Poor Still Image Resolution In Premiere Elements 14 Video Project

[Anchors77]

I have a problem with poor resolution in still images that I am including in a Premiere Elements 14 video project. I think I know what is causing it but the fix I tried did not cure it. The current project is exactly the same general concept as the others I've done recently, using video clips and still images from the same cameras with very similar content. The still images included in the first three videos are perfect.

After pulling several new still images into the recent project timeline I was surprised to see very poor resolution on playback. A closer look showed the images are cropped left and right. I pulled in one image from a previous project side by side into the new timeline and it looks perfect. I found the image sizes were different. The current project images with current resolution are 4608px3456p but the sharp image from the prior project are 4608px2592p and it fills the screen perfectly.

So now I think I know why Elements shows cropped images but I don't know how this happened. I tried to resize one image to the optimum 4608px2592p by putting it in Elements editor but that only stretched and distorted the image while the images in original 4608px2592p are perfect. Any idea how this happened and is it possible I can correct these images without distortion?  

[Bill Sprague]

What are the project settings and how did you set them?

[Steve Grisetti]

Bill makes a good point. It doesn't matter how high the resolution is of your original photos. Your Project Settings (found under the Edit menu) determine the resolution of your movie.

In other words, if you drop a 4608x2592 photo into a project that's set up for 720x480 pixels, your slideshow will display your photo reduced to 720x480 px.

[Anchors77]

Thanks guys for the prompt reply. Home from work now so I'll double check settings and respond but I don't recall making a single change in settings from one project to the next or the one after that since I began my recent projects. I'll admit I am still a rank amateur on the video side of elements.

[Anchors77]

I've checked my settings and quite frankly, I've never gone there before. Under general settings the video frame size is set at 1920 horizontal and 1080 vertical.

The issue has got to be the original JPEG image as captured by my camera. I've checked numerous images taken last year with this particular camera (and used in videos) and the horizontal and vertical dimensions are all the same (4608x2592). It seems the same camera is capturing JPEG's taken this year for inclusion in the same video series at 4608px3456p.

I am much more the still photographer than video so FYI the camera is a point & shoot S6800 Nikon I use on the fly while cycling and use it in conjunction with a Sony AZ1 action cam mounted to the bike. I also shoot in RAW format with a DSLR so I know the point & shoot cannot capture in anything other than JPEG. The only thing I can come up with is a formatting issue w/ the card or some other setting but it's clear the larger size gets all screwy when I try to fit in on my Elements timeline.

So unless someone here has a clue I better take this to a Nikon forum or maybe the camera needs an exorcism.

Thanks !

[Bill Sprague]

Your project settings match most screens.  This is confusing me. 

Could you send a couple files to DropBox or equivalent?  I want to see what is happening.

[Steve Grisetti]

How are you judging the the quality of the image? In your first post, it sounds like you're judging it by the "playback" of the timeline. If that's the case, there are a couple of things to consider. Remember that what you're seeing when you play your timeline is only a preview of your final output. It doesn't represent the actual output.

Meantime, have you rendered your timeline before you played it? (To render, press Enter. The yellow-orange line along the top of the timeline will turn green and your playback will look much cleaner.) Also, right-click on your Monitor panel and set the playback quality to High. This should greatly improve the look of your playback. IT HAS NO EFFECT ON YOUR ACTUAL VIDEO OUTPUT -- but it will show you a cleaner, sharper playback.

But the real test is to output your movie (or a portion of it) as a 1920x1080 MP4 and then watch it on a good, quality player like VLC Media Player.

Meantime, I'd recommend not putting those ultra-high resolution photos into Premiere Elements. It accomplishes nothing, since your slideshow will ultimately be higher resolution than your project settings (1920x1080, in our case). In my books I recommend never using a photo larger than 2500x1875 pixels in size in a video project. In fact, as I explain in the book, the closer your photo is to your video resolution, the sharper your slideshow will ultimately look.

Using larger, higher-resolution photos just forces the program to throw out all the extra pixels.

[Anchors77]

Well, I've tried just about everything to correct this resolution issue but nothing works. I've rendered the timeline over and over, resized the images every which way I can think of in Elements Editor, and read up online anything remotely related to the issue.

In a case like this, I dial myself down to Idiot mode and hopefully dial my way back up as I work through the issue like but time I am stuck. For me, the only way to describe what is going on is that 1.) the images taken with this camera at 4608p x 2592p fit the timeline perfectly and show razor sharp resolution at full screen. 2.)  The newer images with image size 4608p x 3456p are fine until I drag them into the timeline, they turn into a mess with blurry and extreme jagged, pixelized edge definition. ( FYI.. there is no inadvertent zoom going on either.. same view).

I appreciate all the help and would be glad to send images via a dropbox, but other than the difference in image dimension, the JPEG's all look great. The problem occurs as soon as I drag them into the Elements video timeline... two otherwise similar JPEGs... one size stays nice and sharp but the larger just turns ugly.

So if there is a fix, either in Elements or out, I am stumped... I am creating a series of cycling videos and the my planned videos from entire 2017 season include a number of still images taken with the camera. At a work stoppage for now..

Thanks guys.

[Steve Grisetti]

Have you output an MP4 using Publish & Share/Computer/AVC with the YouTube HD preset and then looked at the results in VLC Media Player?

