Degenerating Photo's

[Filter]

Is it me or do photo's stored on hard drives\computers loose image quality. I look in albums from a couple of years back & think they look ordinary, dullish, no sharpness?? I believe I was using the same equipment as I am now. I don't know, it seems strange.

[Glenda]

Not sure but if I noticed the same thing on my photos I would assume I had improved my technique and PP skills . I recently looked through a photo book I made after a trip to Vietnam about 7 years ago and thought at the time the photos were fantastic, now they look like cr***. I have revisited some photos I took in 2011 and reprocessed them. They were stored on an external hard drive and I didn't notice any obvious difference to the quality of the raw images.

[MissionMan]

I suspect your perception of a good photo has changed along with your post processing skills as LPlates mentioned.

I often look back through my library and cringe a little at some the photos I gave 5 stars to 5 years ago. A lot of them wouldn't make the cut by today's standards but it's good to understand your progression because often it's subtle and you don't see the changes month by month or photo by photo.

[Tannin]

Digital files don't degrade in subtle ways. Some rare and mostly unimportant exceptions aside, digital degredation is either so minor as not to matter, or clear and obvious. You don't get, for example, an overall loss of sharpness. That would require exactly the right random changes made to many thousands of different numbers - an event so incredibly unlikely as to be effectively impossible. In short: you have got better at your craft.

[J.davis]

I have the same perception of my old files. I think the biggest problem is monitors and software.
Older monitors didn't allow for fine adjustments of pics and software now does a better job.
My 2c worth.
( I have re-edited many pics now).

[ricktas]

Here is a thought. Have you changed the light source in the room where your computer is located? Perhaps you have upgraded to say energy efficient LEDs? The ambient light in the room can completely alter the way images look on computers/tv's etc.

[tandeejay]

The other option if your using the same monitor is that your monitors quality is deteriorating or changed calibration , and when you process now your compensating for that difference in quality, but your older photos were processed when your monitor was newer/factory calibrated, and when displayed on the monitor now, are showing up that change in your monitor.

Time for a re-calibration?


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