Photoshop: Why might images appear oversharp after reducing the image size in CS6?

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  • Updated 6 years ago
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I've never noticed this in previous versions, but most of my shots look harsh to me after Saving for Web - as though I went nuts with the Unsharp Mask filter. I'm not finding any other complaints of this online - so maybe I'm just losing it. Please let me know if you're seeing this - or know why it's happening!
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James Jordan

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  • confused and frustrated.

Posted 6 years ago

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6 years ago
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Jeffrey Tranberry, Sr. Product Manager, Digital Imaging

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Official Response
In CS6, interpolation is set to "Bicubic Automatic" which chooses the best algorithm for interpolation based on if you reducing the image (bicubic sharper), enlarging the image (bicubic smoother), or distorting the image disproportionally (Bicubic).

In CS5 it was set to bicubic by default.

Since you're doing reductions of images, you're actually using "Bicubic Sharper" which will sharpen the image a bit to try and offset the softening that occurs during a reduction.

You could try setting the preferences under Preferences>General... (near the top of the panel) to "Bucubic" and see if that makes the difference.
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