NPN image sharpness

Discussions
1

When I compare an image I’ve posted on NPN and the same image opened in a web browser window, they look similar in terms of sharpness. But the same image posted on my SmugMug website and in Photoshop look noticeably sharper, which I prefer. I asked SmugMug if they do any sharpening and they said:

Thanks for contacting SmugMug. When you upload a photo to SmugMug, we store the original photo as-is (no processing is applied to your originals). We also create various display sizes​, from a tiny thumbnail, up to sizes not much smaller than the original, and many sizes in between. These display sizes are what you see when you view your SmugMug galleries.

For those display sizes we create, we do apply a small amount of sharpening. We do this because whenever you create a smaller JPG from a larger one, there is always a natural softening effect due to the smaller number of pixels in the smaller size. The sharpening we apply to the display sizes helps compensate for this effect, to help ensure that your photos look crisp when viewing at any size.

There is a discussion at
https://help.smugmug.com/change-the-display-size-of-my-photos-S1nIllwkNHf

Any comments?

2

We do not apply any sharpening so you have full control. I would highly recommend the web sharpening in the TKPanel for the best results.

3

Ronald, another vote for the sharpening action in the TK Panel, it’s easy to use and does a great job.

4

Thank you, Ed. Yes, as noted in my Tech Details, I always apply TK sharpening for web at the default 50%. I do this for both NPN and my SmugMug site. NPN looks noticeably softer.

5

Thank you, David. Yes, I always apply TK sharpening for web at the default 50% opacity. I do this for both NPN and my SmugMug site. NPN looks noticeably softer. So next post I’ll up the opacity.

6

If you are uploading output sharpened Jpegs to Smugmug, it sounds like Smugmug is applying it’s own sharpening as well to the various display sizes. So in effect, it’s getting some extra sharpening in a second round of sharpening on Smugmug. To make your NPN images look more like Smugmug, you can play with upping the TK 50% opacity as discussed.

7

Thank you, @Ed_McGuirk. I’m looking forward to trying that on my next post.