Does Flickr sharpen uploaded pictures?

Earlier on today I uploaded a vertical version of a picture of Thirlmere taken from Raven Crag.

The picture on Flickr... https://www.flickr.com/photos/andymat/15412582368/


I have processed both this one and a similar landscape one in my profile on here with Lightroom 5. There will have been a certain amount of sharpening applied but I do not like too much and I try not to get distinct light banding around dark edges as I think it looks un-natural and is too much.

I have just looked again at the one on Flickr and notice it shows the over-sharpening banding around the dark edges of the hills against the sky on the left that I was trying to avoid.

Here is my file that I uploaded to Flickr...




Is it just me or does flickr add extra sharpening to photos when you upload them? I didn't notice any controls but then I wasn't expecting to see any.

It's not just you and Flickr is indeed sharpening.

Annoyingly, it will sharpen the images more or less depending on the size you upload, and the size it is viewed at through their site. My best guess is that this is to give the "best" image possible on a wide set of platforms (Facebook, iPhone, Android, Mac, PC, different browsers etc.)

it looks as though they do to the smaller sizes than the original, there has been a lot of complaints about it and flickr are doing nothing, the least you can do is cut the sharpening back to the absolute minimum or as some have done it seems do not sharpen what you upload to flickr.

It certainly does although I believe there is an optimum size to upload. I get this problem with my bird shots a fair bit and if I don't like it I use their editing software and readjust. There online editing software is excellent by the way (for use at this stage).

Try scaling the image yourself to one of the Flickr standard sizes (678 x 1024 in this case), if you must upload postage stamp sized images

I tend to upload full size images to Flickr and I haven't noticed any additional sharpening?

Regards
David

Exactly.

just go and look at the complaints and it is not people who only upload small files. it appears to be done on smaller sizes that are exported from there for viewing elsewhere.

it's resizing algorithm is broken


If you look at the original size you uploaded it's fine

https://www.flickr.com/photos/andymat/15412582368/sizes/o/


but then look at a resized smaller version for example .....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/andymat/15412582368/sizes/c/


it's awful

I know nothing about the physics but I'm always amazed at how good my shots look on Flickr compared to PU Gallery or Ephotozine where the images are tiny. Perhaps this explains it.

Thank you all for your information - I have learnt a lot from this.

Thanks Smeggy for the links - it took me ages to work out where they had put the links on Flickr for the different sizes (under the download icon on the right).

Looking at David Storm's Flickr, it does seem to be better uploading a larger file, although up until now I have seen little point in uploading something that seen at full size will show you a very small detail somewhere in the middle of the picture. But perhaps this is a reason to do exactly that.

Or perhaps it varies depending on the photo and the detail within it.


How/where do I find their editing software Mr. Weather?

Ok, I have uploaded the original size version as a comparison to Flickr and it has indeed removed the problem.

I think that the problem is that when I export from Lightroom, it adds a certain amount of sharpening for viewing on a screen (although I can change that). If it is exported smaller, a relatively larger proportion of the information is changed along edges as there are proportionally fewer pixels. So when Flickr comes to automatically resize the file, and add more sharpening, it shows up much more in a smaller uploaded file.

Interesting.

Exactly how I've felt for quite a while

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When you open your picture to its full size there are three icons towards the bottom right. The first one is a square with a pencil in it. If you click on that and choose enhance it goes straight to the editing software.
Dave

The flickr interface has gone downhill IMO you used to be able select view sizes easily without it being hidden in submenus, and I believe it stayed on the chosen size for viewing subsequent images. Now you have to select original size for each pic. PITA.

I always select largest( original) size and let the browser resize it. does a much better job