Photograph Works

Photoshop Changed: Take This Poll

Photoshop has changed. Until recently, when I went to export an image to make a web-sized JPEG, I would be presented with a scale from zero to 100% at which to save the image.

Then Photoshop updated. From what I read, it may have updated earlier on Windows machines, but I am on a Mac and the update has just happened.

I didn’t think much about the update until I went to export an image yesterday. Instead of a scale from zero to 100% I was presented with options to save on a scale from very poor to excellent.

My first thought was that Photoshop was dumbing down.

I looked in the ‘preferences’ and I saw that I could reactivate the legacy version of ‘export as’, and then I could see the zero to 100% option.

But somehow I want to go with the latest options because who knows how long legacy options will remain. So the question was whether the new options actually produced worse, better, or the same quality as the old options.

And that is what this poll is, so I can see what you think (because I spend too long staring at photos to be confident that I am seeing what I think I am seeing).

Let me introduce the idea of the poll this way: If I saved an image at best quality (excellent or 100%) and at worst quality (1% or very poor) then it would be easy to see the difference.

One would be blurry and the other would be clearer and crisper, sharper and more pleasing to look at.

So ‘clearer and crisper’ is the phrase I have used here in this poll.

And I am asking you to say whether one image looks clearer and crisper than the other, and which one – or to say that to your eyes they look about the same.

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Comments

5 responses to “Photoshop Changed: Take This Poll”

  1. JenT

    The terminology they’re using sounds like marketing speak! I imagine that there’s been some interesting feedback from the professional photography community, or at least I hope there’s been!

    I opened these images in separate windows to see the actual size you uploaded and there might be a very slight difference in favor of the second image. Keeping in mind that WordPress.com automatically compresses images you upload behind the scenes (“crunching”), it would be good to see these images hosted somewhere else.

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    1. David Bennett

      Thank you for doing it. Let me keep everything in suspense for a little while longer, but one thing I didn’t mention and that might be a factor is whether Photoshop has improved in the way it saves at different qualities, irrespective of how they are called.

      The thing is that under the old or legacy system, I would make a decision each time I saved an image – to save at 41% or 35% or whatever based on my knowledge of the type of image and on what the file size of the saved image would be. As you will know, a photograph that has a large area of similar colour will save at a much smaller file size than, for example, a scene of small leaves on a tree.

      So for me, the big question was whether I could save at the same or smaller file size while increasing image quality (or at least not losing image quality) and do it in a way that was simple without being dumbed down.

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  2. The Results of the Photoshop Poll are in. – Photograph Works

    […] Now to the results from the post: Photoshop Changed: Take This Poll. […]

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  3. Deb Weyrich-Cody

    A little late to the party, and not sure exactly why (colour seems virtually the same in both) but when examining stamens and the three tiny marks on the slightly shorter petal’s edge (@ WSW) I feel the first photo is superior in detail. (iPhone 12 pro screen)

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    1. David Bennett

      Thank you for your input, much appreciated. When I look at the shading just to the right and below the petal at One-o-Clock, I think maybe it is a bit harsher in the second photo, but I not sure. That would come about from additional compression of the original photo compared to the first version.

      Your mention of the iPhone 12 highlights the issue of grading or comparing images for the Web. As JenT points out, WordPress has its own algorithm for compressing photos, so adding that and then further scrunching on a phone blurs the distinction still more.

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