brbo
Well-known
When I posted this earlier, the image was sharp. Now it isn't. There's something going on at flickr. Lets hope this is not a permanent "feature".
Flickr makes my photos unsharp!
- Thread starter Erik van Straten
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When I posted this earlier, the image was sharp. Now it isn't. There's something going on at flickr. Lets hope this is not a permanent "feature".
Highway 61
Revisited
When I look at it, it is really plenty sharp ! No sharpness problem whatsoever on my screen with it.
But when I look at the photos Erik posted links too, I confirm that they are totally unsharp indeed.
I guess that Erik's 800x600 pictures have been brutally downsized by their software from original larger files. They now weight only around 100KB.
Erik van Straten
Veteran
I will not upload anything until this problem is gone. If this is the new standard for Flickr, they have no future.
Erik.
Erik.
olifaunt
Well-known
That link now points to an image of size 639 × 799 pixels. On my laptop's 4K screen that is a native size of about 3 inches high - at that size it is sharp. My browser will automatically blow it up larger if I make the more than 3 inches but then of course all the fuzziness is just from my browser's interpolation.
But what is "staticflickr"? Is that some kind of mirror? My image URLs on regular Flickr don't look like that.
olifaunt
Well-known
Do you have the same problem when you use the normal URL that you get when you click the photo in your stream, like this:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[yourname]/[photoid]
This way Flickr automatically chooses the display size based on the device.
FWIW my pics all display sharp this way, but they are all uploaded at 4K+ size originally (at least 3600 pixels or about 12 inches on the long side).
Erik van Straten
Veteran
The problem that I have, is that all the images on all my Flickr-accounts that were previously presented sharp now are presented unsharp. I've loaded photo's into Flickr for many years, always in the same way and always in the same format: 5490 x 3949 pixels.
Erik.
Pherdinand
the snow must go on
At least it's not flickering.
Erik van Straten
Veteran
I think that things have improved now, but I can't post pictures on RFf, only the link shows up.
Erik.
Erik.
bhop73
Well-known
Mine look normal.
olifaunt
Well-known
How about if you download the original (link on lower right of image on desktop/laptop browser) to your computer? You should get the full original uploaded image that way. Then look at it in a photo editor at 1-1?
olifaunt
Well-known
Also if you use a staticflickr link to refer to the photo you might check if it is the same staticflickr address that you get if you newly click on the download link of the photo of that size from your photostream. AFAICT the staticflickr address also refers to a particular server your photo might be stored on at any particular time, and they might be migrating servers so they might just be filling the old addresses with stubs in the form of small images whereas your full photos may be on a new server. Just my guess.
Erik van Straten
Veteran
This is what I always do! But the full size is bigger than my screen. I am a composition fanatic, so I want to see the whole picture. Therefore I choose 584 x 800 for lanscape and 467 x 640 for portrait.
Erik.
peterm1
Veteran
I can't say I have noticed the problem with my photos to be honest. I always upload the images at full resolution - though Flickr displays them at a smaller screen-compatible size. Downsizing will sometimes affect apparent sharpness I believe though as I say I am not conscious of seeing this with my images (though I should also add I am not a "pixel peeper" and have never really looked for it). Flickr could in principle of course also process images when they are being stored so that jpg's stored on their system are of a lower quality (more highly compressed) in order to reduce storage demands. But as I say I have not observed it.
Perhaps Erik you should try viewing your Flickr collection using either Fluidr or Flickriver both of which are web pages which link to your Flickr photostream and allow you to display the stream of images in a slightly different manner than in Flickr itself. That at might least indicate if the issue you notice is a result of something about how the images are served to your browser and displayed rather than in how they are processed and stored. (If the resolution is better when viewed using either of these it could suggest something about how the images are being displayed within Flickr rather than anything Flickr has done to the images - say to reduce storage demands as I mention above.)
Just a question as an afterthought. Not all JPGs are the same.........when you process your images and store them on your PC do you elect to store them as 100% quality JPGs? I recall it is an option with my processing software to increase the compression ratio and hence store images at a lower quality to presumably save storage space on the hard drive. I never do this - I always process and store my images at full quality accepting that JPGs have some compression applied to them I seek to minimize this. Maybe this could somehow be a factor in how your flickr images are displaying....i.e. if you are compressing your images then Flickr is further compressing them - BINGO!.
