorough manual. It explains the basics such as how to set up the cameras items like lens cap, battery etc. the stuff like what each icon means, how to take a photo, how to record, how to adjust brightness etc. and then it explains what the settings like aperture and the other mean. Then it moves on to how to download the software/programs which I did a while back. Now looking through the manual again and I am having no luck with the detailed stuff as we are discussing here. :( When I ran into this issue before, I went through and watched all of the youtube videos available related to this camera and I had no luck so I moved on to the question about cameras in general and that didn't work out. So I finally moved on to posting publicly looking for someone who may have the same camera that could lead me in the right direction and didn't have luck.
I apologize to vent, I am just frustrated. Thank you Mike and everyone for all of your help I really do appreciate it!

usually there are 2 books. one fast one slow.

instructions

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCYQFjAB&url=ftp%3A%2F%2Fftp.panasonic.com%2Fcamera%2Fdmcfz70%2Fdmc-fz70_en_advanced_om.pdf&ei=2NKRVJbcD9DasATP44HICw&usg=AFQjCNFnVhwR9CuvAkOhB8wqCsHymwfT8g&sig2=oKaKrNlHmbuJ6eCS2Wd6yQ

everything should be covered in that. for now find the size of the file in the camera.

usually you just play with it and todays cameras have the manual built into the camera, usually there is a question mark in the camera some place, some have a button.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

For now Jennifer, forget HOW you are shooting, just go into the camera menus and look for section about SIZE, you are either shooting a small size or it's happening after you transfer to your computer.

You can choose picture size on all digi cams, smaller will fit more on your card, larger will get less on your card.

Always shoot at the largest setting.

Look in your camera menu for for settings like small, medium, large, fine, superfine, etc... and choose the largest highest quality you can.

With that camera you can shoot in RAW or JPEG.Most photographers will shoot in RAW as it keeps the most information but normally has to be edited to get the best out of it.For you until you have learned how to edit photographs I would suggest using JPEG and have it on the fine setting so you get the largest image.You then have the option to crop the image slightly smaller if necessary and you can still edit it to enhance it.
Make sure you have non of the in camera filters turned on.
Take plenty of photos to practice.They don't have to be of anything in particular just take a pic change a setting then take the same pic and see what happens

I'm glad you aren't suggesting to use RAW right now because I have been trying to covert a few of my pictures that I shot RAW a couple months ago and have no idea how to do it. :(
I went to check size and I am currently on 4:3 16M

What is the pixel size? Example: 5218 x 3456? Your camera should be around 4928 x 3264. That's the size you should be shooting at> You have to adjust your camera setting in the camera menu

4:3 is the ratio, not the size. On your camera menu, it should have a setting that lets you shoot at different resolutions. I don't know how Panasonic defines it. In my Canon, I shoot RAW and Large-JPG. Even if you do not currently have the software to open much less edit RAW files, I would strongly STRONGLY urge you to shoot both RAW and large JPG if your camera allows you. When I got my first digital camera, I did not do this because I did not have the right software and also due to no external hard drive at the time. Now, of course, I look back at some of those images and wish I could reshoot in RAW.

Joseph, RAW is too advanced. One step at a time!

Here's a good site I just found about your camera which includes this paragraph --

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panasonic_Lumix_DMC_FZ70_FZ72/

"The Lumix FZ70 / FZ72 has a newly designed 16.1 Megapixel MOS sensor that produces images with a maximum size of 4608 x 3456 pixels. Images can be saved as JPEG files at one of two quality/compression ratios; the best quality Fine setting produces images with a file size of approximately 5.5 to 7.5MB. Alternatively in a welcome upgrade over the FZ60 / FZ62 you can now record RAW files with or without a JPEG. "

So your camera should be set to record images at 4608X3456 and you can shoot RAW and Fine JPG at the same time. The RAW file should be saved on your computer. The JPG can be editted. But save the JPG as another file after you began editting it, meaning that you have the untouched version out of your camera, the RAW file and now another editted version.

