Blurry Images in Filmstrip Gallery

Do you have enabled the option to automatically resize images when they are uploaded? It is necessary it be on for our “retina” image feature to function.

Thank you for replying Benjamin. I didn’t have it enabled but now I enabled it and re-uploaded photos (with different file names) and the problem is still there. I don’t have a retina display btw, so it looks blurry even on a normal display.

It looks like the images on that page are not being served from your domain but instead optimole.com. We unfortunately don’t yet support any CDN, but I suspect that is the probable cause of your problem. Can you exempt NextGEN images from that feature?

I deactivated the Optimole plugin but the issue remains the same (I’m keeping it deactivated in case it helps you check something). All other images went through Optimole too and are ok, so not sure if this could be the issue.

Fellow user –> I think you need to clear your cache too — the images look fine to me now. I assume you are referring to the actual images, not just the thumbnails.

I’m starting to wonder if this issue is more visible on some photos depending on tones, colors etc. of the photo and if I was just not paying enough attention before.

Now I uploaded another photo with Optimole desactivated, cleared cache and checked in Private Browsing window and it’s still there… even the tones are faded.
Here’s a screenshot – image in the gallery on the left and original image in Preview on the right (click on the image for larger view):

On this one the contrast seems to be much more affected than sharpness actually.

Not sure how visible it is on an average monitor but on mine it’s obvious it’s a bad compression. I’m on a 10 y.o. iMac, so while it’s not a bad monitor, it’s also not the best out there.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by BarbMil.

Ah-hah. The difference is apparent when the two are compared for the small bit of sky above and to the right of the woman. I wouldn’t say blurred so much as basically muted.

I’m not official support, just another user, but since I like to do astro photography, how the photos transfer and show up is incredibly important. It’s a pain for FB, for example. In the interim, I could suggest a few things to check, based on a few conversations some fellow Astro Photographers have had with their sites (not all NGG):

a. Often it is because of compression somewhere. Does it matter which gallery layout you use?

b. Is there any chance your theme is somehow showing 90% opaque or something.

c. When you upload in NGG, do you have them resized and altered for quality? (NGG / Other Options / resizing / quality). You could try NOT resizing them and see what happens?

I would leave your optimole off for now too. SOlve it without anything playing with the images.

d. You could also try uploading it to your media library and put them on the same page…that way you would know if NGG was altering the upload or WP was doing it.

e. Check your lightbox settings I suppose too…Does it show any different in the lightbox?

All of those are things I’ve seen happen with APs…not sure any of them are what is happening with yours though. ??

Good luck, I’d love to know the answer when you get it resolved. I’m redoing my site, and will need my AP images to be razor sharp.

Paul
aka PolyWogg

Hi Paul,

Thank you for the suggestions. Especially the d. point which answers a lot of other questions.

So I uploaded the photo directly to the media library and it looks OK there – same as the original file on my computer.

Then I tried a few other kinds of NG galleries and photo was blurry too (including in the lightbox) – even in the Pro blog style, which is just images one on top of another and you just scroll to see them, which can be simply (and with better quality!) achieved in WP without any plugin.

Then I inserted the image from the media library directly in the blog post and it looks OK too – same as original.

So the issue is really with NextGen which shouldn’t be happening with a photo gallery specialized plugin.

I enabled the NG option to automatically resize images when they are uploaded after Benjamin (NG support) suggested this in his first reply to my issue. However, the problem was there before and it’s still here now so it seems like it didn’t change anything.

Yes, FB is terrible for image quality too! It’s frustrating when we spend time making our photos look the way we want them to and then they get butchered by a compression we have no control of.

Best,
Barbara

Hi Barbara, another post was looking at resizing images, and included some tips to prevent compression…just a thought.

https://www.imagely.com/docs/image-sizes-and-resolutions/

Thanks Paul, I already took into account all this except for installing the Disable JPG compression plugin but since images look the same as originals if I insert them directly into pages and not in GP galleries, the problem lies in NG galleries, not in WP compression.

I also just checked again my other (old) galleries and there is a blur problem too (not just contrast). It’s not dramatic but as I said before, I feel it just shouldn’t be happening with a plugin specialized for photo galleries.

Here are just two examples, original images are on the right side while the one on the left is in NG gallery:

difference most visible on the watermark at the bottom of the photo:

I’m starting to wonder if this problem was always present but I never paid much attention to it. It seems to be more visible with graphic and high contrast subjects and I first noticed it when I uploaded my graphic designs.

I’d love to hear what NG support has to say about this. If it doesn’t get sorted I’ll just find a different solution and abandon NG. I don’t want to spend hours trying to solve something so basic.

If you aren’t targeting users with high DPI screens (“retina”) could you try turning off the “resize images at upload” option and clearing your image cache? With that option disabled NextGEN will not attempt to process it and will just accept the image file as is.

This option was disabled before I wrote my first post here, so it doesn’t help. I enabled it only when you suggested me to do it in your first reply here, and that didn’t help either. In other words, wether it’s enabled or not, images are blurry and desaturated.

That’s odd, NextGEN shouldn’t be altering images when that option is disabled.

Could you please fill out a bug report on our site and mention my name so we can investigate this better? Sorry for the hassle.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Benjamin.

Thanks Benjamin, I filled out the bug report. It says it’s not meant as a back and forth communication but can you please just let me know if you find anything, or even if you don’t? That way I can decide on the next steps to take with my image presentation system.
Thank you!