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Known Participant
September 8, 2022
Question

Ripple effect in photos/bad resolution

  • September 8, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 1512 views

Hello! I'm getting these resolution issues on LightRoom mobile, but the same thing happens on desktop. On desktop, the fix is to zoom in, wait a sec, let it clear, then zoom out. It clears the ripple effect but it's just temporary. If I'm on mobile, there's no fix to it and when I export to my phone, the image isn't crisp and the ripples show. Does anyone know how to resolve? A screenshot is attached. It looks like the ripple effect from throwing a rock into a pond.

 

Thanks so much.  

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2 replies

Per Berntsen
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 8, 2022

This looks like banding caused by jpg compression, which happens typically in flat areas, like a clear sky.

To avoid it (or at least minimize it), the image has be saved (or captured) with a high quality jpg setting.

It can also happen after saving a jpg more than once. Jpg is a final format, and not suited for editing. Every time a jpg is saved, image quality will deteriorate.

 

 

NBS0616Author
Known Participant
November 3, 2022

It actually happens on every photo regardless of having those bits of the photo that are blank space. It happens in Lightroom Classic with the raw file before it's even exported, while in the development module. Then when I export as a JPG at highest quality setting, it's still there unless I zoom in and zoom out in the development module prior to export.

TheDigitalDog
Inspiring
September 8, 2022

In Develop module, at 1:1 or greater, do you see it? 

Zooming out subsamples the preview data and it isn't unusual to see a moiré pattern depending on the image. That is simply the downside of zooming out. 

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
NBS0616Author
Known Participant
November 3, 2022

I just did a test and it happens in the development module as well as in the library section. It happens with every single photo and previews are 1:1. In order to export at high quality and not get the pixelated look in some parts of each photo, I have to zoom it, the image becomes clear, and then zoom out and it's fine for export. However, if I then click to a different photo and then go back to the one I was just on, the pixelated/bad quality appears again. Super frustrating to have to zoom in and out on each photo before export. Because of that, I have to export a batch of photos individually instead of being able to all at once.