Friday, April 11, 2014

No More Grey Whites in Blogger! :)



My first orange (saved as a png file)


Once upon a time a girl who lived in the Land Downunder planted an orange tree. One day her orange tree finally bore its very first orange! No no no no......Wait, what! Let's try again.

Once upon a time a girl who lived in the Land Downunder was happily blogging using Blogger. Her photos were never perfect but she enjoyed sharing them and keeping a record of her days. Then late 2013 something changed. Some of her images became weird and even ugly when they were uploaded to Blogger - like the one below! Exact same image - two very different looks.


Exact same image, saved as a jpg file, which still looked like to top image until uploaded and auto enhanced by Blogger


Oh no!!! What had happened? Google had changed Blogger so that it would auto enhance all images as they were uploaded. No matter how hard she tried to re-edit her photos or work around the problem, nothing could overcome the awful auto enhance and some images were affected more than others.  The only remedy she could find to fix this terrible state of affairs was to join Google + which then allows access to switch off the auto enhance option. Stubbornly refusing to join Google+ she even contemplated moving her blog to Wordpress or stopping blogging altogether - and she was not alone.


png file which loads as is to Blogger, bypassing their auto enhance 


Identical image (as a jpg) when upload to Blogger 


Yum became yuk. Some favourite photos were never shared.....and there was a sadness.


png


This jpg image has less white/contrast and doesn't show so great a difference in Blogger


png


Identical image as a jpg after uploading to Blogger


Then one sunny day in April - that would be today - she/I followed a fresh trail and found the key which she/I had almost given up hoping for. Did you see that one line UPDATE near the top of Lo Sauer's post?


"Update: After a quick test it shows that apparently Google does not enhance png's with an alpha transparency."

Not understanding all things technical I began looking into this idea to find it held the answer. I can export directly from iPhoto as a png, or I can save my jpg images as a png in PicMonkey which I use for final editing and watermarking. In PicMonkey there's a dropbox for choosing jpg or png right beside your image file name in the save window. Easy! The png images are very large so I resize them once saved as a png before uploading to Blogger.

 *The auto enhance only effects some images, particularly those with a lot of white or great light/dark contrast.  Jpg format still works perfectly fine for most images.

Such an easy answer - at last. Oh, by the way, the orange was sweet and juicy, even though not picture perfect - I loved it just the way it was! (As I like my photos - just the way they are!)



Sharing at Weekly Top Shot.

39 comments:

Sylvia K said...

And well you should! I think we've all experienced some of this! I always love your pictures as I always enjoy hearing about your lovely family!! Thank you, Karen, for sharing it all with us!! I love it! Have a lovely weekend!

Linda said...

Great examples! You can turn it off in Google Plus. I wrote about this in February: http://webcroft.blogspot.com/2014/02/blog-post-4250.html

Erin said...

Karen
just some extra info for your readers. If you can't upload png files (I couldn't for months) A quick google will explain why, if you have chrome setting that is the reason, you need to change your settings. Googling will give you the step by step details

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

Thanks Erin!

:)

Linda I didn't want to join Google Plus, so thought I would have to live with the auto enhance - until today!

amanda said...

A story with a bright happy ending!
I'm going to have to take a closer look at my own images.. I always tend to blame it on different computer screens, but maybe (likely) my images are being changed, too.
I've used png files when making transparent backgrounds - because jpg files show up as not white against a white background. Hmmm... it makes sense now that that was happening not just on solid white graphics and white collages but on my photos too.
I think there's a citrus superhero in your story - coming to the rescue of many of us in Blogland. :) Thanks, Karen!
Congrats on the orange, too - very exciting to watch something we plant ourselves come to bear fruit.
(By the way - I don't understand G+ at all.)

Unknown said...

Looks great so glad you figured it out.

Hugs~

Anonymous said...

With .png files, just keep in mind that the file size is much much larger and a picture heavy post will make the page load slower. I'm not sure of all the technicalities but a .png file is higher quality and produces less compression in the image, which creates the larger file size. They do make a huge difference though :)

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

That’s why I then have to resize the png right back down afterwards (to around 500kb or less). May compromise quality a little but still worth it. I love my whites being white!

Jeanne said...

This is a very interesting post and has some very helpful information in it... will do some checking in to this on m own account too. Thanks!

Susan said...

Glad you found a solution! Your orange looks far more delicious using the .png file! Happy blogging!

Unknown said...

Hej Karen
Wav! Great photos! Wonderful shape
and colours. So DELIKAT!

Hugs
JetteMajken

s.c said...

What a great post here and I still have to thank you for answering a question I asked earlier in my blog about adoption of the pictures by blogger. With google + alone it didn't work out but I shall try this one. Great that you have your own oranges. I hope they are very sweet to taste but I have no doubt they will. Wish you a great weekend.

Seeing Each Day said...

I'm sorry for the frustration you went through. I like both the story and the ending. All your photos as far as I'm concerned, regardless of the filter are completely fine from this end.

Dorothy said...

