Question regarding digital image quality

[Former_Member]

Hello..I'm new again since the new forums.

I have a question if anyone knows regarding digital images. I have my digital images saved to an external hard drive. Over time...the image quality diminishes, and I have to re-edit my photos. I have no idea why...some of the images become very pixelated....and there is a loss in image size. I do nothing...just store them.

Anyone have any idea what is going on?

[Former_Member]

I have no clue why that happens. it has happened to me a few times so is someone has an answer please do share

[Former_Member]

Thanks for chiming in. I did a google search and checked some tech websites but can't find an answer. It is not all of the images only about 1/4 of them. With 2 digital shops though...probably 1,000 images so far...very frustrating.

[ClaudiaLord]

I've never had that happen. Is the photo somehow being enlarged each time its opened/saved?

[Former_Member]

Hi..Thanks. No. I edit and clean up the photos with photoshop or other programs, color them or whatever, then use a program to re-size the image and watermark then save. I just started having the problem and wonder if it is the computer. I simply cannot figure it out, but it means that instead of just sending my orders, I have to check each photo first. No problem unless I have a busy day with lots of orders. :(

[rpfeikgraphics]

If you're saving in .jpg format, there's a setting for "compression" or "image quality". Set for high image quality or low compression if you are seeing those weird square-ish thingies.

[Former_Member]

Wow thank you rpfeikgraphics! I will try that :D

[Former_Member]

I know this happens with .jpgs. All work with the original image and avoid resaving exported images.

[DancingGirlArt]

MissKym, I save all my work as high res. PSDs after editing so I have a 'good' copy to print from. I know your talking digital downloads so obviously you need jpegs but it's still quite useful to have a master file which you can quickly convert to jpeg if need be (if you don't already have that).

[Former_Member]

Thank you. I always save 2 copies of the original files so that I can be sure to have them. I save them as PNG files right now. I am still learning so much and am self taught so I still have a ways to go. Thank you all so much for the help.

[panchromatica]

Repeated saving of jpg files will cause degradation of image quality even at high quality settings because jpg compression 'throws away' a bit of the image each time in order to reduce the file size. Save everything in psd or other lossless format and only make a jpg file when you need it.

I usually have my original image plus several sizes of jpg. I tend to add 500 or 800 to the file name to tell me the size in pixels.

[Former_Member]

MissKym,

Do you use the same external for all your items? If you're not touching them and the data degrades I was wondering whether it might be a hardware problem.

Also strange that it's only a certain number of them, maybe a bad sector. But the whole situation is a bit mad.

Unrelated to your question, but do you make multiple backups of your files? I just get paranoid when a harddrive behaves in a funny way.