Remember:

1) The preview you see when you play the timeline means NOTHING. It is a preview. You can clean up the preview but, as I've said, ultimately it is only a preview and has nothing to do with what your final output will look like.

and

2) Your final output has nothing to do with the resolution of the original photos. Your final output is based on your Project Settings and your Publish & Share preset. You can put a 10 gigapixel photo into your 1920x1080 project and it will look exactly the same as when you add a 2000x1500 pixel photo into your 1920x1080 project because it's the VIDEO PROJECT SETTINGS not the resolution of your original photos that determines the final resolution of your slideshow.

So just to be sure:

Are you understanding the difference between preview and final output?

And are you also understanding that your project settings, not your original media, determines the resolution of your final piece?

[Anchors77]

No I've not done the above... I am a video neophyte here in Premiere Elements so I have no idea what "VLC Media Player" is.

Going to KISS mode (Keep It Simple Stupid). I will put up a test video to Youtube and see how it looks. If it looks crappy as I expect it will, I'll post a link.

[Steve Grisetti]

Okay, but make sure that the video you output is an AVCHD video using the YouTube HD preset.

Also, if you haven't installed VLC  Media Player you should. Windows Media Player is a pretty cruddy substitute.

https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

[Anchors77]

My thanks... please understand my total frustration.... I have four videos posted to Youtube and each one was processed via Premiere Elements. Each one included similar still images along with video clips... same..same..same.

Except for the image size difference I've noted, there is NO variance in format, equipment or anything...except for the fact I am still tuned to my "Idiot" frequency...Stand by...

[Anchors77]

Uploading a sample video now via Youtube with both flawed and several perfect images so we'll see what it looks like.

My thanks.. will check in tomorrow.

[Peru Bob]

Try saving your jpeg images as psd files before  importing into Premiere Elements and see if that helps.

[Bill Sprague]

Anchors77  wrote

Uploading a sample video now via Youtube with both flawed and several perfect images so we'll see what it looks like.

My thanks.. will check in tomorrow.

What is your YouTube name?  I would like to see what you've done!

Bill

[Anchors77]

Bill:

I am just now compiling some still images to post as a test. I realized that I have a number of very similar stills from 2016 that were not candidates for any video but are the perfect examples for a good A-B comparison illustrating this resolution problem... I just needed to dig up the right SD cards from last year... compiling them now in Elements Premiere.

TOPChief 77 is my YouTube name. I have several videos posted already that are in the same vein as the current one I am having the issue with. they consist of a combination of action cam video from a Sony AZ1, along with stills and video from the Nikon S6800. The videos available now were all shot in 2016 and look great. I must have changed some setting in the S6800 camera to have caused this.

Thanks.

[Bill Sprague]

Anchors,

Thanks for the link to you YouTubes. 

I did an all stills "slideshow" video you can watch here:  Glenmorange Scotland 2017 on Vimeo

I had no trouble with image resolution so I know that Premiere Elements is up to the task.   But, from you description of the problem I can't figure out why you are having trouble.

Can you put a couple of your image files on DropBox.  Maybe I can figure something out.

Bill

[Anchors77]

Bill:

Thanks... Dropbox later tomorrow... heading out for now... Elements froze on me,  Endless loop of "save" requests so the only way out was "cancel" therefore nothing saved for YouTube uplpoad.

[Steve Grisetti]

Did you resize your photos to no larger than 2500x1800 pixels in size, as I recommended several posts ago?

As I've said, larger photos require the program to down-sample pixels, a process that is very intensive and does not give you a better quality slideshow. In fact, most often the process merely gobbles memory and often causes the program to choke or crash.

[Anchors77]

Ok gents... I may have solved the mystery.  Did I resize as you recommended in your earlier post? Yes and no... I tried it in Elements Editor but I was apparently doing something wrong. So I took another crack this morning and the file size reduces without changing the image aspect.

I'll see how it looks now in Premeire Elements and let you know. Thanks for all the help!

[Anchors77]

FYI... the file sizes went down from 7.51mb to 1.32mb in one image that I wish to use... the others I resized have a similar file size reduction.

[Steve Grisetti]

It's not about file size. It's about the number of pixels the program has to process.

[Anchors77]

I think I did it right... file size reduced as above and the images are resized correctly to 2500p x 1800p max.

[Anchors77 · Accepted solution]

Looks like all is well...

I installed the VLC player and it's a really nice tool... Never heard of it before.

I converted a Elements project from prel to mp4 and viewed it with VLC. The still images look fine so I feel comfortable proceeding with the next projects.

The only really minor issue remaining is the resized images are still cropped left and right even when in full screen mode. Not a big deal and I guess I just have to get the aspect ratio tweaked

My thanks to all... Dialing back up out of "Idiot " mode but certainly not to your level!

Bill:  Your Glenmorangie video looks fantastic.. What equipment and software did you use?

[Bill Sprague]

Anchors77  wrote

Bill:  Your Glenmorangie video looks fantastic.. What equipment and software did you use?

You are making me laugh! 

My current camera of choice is a mirrorless, micro 4/3rds from Panasonic called a GX8.  The tour guide said photos were not allowed.  Mirrorless cameras can be silent.  As a confirmed Scotch drinker I chose to not allow the rule.  The visit was too special.  I held the camera behind my back, upside down and in a comfortable position where a finger could rest on the shutter button.  The idea was to convey that I was NOT taking pictures.  The camera was in the very "intelligent automatic" and RAW mode.  

I ran the photos through Lightroom and made them rightside up.  Premiere Elements could do that too.  Contrary to Steve's usual advice I exported full sized images to Premiere Elements.  In a half dozen years of using Premiere Elements, I've not had an issue with resizing or using RAW files.

In other words, I used a camera on full automatic and processed the images in Premiere Elements with a little, but not necessary, help from Lightroom.

Sipping the Scotch was the best part!

Bill