Web images pixelated on my 15" Retina MBP?

[gwhitf]

Today, I processed a job out of Lightroom, into Web Galleries, for a client, using my 15" MacBook Pro laptop Retina. I noticed the images looked pixellated and fuzzy; they were processed out as JPG 1100 pixels on the long side, at 72, sRGB.

I researched it and found several other photographers commenting on this effect. I even emailed two friends, with non-Retina monitors, a JPG or two, and they said they "looked great" on their monitors.

Are there settings in Displays where you can "work around" this effect?

I normally wait to process a job until I get back home, and plug the MBPro into my 27" Apple monitor.

Weird to buy the latest/greatest, but have a weird issue like this.

Thoughts?

Thank you.

[michael]

You 15" retina has a display capable of 220ppi.

You have output the files at 72ppi. Your 1100 pixel files will therefore either appear very small or pixilated.

My guess is that's the source of the problem.

Michael

[gwhitf]

I guess I have to assume that the client is viewing my web galleries on a non-Retina monitor. Thus outputting at 72dpi for traditional monitor, for the web.

After having two friends say they looked fine, I just uploaded the galleries and sent the client the URL.

Just very unnerving having them look so odd in in Safari.

Even more strange, some tool palettes look pixellated in Photoshop and in Iview. With iview, i guess i can understand since it came out before Retina.

Even some Menu apps have pixellated icons; I guess they never bothered to update them for Retina.

With Retina, you see EVERYTHING.

[michael]

For what it's worth, no one has manufactured a 72ppi monitor in about 20 years.

Michael

[gwhitf]

Every site I've ever had request images wants them at 72.

What do you use? 96?

[KirbyKrieger]

PPI should not have any effect (afaik) on how images look on-screen.  The OS ignores the PPI datum saved with the image-format file.

I noticed the images looked pixellated and fuzzy

What program are you using to view the files?  At what magnification?  How do they look in Preview (the built-in OS X file viewer)?

What setting do you have at "Preview ▹ Preferences ▹ Images ▹ Define 100% as"?  This should be set to "1 image pixel equals 1 screen pixel" unless you have specific reasons to set it otherwise.

Do you have " ▹ System Preferences ▹ Displays ▹ Display ▹ Resolution" set to "Best for Display"?  If not, why not?

What OS version?

[gwhitf]

Yes, displays is set to "best for display", not "scaled".

I processed the RAWs from lightroom into PSD to avoid compression, and then import those into IView for editing and Web Gallery creation. Preview is never used.

I think Michael nailed it; it's the difference in resolution tightness between the Retina specs and the old Cinema Display specs (non retina).

[Telecaster]

With my iPad Air I almost always render two versions of a given photo: one with 2048 pixels in the longer dimension, which matches the display res, and a second at 1024 pixels max. for online sharing and lower-res displays. Sometimes I'll share the higher-res version, though, depending on the pic and the site. I use my desktop system almost exclusively for printing, so display res there is rarely a consideration.

-Dave-

[PhotoEcosse]

What you call "ppi" (e.g. 72 or 96) is actually irrelevant.

What matters is the size of the image in pixels. e.g. 2200 x 1600 or whatever. If you try and view an image at a greater size than its pixel dimensions, it will appear "pixelated". The corollary is that if you size an image to fill one screen, with a resolution of, say, 1400 x 1050 and then view that image on a screen with higher resolution, the image will not fill the screen and, if you try to force it, it will obviously look pixelated.

[gwhitf]

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/mbp-retina-blurry-text/

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Hi,

The upscaling of pictograms/icons and thumbnails, has nothing to do with how your image is rendered on a high PPI display. On a higher PPI display, your image's  x-by-y pixels will just be rendered smaller, because the pixels are more densely placed together. If your image does not render smaller on your display, then the image is (crudely) upscaled and can look pixelated.

Cheers,
Bart