Thanks for taking the time to give us your workflow.

The first thing that I see is that you are starting with an image that is small to begin with, shot with a less than ideal lens and that is already compressed, i.e. JPG.

You're working on the image in PS, and then doing a Save, that is compressing the image data some more. I do not know about MySpace, but assume that they possibly compress it some more.

Given the starting image, there probably is not a great deal, that you can do to improve the image that much. I doubt that your cellphone can handle images in any other format, but a compressed JPG. You might want to look at the manual, and choose TIFF, if at all possible. Note: images will be much larger, so many fewer will fit on the cellphone's memory chip/card. Save_As PSD after you have done your editing, and then from that, prepare for the upload. Check the MySpace requirements for exact size requirements and use Save_For_Web, setting those exact specs. This last step will help insure that an additional JPG compression will not take place. You might also explore doing one of two things, prior to this last Save - play with Sharpen (starting with SmartSharpen, Filters>Sharpen>SmartSharpen, and make sure you are looking at the image at 100% magnification. Judge your efforts at that magnification. Be critical. If nothing makes it look better here, try the other route, Blur. Go back to the unsharpened image and choose Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Start about 0.5 on the scale and see if the "choppiness" dissapates some. Unfortunately, your eyes will be the best test.

Now, what you have to remember is that the Thumbnail image is tiny. It will appear much sharper, than an enlarged original. Experiment: reduce the original to the size of the Thumbnail and judge it at that reduction. Also, the Thumbnail might have been generated early on and not replaced, when you did your Save processes. Even if the Thumbnail is current, the size will make it appear much better, but it's just too small for you to use, right?

Best solution would be to borrow a camera, not a cellphone, or a video camera, that does stills too. Reshoot with that, and set its size and quality to the highest possible. Work with those images, and follow the steps above. You want to have a big image to begin with, with as little, or no, compression, as possible. Compression throws away data from the image. It cannot be recovered later. Each compression step reduces the data by some degree.

You can also let Photoshop create pixels for you to work with. In Image>Image Size, check Resample Image and twirl the drop-down to Bicubic Smoother. Using small increments, divisible by 4, increase your Image Size. Same settings and that "divisible by 4," do it again, and again. Remember, Photoshop is "creating" pixels, so you need to monitor the results closely and then be prepared to use a slightly different artistic approach, than what you'd planned. It will not create an image that is equal to using a real camera to begin with, but if you're flexible in your design, you might end up with "art."

Or you can change the concept a bit and design in a bit more of a "distressed" look to the photographs.

An analogy of what you are doing is, having a friend take an image from a magazine, one that will have been "screened" to print with. Have them FAX it to you. You take the FAX, and put it into a copier, only to take that copy and run IT back through the copier. Now, take your copy of a copy of a FAX of a screened photograph, and compare it to the original photograph that was used to print in the magazine in the first place.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Other than streamline your workflow and maybe "improve" the image a little (the two directions of Filtering I mentioned, Sharpen or Blur), just before you send it off, you're pretty much stuck with what you've ended up with.

Hunt

Jones

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After saving, pics are blurry and not the quality they originally are