Question about image clarity in editing???

I recently got CS5 installed on my computer. I've noticed during editing in CS5 the image is very pixelated and "dirty". If I trust the image, save it and open it in my "my picture" desktop folder to view it looks clear and crisp?! What's wrong? Its frustrating editing in this condition because its hard to "see" the real image.

are you zoomed in on the picture a whole bunch?

Perhaps youre looking at the image at odd zoom sizes. Use 12.5 percent, 25, 50 and 100.

Nope, this is even when I "fit to screen", you can see squares in the image. Could it be my moniter or the video card or something? I don't get why it looks good on my smugmug but it looks like crap in the editing phase.

Color management problems maybe. Real new at this but kinda sounds like you might be working in the wrong color space. Or your display needs calibrated. Just a stab in the dark here. Looked at your photos on your links and everything looks good here

Does it take a long time to work with one image? Take a look at your memory settings under "Edit/Preferences/perf​ormance". Try increasing your RAM setting to see if that has an effect. Can you post a screen image to show the "squares" your talking about?

In earlier versions of Photoshop (I'm assuming that's what "CS5" means), it was best to view the image at either 25%, 50%, or 100%. With CS5, it shouldn't matter what zoom level you use, but I would STILL use either "Print Size" or "Actual Pixels" (100%).

Make sure you have your monitor screen resolution set correctly in Photoshop Preferences,

What Chas said except that CS5 does scale properly if you have a video card that supports OpenGL and it is turned on. It's somewhere in the Preferences in CS5. CS3 and older didn't have that feature and it was best to view at muliples of 2 (200,100,50,25,12.5...​.etc.)

I went under Preferences and changed my memory usage up to 1194MB and then I went to Units and rulers, is this where I change the resolution. Right now its set at 300 pixels/in print resolution and 72 pixels/in screen resolution. Any ideas?

To get accuracy you change the screen resolution to be what it actually is. If you measure the physical dimensions of your display (inches wide or tall) then you can look up your screen resolution (wxl) in your display properties. Take one of those dimensions in pixels and divide it by the appropriate physical dimensions in inches and you will have a pixels/inch figure that you can enter into the appropriate box there in Photoshop.

The print resolution figure is not relevant at this point. You can set a desired print size in inches in your Image Size dialog when you are preparing for a print and the ppi will be calculated accordingly. Then, in viewing mode, when you choose to view in Print Size the image view will be rendered according to your iage size specs.

Why don't you post a screen shot, I think that's going to much more helpful then trial and error at this point

PeyDay17 wrote in post #12220857
I went under Preferences and changed my memory usage up to 1194MB and then I went to Units and rulers, is this where I change the resolution. Right now its set at 300 pixels/in print resolution and 72 pixels/in screen resolution. Any ideas?

I doubt very much that your screen resolution is 72 ppi. My screen rez for a 22" monitor is 91. Check your monitor specs.

For curiosity's sake, what are your pc's specifications?
Also I might add if your new to Photoshop you may want to try out Lynda.com or KelbyTraining.com for some excellent and indepth tutorials on how to set up CS5 for optimal performance.
Chris Orwig at Lynda.com and Matt K. at KelbyTraining are excellent instructors on how to get the most from CS5.

PeyDay17 wrote in post #12217525
open it in my "my picture" desktop folder to view it looks clear and crisp?!

Using what application?
Screenshot of both versions side by side?