Should have stated it clearer; When I said file browser I meant the file browser in Photoshop Elements. Either click File / Browse from the menu or use the browser icon in the row below the menu items.
Thanks for your answer. Unfortunately, all I can find in the lower left panel is file stuff like resolution and the date the file was downloaded. If I look at the files as loaded through the Nikon viewer I get info about when and how it was shot. Since I’m new to this, I want that information to help me get better at taking pictures. Is there a setting somewhere that will turn that on?
I’m using a Nikon 4300. Right now my frustration level with trying to get a decent print out of Photoshop Elements is great enough that I’m about ready to bag it. If I print out more than one picture on a page, or if I run the download through Nikon instead of Adobe, or if the moon is full the pictures come out fuzzy and terrible looking. The same pictures look awesome if I avoid Adobe and just use the software that came with the camera, but that doesn’t have the editing capabilities of Elements.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding, but it sounds like you’re downloading images from the camera into the Nikon software, saving, then opening them in Elements. That could cause a little degradation, but it shouldn’t be significant. Every time you save a jpg file, you lose a little fidelity. And it’s additive; the more saves, the more you lose.
If you haven’t done so, you might try transferring images from the camera directly to your hard drive. Then open them in Elements.
As to losing the EXIF information: Try going to the File Menu, File Info, then change the drop-down menu at the top from "general" to "EXIF". That should show everything.
Thanks for your help. Unfortunately, those are all things I’ve already tried. I’m not doing 2 saves, and I’m not saving in jpg format, I am using the Adobe psd format, and I still get these blurry photos. Also, when I go into File Info, the EXIF is still just info about when I downloaded the file. In the Nikon editor I can see all the info about how the picture was shot – the lighting settings, lens used, focal length, etc.
It seems like maybe Elements just plain doesn’t work well with my camera, or I have some setting wrong in Elements that is screwing up the pictures.
What are the pixel dimensions of the picture right out of the cam and what are the pixel dimensions of the picture once you have it in Elements?
Mac
2272 x 1704 in both places, being printed to a 4 x 5 image.
Ok, was just a quickie check to make sure that some sort of upsampling wasn’t going on. I let others take it from here.
Mac
Amy,
You should be getting great prints from your pictures with Elements.
The most common cause of lousy fuzzy prints is trying to print with too low a resolution. If you are using the photo package option to print multiple images per sheet, the default resolution is only 72 dpi which is far too low. Set it to something in the range of 200 to 300 (I prefer 300). If you are using the print option, check your resolution in the image->resize->image resize menu option. That should be in the same range — if it isn’t, uncheck the resample image box and then change the resolution to a more reasonable value.
While you are in the image resize option: Check the pixel dimensions of the image. You aren’t going to get a great print if you’re trying to print a 640×480 image as an 8×10. With the resolution set in the 200 to 300 range, check the height and width sizes listed. If you are trying to print much larger than that you will have fuzzy soft images also.
Your picture file should have the EXIF information in it. To check, open the image file in Elements and then, under the File menu item, select the File Info option. A dialog box with appear with a dropdown selection box with "general" pre-selected at the top. Click on the selection box and select "Exif". The information recorded by the camera should be listed. If it isn’t there, it is missing from the image file.
Nikon records the Exif information in the image file, so, if it isn’t there something has removed it. Possibly the Nikon View software removed it when it passed it to Elements. I don’t use Nikon View so I don’t know what it does when it prepares to pass an image to another application. Since you are getting different results depending on whether you open in Elements vs getting the image from Nikon View, check the exif info and pixel dimensions in the files that are saved on your hard disk to see what’s happening. If possible, you should open the image file (or better yet an exact copy) directly by Elements. That way you’ll know you have the complete file and not a stripped down or altered one.
I get great prints from my Nikon images using Elements and you should too. Good luck.
Bob
Edit: I see a number of posts happened while I was composing this one. I see you’re already doing some of the suggestions. Can you bypass Nikon view and open one of the photos directly downloaded from the camera. The exif information should be there.
Thanks very much for your thorough reply. I’ll give it another shot in the next day or so and see how it works out.
If you have Windows XP you can view the EXIF data directly, from outside Elements or the camera software. That might be a way to see if it’s there before anything else is done. Just right-click the image file icon, choose properties, summary, then click the advanced button.