It's a long shot I know but you never know, Flickr could be doing something that interacts less well with any lower than 100% quality JPGs.
Perhaps Erik you should try viewing your Flickr collection using either Fluidr or Flickriver both of which are web pages which link to your Flickr photostream and allow you to display the stream of images in a slightly different manner than in Flickr itself. That at might least indicate if the issue you notice is a result of something about how the images are served to your browser and displayed rather than in how they are processed and stored. (If the resolution is better when viewed using either of these it could suggest something about how the images are being displayed within Flickr rather than anything Flickr has done to the images - say to reduce storage demands as I mention above.)
Just a question as an afterthought. Not all JPGs are the same.........when you process your images and store them on your PC do you elect to store them as 100% quality JPGs? I recall it is an option with my processing software to increase the compression ratio and hence store images at a lower quality to presumably save storage space on the hard drive. I never do this - I always process and store my images at full quality accepting that JPGs have some compression applied to them I seek to minimize this. Maybe this could somehow be a factor in how your flickr images are displaying....i.e. if you are compressing your images then Flickr is further compressing them - BINGO!.
It's a long shot I know but you never know, Flickr could be doing something that interacts less well with any lower than 100% quality JPGs.
Benjamin Marks
Veteran
Erik: Is it possible that Flickr applies a compression algorithm and subsequent sharpening to photos on its site? I use SmugMug, and pay for the privilege, because I like the rendering on their site. I do have some pictures on Flickr. . . but not "mission critical" ones, and all work for paying clients goes on SmugMug.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Recent/R...4788bd64/XL/Front Cov. L1003900-Edit-2-XL.jpg
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Erik van Straten
Veteran
Thank you Peter and Benjamin for these extensive message. Yes, I always choose for the highest quality of storing my images. Always jpg's, maximum quality.
Ive never had problems like this with Flickr before. I've used Flickr for many years.
I will take a look at Fluidr or Flickriver, thank you for this suggestion.'
I hope that the problems are over soon. I enjoy sharing my stuff on the web.
Thanks again,
Erik.
Ive never had problems like this with Flickr before. I've used Flickr for many years.
I will take a look at Fluidr or Flickriver, thank you for this suggestion.'
I hope that the problems are over soon. I enjoy sharing my stuff on the web.
Thanks again,
Erik.
peterm1
Veteran
Erik I did subsequently check out my Flickr photostream using both Fluidr and Flickriver to view a couple of images to compare it to same image displayed using Flickr. But I could not see any obvious differences using this method of viewing with my photos over the same images viewed in Flickr.
If you wish to try them, as I recall there is an option somewhere on the home pages of these sites to log into your Flickr account and then view your stream using these web pages. I don't recall the specific details of this process though I seem to remember it as being an easy thing to do. You just need your Flickr account name and password.
PS Out of interest I typed this phrase "flickr images blurry" and got quite a considerable number of responses mainly from the Flickr help forum. It seems to be a known issue and I would encourage you to go there to see what's being discussed on these threads. I have not had time to do so yet, but as a Flickr user I would certainly be interested to find out when I do have time.
kuuan
loves old lenses
I haven't noticed any decline in quality of my photos on flickr.
When I uploaded 2 short videos some 3 weeks ago now they had not displayed for some 2 weeks, for 2 weeks they had remained saying "in progress" or something like this, before they finally appeared. I had looked at the help forum at flickr and there it had said that, after fllckr had been bought by a new owner, that all files are being transferred to a new server.
Maybe your issue of sharpness has something to do with that? Just hoping that it's only a temporary issue..
When I uploaded 2 short videos some 3 weeks ago now they had not displayed for some 2 weeks, for 2 weeks they had remained saying "in progress" or something like this, before they finally appeared. I had looked at the help forum at flickr and there it had said that, after fllckr had been bought by a new owner, that all files are being transferred to a new server.
Maybe your issue of sharpness has something to do with that? Just hoping that it's only a temporary issue..
Greyscale
Veteran
Perhaps for some reason your browser is loading images meant for mobile devices, or low-resolution placeholder images. My Flickr images look as sharp as ever.
ColSebastianMoran
( IRL Richard Karash )
Check file size received vs. the file size when you uploaded?
Erik van Straten
Veteran
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