Marilyn asked me for advice on how to make the image she uploaded for the assignment appear like the version on her computer. Both the color and sharpness were different for the uploaded version than they were on the computer. I only had time for a very quick answer, and promised to answer in more detail later. Here is my "quick" answer, and the two images for comparison:
Hi Marilyn,
Thank you very much for asking. I'm "multi-tasking" right now and can only spare a moment, but will get back with you very soon with a complete answer. There are essentially three issues that are affecting the display of your image on the web.
1) The smaller image doesn't have an embedded color profile, so Safari (I assume you are using Safari?) doesn't know how to display it properly. There should be an option in iPhoto to save the image with an embedded profile. This is usually a check box in the save dialog. If you have that option, please "check" the box. If it isn't there, then you might need to read the iPhoto help files to determine how to embed the color profile with the saved image. The "best" profile to use for display on the web is sRGB. You should "convert" to sRGB profile before saving the image.
2) The percieved "sharpness" of an image is primarily determined by "edge acuity." When you take a large photo and resize it to a much smaller size, many of the edges become so small that they are invisible. Photographers typically compensate for this by applying sharpening, or "unsharp mask" to the image after resizing.
3) The level of compression when saving as a JPEG. This image has a LOT of detail. When I resized the larger image you sent and saved at a JPEG compression level of "8" in Photoshop, it saves as a 457KB file. The smaller image you uploaded is a 231KB file. This tells me that the JPEG compression was pretty severe on this image, causing a loss of detail. I had to use a quality setting of "low" in order to get the file size that small. As long as your image fits within the maximum physical size of 1024 pixels on its longest side, you should be able to upload the image at a much higher JPEG quality setting.
I've embedded both images in this post so you can see them side-by-side. (NOTE: Viewers using Internet Explorer might want to try viewing these examples in Safari (free download) since Safari will properly display the image according to the embedded profile. (Assuming your monitor is properly calibrated.))
Original Submission
Resized image from large original, Converted to sRGB profile, Sharpened for Web and saved at JPEG quality 8 in Photoshop
I know this has been a very quick answer, and will try to answer in more detail on the website within the next day or two.
I hope this helps,
Keith
