images in photoshop appearing pixelated

[Kath Polley]

I'm using a Mac Pro (2013) OS X Yosemite Version 10.10.5 and photoshop CC 2015 with all latest software updates.  I have noticed that photographs opened in photoshop CC appear pixelated and over sharpened even when opened from RAW files that have had no editing applied.  I had previously been told to turn off the graphics processor in an attempt to deal with Photoshop CC no longer zooming correctly.  Could this be behind the pixelation?  And do I really have to choose between an ability to zoom or an ability to have a clean sharp image in front of me?

[Atul_Saini]

Moving the discussion to Photoshop General Discussion

[deepakg1988]

Hi GerenArgyII,

When you open the image in the camera raw does the image looks pixelated. Is it happening with only specific image or all the images.

Thanks

[Kath Polley]

Hi,

Images all look fine in Camera Raw - pixelation only appears once they are opened in photoshop CC.  As far as I can tell it's all images but not all zoom levels.  So if I zoom in or out, sometimes it sharpens up nicely, other times not.  I tried turning on the Graphics processor again but now it won't open images properly at all - just glitched blocks and blank bits..

[Per Berntsen]

Sharpening and noise reduction can only be viewed correctly at 100% view,

Any other view will be incorrect and misleading.

So view the image at 100% in Camera Raw, and then at 100% in Photoshop.

Do you still see a difference?

[Kath Polley]

When opened in Camera RAW and viewed at 100% the image is sharp and clear with no pixelation.  When opened in photoshop and zoomed to 100% it may or may not appear clean and sharp with no pixelation.  This is part of the problem.  There doesn't seem to be any consistency.  Generally speaking images look okay but then if I zoom in to edit just one area and then zoom out again the whole image looks rough  around the edges.   Sometimes they look really pixelated at 16% or 25% but at 100% they look fine.  Sometimes the same image closed and re-opened can look brilliant the second time around.  Sometimes it looks worse. 

[Per Berntsen]

I did some tests turning the graphics processor on and off, and diagonal lines do become jagged at certain magnifications when it is turned off. So my guess is that this is what's causing the problem. It appears that you cannot work with it turned on, but I wouldn't worry too much about it, since it doesn't really affect the image, only how you see it in PS.

[Kath Polley]

Thanks for trying - I was going to have a go at that myself but as i say, with the graphics processor turned on I can't even open most images.  I was hoping for a better solution than 'live with it' to be honest - it's distracting to work with and I've only been aware of the problem since the update to CC 2015.  I'm not sure it's asking all that much to want a clear image!  I guess I'll await the next lot of updates and see if it gets fixed then. 

[Per Berntsen]

I work on a PC myself, so I can update drivers whenever I want, but I understand that with a Mac you have to wait for updates from Apple, so I understand your frustration ...

[wigglebugsmom]

I just wanted you to know I have the exact same problem. Did you ever find a solution?

[AmyCoose01]

Same issue here, too!

[Kath Polley]

No.  It just went away with no further input from me.  Not very helpful if it's still an ongoing issue for you though - sorry!

[tjcerasi.58968212]

I'm having the same problem

[sarah694843]

grrr...I’m having the same problem I have only just changed to the Mac Pro from windows and thought it was meant to be better not impressed!  

[D Fosse]

sarah694843  wrote

thought it was meant to be better

That's the power of marketing for you

Seriously, all Adobe applications work exactly the same on both platforms. Each platform has its own problems and technical solutions that are less than optimal. Don't believe the ads.

[susanb82854069]

Same issue with a PC, open to 100% no issue in Photoshop, anything smaller looks Pixelated. Adobe surely has a fix?

[D Fosse · Accepted solution]

A fix for what, exactly? This is handled by the OpenGL engine in the video card driver.

The only way to see the file accurately is to map one image pixel to one screen pixel. That's what 100% means.

Any smaller zoom ratio, and you have to let one screen pixel represent arbitrarily more than one image pixel. Obviously this means some zoom ratios work better than others - but how that fractional resampling is done, is determined by the driver.

[Ussnorway]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/D+Fosse  wrote

A fix for what, exactly? This is handled by the OpenGL engine in the video card driver.

Mac has now dropped OpenGL for Metal... same mess | different drivers

i.e, nothing to do with Adobe guys

[Jaydee Cassidy]

This worked for me by simply updating the device driver

[ElPadroni]

Bump.

[Boris0D4C]

Oh come on.. Nobody of you guys didn't remember to just reset the whole photoshop? That is the easiest solution to this problem, I just did it in less then 1 min.. CTRL + K and press Reset Preferences On Quit. Reload PS and that's it. Can't believe no one wrote that in 5 years.

[davescm]

No-one wrote that because it is not a fix for the GPU driver issues raised by the poster 7 years ago. Resetting preferences resolves many issues but does not update a GPU driver

Dave

[Boris0D4C]

The issue is not GPU driver, it's just some PS bug. I was editing pics normally 2 days ago and this bug happened today. Exactly the same problems as author's. Random bugs can happen from time to time or some accidental clicks. Driver issues are mega rare.. Simplicity is the key sometimes. People need to know that.

[default7zu07ui8aqad]

I guess this isn't down to Photoshop but I know VERY little and would be grateful if someone could explain... in simple terms!

I saved a photo from a Facebook page hoping to tidy it up a little but it was horribly pixelated when I opened it in Photoshop. In the attached image [if it's attached, it doesn't appear in the preview?] the pair of images on the left show the original image to the right [ie. the middle of the three] simply on screen in Facebook though magnified, and the same image, "Save imaged as"-ed and then opened in Photoshop and zoomed to be the same size. The two windows were lined up on screen and simply Printscreened together to produce the one image. On the right is a printscreen of the original, after zooming it to fill the screen, then opened in PS, then this PS window and the twin image were matched up on screen and the triple image Printscreened and cropped in Paint. You probably didn't need to know all that. So where has all the pixelation come from?  Or, as they are greatly enlarged - the original is about 910x550 pixels and this is only a small part of it - perhaps I should be asking why there is no obvious pixelation in the enlarged original. They seem to have appeared in the Saving process, unless they were always there and something very clever is making them disappear on screen.