image grainy when viewed in certain apps.

[MVBenz]

I have a weird issue going on.

Background Info:

I shoot in RAW always

Open in Bridge and pre-edit in Photo Raw.

Then open in PS (19.1.6) and save to PSD/JPG. The PSD is for me to play more if I desire and the JPG is the final customer product.

Issue:

For some images (not all) after I save to JPG I go back and look at them in PS/Bridge/Windows Photo viewer/Chrome and the image will look crap-tacular in a browser and/or windows image viewer but open in PS and it is as it should look.

I have noticed I can get PS to look like it does in Windows Image Viewer by changing the scaling of the image (zoom level) as it opens at 33%. In older versions of PS this was not an issue but some time in the last 6'ish months of updates this started. I have checked all save as settings and color profile settings but nothing stands out. I am not sure why this started and what I need to change to get it to stop. The original image was taken w/out flash at a higher ISO so I know there will be noise in there but the PS view is acceptable and the other apps I may try to view it in is not. Any insights would be appreciated.

Windows Image Viewer:

Photoshop:

[JJMack]

What are the images file canvas sizes number of pixels in the width and the number of pixels in height and what print dpi resolution is set for the print pixel size. what is your display's  ppi resolition and is eith Photosgio scalinf you image on you display toe print image size. Both of the image you posted are 436 px wide and 240 px high and have different image content. They are not the same image.

[MVBenz]

Sorry, i should have specified, those are screen shots of the same image. One brought up in Photoshop and the other Windows Picture Viewer (Win10). I have seen he gaineyness in Chrome and IE also. Issue is I upload these to an online gallery and won't notice this until i go through and make sure the images uploaded correctly. When windows pic viewer opens it it initially looks fine and then a few seconds later changes to the graining photo in the screenshot. Resaving them usually 'fixes' it.

Here is a link to the file in  question as it is a little too big to upload: https://marykatrinaphotography.com/J&J_20180630_0014.jpg

Monitors are color calibrated with spyder 4 elite software and device and photoshop working space is sRGB. I also have it save the profile with the images so printing should be fine.

When saving as JPG the settings are Quality 12 and i have tried all 3 format options. some posts mention scaling and i have see in PS using the mag glass to zoom in from the 33% when it opens, every other click introduces the same gaineyness and the next click it is gone, and so on till 100%. also this just started maybe 6mo ago after an update. Don't remember which one tho.

[JJMack]

It seems to be a high resolution image with a lot of noise in the subject the background look good though. View it in a new tab or ne window and expand to actual pixels. The slection use to blur the background or mask the girl was not the best.

[MVBenz]

Thanks but I am not looking for a photo critique. I am trying to figure out why the image looks fine in certain image viewers and not in others. It should look the same when it comes to noise levels. Colors can be off if the app is not ICC aware but noise should be the same.

[JJMack]

Why?

If the image viewer is not displaying the image actual pixels and most likely it is not because the image is 3456px high it will not even fit on a 4K display. How the image will look depends on how the viewer scales the image. Does it scale it quickly using some crud method or does it interpolate the image and try to display the best possible image it can.  How does the image viewer process your large image to a smaller size image.  If you not looking at the images actual pixels you viewing a different scaled image you not viewing  your actual image.. All viewers do not use the same code to scale your image you are not actually viewing your image.

[D Fosse]

The problem here is very obviously excessive noise.

There is no reason that should "look the same" in various applications' resampling algorithms.

[Kprice]

A google search led me here to your post.  I was just wondering if you ever figured out what was causing this problem.  I believe I'm experiencing the same thing.  Just upgraded to a Windows 10 laptop and, after editing my raw photos in Photoshop CC, saving as a .jpg on my hard drive,  then viewing them with the Windows 10 viewer, the image is extremely grainy.  This did not happen on Windows 7.  Is it just the Windows 10 photo viewer? 

[kashyani]

Hi,

Did you find a solution to this problem ? I am facing precisely the same issue. 

Thanks,

Nishant

[Kprice]

Not really.  I installed IrfanView and tried using that as the viewer and the images did appear better using that application but I didn't really like the way irfanview works overall so now I'm back to just using the windows photo viewer.  One thing I noticed is it seemed that the photos that look grainy in the windows 10 photo viewer are usually the ones that I've used the sharpening tool in the Adobe Raw editor.  If I sharpen in the Photoshop editor instead the photos don't display grainy.  But I haven't really tested that theory, it's just something that I was starting to notice recently.

[jstar0044]

I have the same issue using the "Imageglass" photo app with RAW pictures of the moon. My pictures look good using IrfanView and with using FastStone Image Viewer.

[Per Berntsen]

At 100% view, all applications should display identically.

This is the only view that gives you a true representation of the image, because one image pixel is represented by one screen pixel. Any other view will be inaccurate and misleading because the image has been scaled.

Different applications use different algorithms when scaling images, so even at the same magnification (other than 100%), they will not display identically.

[hus architecture]

I have been experiencing the same issue, but think I have an answer for you:  The images have loads of resolution and are pin sharp in Photoshop/ Lightroom etc. but when viewed in other applications, (e.g.Windows 10 Photos viewer) particularly if not viewed full screen, (i.e. if in a window that is 'restored down'):  The images render ok for a second or so and then change instantaneously to being extremely grainy.  (As you say - they look horrendous!)

What works for me:  This relates to the rendering of images whose resolution is very high and is the reverse of the software taking time to fully render all the pixels.  High Res images will be re-sampled down by the viewing software to suit the screen resolution: The problem seems to be that they are being re-sampled down too much - or badly)...If the intended use is for web viewing or screen only, then resizing the images to a lower resolution - more suited to screen viewing, should resolve the issue.

I think this is maybe what JJMack was hinting at?!

Let me know if this works for you!

Col.B