JPEG compression

I am getting too much noise in my pic that I post. They are more noisy after I process them, especially around the logo and the darker areas. I shoot fast, mostly at 1.4 to 2.0 and I have been having issues with my images coming out crisp. I don't know if it is my lenses (28mm 1.8, 50mm 1.4, 135L 2.0) or how I process them. Here is a good example. If you could suggest possible solutions, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

I see A TON of JPG compression artifacts. But no noise in that small web-sized shot.

It's not 'crisp' because it has been compressed down to 46kb, but there is nothing wrong with it.

JPG compression

The compression is most obvious around your logo. That's not 'noise'.

As mentioned, your issue is not "noise"
Noise is a thing that occurs in your camera.

Your jpeg file compression is what is making those awful halo artifacts.

What application are you using to make such highly compressed jpegs?
I am sure there is an adjustment that will make larger files that show much less artifacts.

JPEG compression

For a while now I have been unsatisfied with the clarity of my images. I thought it might be noise in my shots but apparently it turns out to be jpeg compression according to everyone who checked out my other post. Here is an image that is a classic example of the problem I am facing. Notice the logo and the halo effect, as well the compression around her head. I edit all my shots in Lightroom and then drag them over to PS for a creative touch and to add the logo. Any ideas on how to fix the problem?

Save them as a higher quality Jpeg...

What kind of file does LR give to PS? TIFF, PSD, Jpeg...if one of the first two, 8-bit or 16-bit? Do the artifacts appear on your computer or only after you upload them online?

I see your sample picture is 800x533 and only 45kb. I exported a random picture from Lightroom 2 using a JPG quality of 80 (out of 100) and the same resolution and the result was 188kb. Your picture is WAY overcompressed.

I applied some Unsharp Mask via Paint Shop Pro X2, and the shot improved very noticeably. If you change your profile to permit Image Editing, I can post what i did.

Image compression affects similarity of tone like within the blue wall or even the tonal detail of the dress, not apparent blur of edges.

Merged your two threads, and moved them here, since it obviously is a post processing issue.
As said: Way too much jpg compression.

This might help you:
http://regex.info …room-goodies/jpeg-quality

Problem solved!

I found out that the problem was not with compression in Lightroom or PS, it was when I was uploading images to Photobucket. I wasn't resizing them correctly (I though I was, but no dice) before the upload. Well, Photobucket was resizing them AGAIN so that's where my problem was... Here's a new version of the same shot at 800x533

Looks much better!

Photobucket kind of sucks, because even you don't have them resize your images on upload, they will still batch compress them later. My photos I upload are about 500kb and within 24 hours somehow end up about 120kb, every time.

That looks much better. Something else you might consider is that there's no reason to sharpen that OOF background because, if you do have any noise in the image, you'll just be sharpening it too.
A few words on SHARPENING:

Well, no, it doesn't IF you set the parameters right. From their support:

I always click on the image to get the 100% size that I've uploaded, & then use that URL for display, & in 5 years I haven't seen your problem.
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