I need help understanding

[mrsmas]

I'm hoping that you guys can help me understand "interpolation". I have uploaded the following picture as an aid to this end:

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1KAMQeIq36qgONSgf8GLyGWt8UPtJ

I hope that alternating the size doesn't eliminate it as an example.

I was told that this picture was rejected because "Distorted pixels, image was interpolated, poorly scanned, upsampled or JPG was not saved at the highest quality."

The picture was taken on my Kodak EasyShare CX7530 and I did not enlarge the picture, but uploaded it the size it came from the camera as 1920x2560. I have found a place where I can effect the interpolation in the Elements software, (although I did nothing with that in this particular picture as I didn't have Elements at that time)

What am I supposed to be seeing that tells me the interpolation is off? Is it a limit of my camera? My husband wants me to buy an SLR and he insists that it will make an incredible difference in my pictures. I'm thinking that I have a LOT more to learn before I should invest in a camera that is more expensive and complicated. Is he right that I am bumping up against the limitatioins of my equipment? How would you correct for this problem with the elements program? I'm trying to develop an eye wherein I can critique the photos I take. I have been told more than a few times that my pictures are "overfiltered".

I would really love some help in learning what to look for! Can I benefit from your experience? Thanks for any guidance that you can afford me!

[jwhitten]

Hi,

I'm not sure if I can solve your problem for you, but I am curious as to who rejected the photo. It looks like a nice photo to me.

I will share this thought with you. You cannot take a better picture with an SLR than you can another camera. The fact that you can change lenses does not mean that the camera will automatically take better pictures. If you really are serious about photography though, you will enjoy having an SLR because you will be able to use a wider range of focal lengths and lenses with faster speeds.

I used a Koday DX6490 for a while and took some very nice photos with it, but after using a Nikon FE2 for many years, was not happy with it, so I bought a Nikon D70. I love it. :)

Interpolation is trying to adjust an image by sampling from areas within the image and making adjustments to repair problems. You shold not need to use that method often though.

Don't allow yourself to be held back worrying about someone rejecting a photo. I think that photo is nice. Keep your eye open for the next opportunity. If you can afford a good SLR, get one. :D

Maybe not much help, just wanted to share my thoughts with you.

Joe

[mrsmas]

Thanks for your response. The photo was rejected by Dreamstime.com. They have rejected a few of mine for the same reason.

I've been really pleased with this EasyShare camera. We had originally bought a Sony Mavica which cost a lot more but was so sensitive that without a tripod, everything I shoot comes out blurry. (and I do mean EVERYTHING) That took the spontaneous out of my photography by carrying around the tripod and setting up every shot so I just didn't enjoy it as well.

I guess that is one of the reasons I fear getting a more expensive camera that I can't really try out first. I'm spending some time reading consumer reports, etc. I definitely need a camera that helps compensate for the slight unsteadiness in my hands.

I have had a couple people mention the Nikon D70 to me, and there was a guy at the park on Saturday using the next step us from that. We were both trying to shoot some bison, which of course, my zoom lens wasn't being real cooperative with. That guy had a killer zoom as well, and his picture looked really nice. He recommended the D70 too.

I have only submitted the best of what I have taken and I scrutinize them first, but I'm just not seeing what they are talking about. Someone else had said that the interpolation comes from enlarging, but I have never enlarged any of these shots. When I remove the digital noise it sometimes blurs a bit and I thought maybe that was doing it, so I went out and bought noise ninja. I saw some difference but not that much.

When you remove your digital noise manually, what settings do you typically use?

[jwhitten]

Hi again,

Judging from you response I think that the noise reduction you are doing may be causing the rejections. Noise reduction would be very likely to leave obvious hints of manipulation in a photo. Honestly, I have never used noise reduction on any of the photos I have taken with my D70. I always shoot in day light or with the SB600 flash and I usually keep the ISO set at 200, so noise just never seems to be a problem.

Depending on where you live, you may be able to rent a camera for a day or two to see if you like it. Many people on this forum are fond of the Canon Rebel and Nikon also has a new mode D50 which is slightly less expensive than the D70. I can almost gaurantee you that you will love the D70 :D You can adjust the ISO to help keep the shutter speed high, but higher ISO settings result in more noise.

You might consider creating a gallery here at Adobe and let people here give you feedback. There are a lot of very creative people on this forum.

jwhitten's gallery (http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/gallery/viewgallery.php?user=193)

Joe

[GaryK]

No expert here, but I am wondering if possibly the file size is not big enough (not enough pixels). If you didn't make any changes to the photo as it came out of your camera, then I don't see any other reason for rejecting it. You might want to try to send one in with no noise removal and see what they say.
I always thought interpolation was a form of, or another word for, upsampling?? Maybe not technically the exact same thing but along the same lines.

[Wendy]

Hi there ...

I think that Gary may well be right on this one ... usually these firms are looking for quite high resolution images ...

Wendy

[GaryK]

Wendy

Whattaya mean THIS one??? :lol: :lol:
I'm sure I was right about something else ONE other time :lol: :lol:

[willpresley]

My thoughts on INTERPOLATION -- it is used when you capture a frame from a video -- it is then used to fill out the picture so you have something other than a blurred result.

8)

[Wendy]

Gary ...

You are always right :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


Wendy

[mrsmas]

The pictures, as they come out of my camera, are 2560x1920. The ones that I upload to our server are only 800x600 and the powerpoint slides that I upload to our church site are 1078x764. Taking them down a notch for uploading is probably making them look a little bit better.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback on my photos. I've only been doing the photography side of this since September, so I have plenty to learn! I have been putting most of my work up on our server at: www.pourhouse.com/galleries
If you select the rejected photos albumn, I show you the picture and give you the explanation of why the pic was rejected. I have included a few that they did accept, in order to give you a balanced idea of what they might be wanting. I'm trying to study the photographs so that I understand where my mistakes are. To hopefully help you and thus myself even more, the Johnson's Park albumn has had no alterations to the photos. I'm hoping that will give you a better idea of what I might be doing to the photos vs. my camera. Thanks for your help.

Don't mind the construction there. I'm attempting to organize my photos, but it's not something that is happening very quickly! The albumns also have areas wherein you can post your comments which will allow me to better follow what you are specifically talking about.