Jessica;

I'm suggesting she shoot RAW and then leave it on her computer untouched until she is more comfortable with editting. I wish I had done that with my first digital camera.

i agree with the sentiment to do it in raw. but if she can't use the editor right now, then a larger file she can't upload won't help her much. and in the experimental stages of learning, when she should be taking hundreds a day, it will eat up all her drive space in no time flat.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Joseph I did consider that because from what O am able to see, RAW looks sooo much better. But I can't share my work to get advice when I can't get the images open. :( i could however shoot in both and have RAW photos to mess with later on. :) win win right?
Joseph, you also had the size correct. I have been shooting in 4608x3456. :)

Thank you for explaining things to where I understand everyone and thank you for "one step at a time". It looks like maybe I will be back to trying to turn off the digital zoom? I think that is a big part of my problem with final photos. I am going to mess around with the settings some more and let you guys know what I figure out. :)

I found the "digital zoom" option and it shows "ON". I tried to turn it off but I cannot select the digital zoom option to turn it off. I tried changing some other settings to see if it would then allow me to select "digital zoom" so that I could turn it off, however I still was unable to select the "digital zoom" option to change its settings.

if you see the digital zoom, and it shows on, hit edit or whatever changes it to an off. and then it will be off.

the main thing you really want to find is the size and the clarity -- the settings should be LARGE - SUPER FINE or something like that. you'll get few pictures on the card, but space is cheap.

thing is you don't want to edit on the phone, the phone may be reducing the size so it fits on a phone better. and you want to not do that. you want to keep the size as it is.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Thank you Mike. The problem is o can't actually select/click on the digital zoom option to make any changes. It is blacked out/not selectable if that makes sense. I can't figure out how I can make it to where I can click on digital zoom to make changes such as switching it to "Off"

I changed a setting that was under Quality and I changed it from an icon that shows 6 squares to an icon that shows 3 squares. I don't know what this setting means, but it is in the same place where you change from jpeg to RAW

oh, that dial on the top, its set to AUTO, set it to P for program mode, that will turn on the other settings in the menu. the auto mode sets to many things to default. and i would guess that would fix that.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

I strongly suggest you read the manual! Look up how to set the camera for the largest size!

Try looking at the advanced manual here

For example, page 144 gives you the icon for RAW and FINE (six little boxes)

- Richard Reeve
reevephotos.com

You can turn the digital zoom on and of in the rec menu page 77 of the advance manual.Download it if you don't have it.
ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/camera/dmcfz70/dmc-fz70_en_advanced_om.pdf

Page 77 also says that You can not use the digital zoom in Intelligent Auto Mode which I think is Your iA mode. In this case it is okay that You can not set it to off a second time (blacked out). With P like Mike said it should be possible to set it off. BTW this manual is really hard to read because You have to jump permanently from the camera menue pages to the menue content pages.

May be You are also confused of the third kind of zoom Panasonic introduces: the extended optical zoom (EZ). That is nothing else than a marketing gimmick. You can only use it when You do not choose the best quality. Then the camera uses this rest of quality to zoom more in. So the worse quality is not a result of the digital zoom but of a worse preset. Only use the setting with the 6 squares (meaning fine, 3 is standard) which is possible with and without RAW.

Extended optical zoom is marketing but digital zoom is dumbing down ! Never use it. If You really want You can do it on Your computer in one minute (scale up and crop).

Thank you Richard!! I never knew there was an advanced manual. I only have the little book manual that is came wih and it is less than 20 pages of English.

My camera hasn't been set on Auto and even on program mode, i still can't turn the digital zoom to off position.

Thank you Rudi for clearing up which icon means fine and not fine. :)

I also wanted to share that I got a chance to look at my profile on here from a computer and I seen the quality of my photos are awful. These same images look fine uploaded to Facebook however.

They will do. You are just seeing small copies there. Here you get to see all the problems.

Looking at your images on a computer makes all the difference. Take the suggestion earlier made to transfer to there, work on them, and then transfer back for upload. Always view at 100% on the PC. They always look better on a phone or camera.

After shoot editing is all part and parcel of photography