Wow, the things you learn on blogs! Thanks for sharing your expertise and new found tricks, Karen.
And for sharing that orange pic.

We lost our orange tree last year in a pool installation. Can't wait to replant and replenish the lost edible garden.

Have a great weekend. :)

geanina said...

beautiful images! :)

Lisa Gordon said...

Not nice, Google!!!!!!
Glad you were able to find a way around this, Karen.
These photographs are wonderful.
You have a wonderful weekend!

The Editrix said...

Yay! An exciting discovery.

Karen Lakis said...

I heard about the auto enhance, and need to look closer at ny photos. I love the way you told and illustrated this lesson!

Kim said...

So happy you found the solution...I for one would have missed your lovely posts and photos of your life!!

Fun60 said...

Blogging seemed fairly simple when I first started but as always technology moves faster than Usain Bolt and I am left at the start. There will come a point that I will probably have to give up as I struggle with all their so called improvements and updates.

Fun60 said...

Blogging seemed fairly simple when I first started but as always technology moves faster than Usain Bolt and I am left at the start. There will come a point that I will probably have to give up as I struggle with all their so called improvements and updates.

thefisherlady said...

One day I might be so computer smart...
I know how to press "enter"
Yay

Tessa~ Here there be musing said...

Wow!!!! Something all new to me!

Me, who dislikes all the Photoshopping which goes on regularly in Pretty Blog Land. -Harrrumph- Yes, I am so olden and grumpy that I prefer photos to not be "enhanced"... Other than the wee bit I can do, on only my photo ap, iPhoto.

And now, even MY photos may be manipulated somehow, by Blogger! Yish.

Also, no Google+ for me either.

Must look into all of this. Thank you for the alert.

Tessa~

tinajo said...

Oh yikes - huge difference! I´m glad you found a soultion, things like that are such a bummer!

http://tinajoathome.com/

Joy said...

I have to look at my pictures too. Thanks for the tips

Anonymous said...

Whoa those are awesome macro shots. I am learning to take decent photos and your blog is so helpful!

Dave said...

Well done Karen. You are very clever - Dave

Lucy | Charm About You said...

Interesting! All my photos are a bit rubbish but I shall explore this png thing! I'm avoiding Google + like the plague but they're making it harder!

Anonymous said...

Glad you found a work around... odd isn't it that they would grey out your whites? Thank you for coming by sharing your creative photography on the Weekly Top Shot, #130!

Tricia said...

I've been feeling extremely unhappy about the auto enhancement feature as well…so much so that I have seriously considered starting over somewhere else. Like you, I don't want to be part of Google+. I haven't tried the png route since I've been worrying about how long the would take to load, but I might have to give it a try. I can't get over the difference in the brightness of your photos!

Dzjiedzjee said...

Due to a lot of 'hustle and bustle' I haven't been on your blog for a long time. Sorry for that Karen! Finally I found some time now and I've watched your posts and I read it with a lot of pleasure. :-)

I also uploaded a png file to my latest post. In my opinion my jpg looks better then the png... I always upload my pictures to Picase. And then I import them from Picasa to my blog post. I am curious about what you think of the comparison in my last post.

Hope you'll have a great week
http://dzjiedzjee.blogspot.com

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

Hello Gert, good to hear from you again. Your files look almost identical although as you say the jpg may be slightly better, more clarity perhaps. The auto enhance has only been a problem in some images, particularly those with lots of white or with a white/light and dark/shadow contrast. For the majority of images it seems to make no difference.

With my quilting and sewing images I often use a white background or have lots of white in the fabrics. It was photos like these which really showed a problem.

Thanks again for stopping by,
Karen

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your first orange and for learning how to present it in all its perfection.

Mama Bear said...

HI Karen, Hooray!! I MUST MUST figure out how you did this!! I am longing for white WHITE in my photos. I didn't understand the technicalities, but will TRY!!! Photos are SO MUCH BETTER! Also, thanks for your lovely comments on a few of my posts. I knew you would understand all that I am going through with my birds starting to fly the coop!!! Much love,

Anna XXXXXX

EricaSta said...

Dear Karen,
I wonder too my blogging pictures. ... but I think - that's a technical thing also of the Browsers. And yes png-format can do here something, especially for a transparence coloured shade ... Background.
Wonderful your explaining with the orange ... Loved it!

Greetings by Heidrun

Liz said...

I'm glad you found a solution as I know you've been having problems with this for a while.
I, personally, haven't had any issues like that. I wonder if it is due to shooting RAW images (originally 20+MB) which when converted to JPEG images are still a very high resolution (about 10-12MB)??

Ockduspock said...

Thank you for this. I am going to check my settings. Blogger's messed up a few of my photos and I really couldn't work out why!

Jesse said...

Thank you! I couldn't put my finger on what was wrong with my photos, but I knew there was something off.

Mama Bear said...

HI Karen, I am very interested in getting better whites and blacks in my photos. I have selected the png file in picmonkey. What do I change the dimensions to??
I have no idea. Any help is appreciated. Perhaps an email?? (address in my blog)
Anna

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