#gpose tip

You can replicate that glittering reflected light effect by placing a point light source near the water:

So you went and took that perfect screenshot! Now it's time to share it around, but you noticed a certain graininess, a certain fuzziness when posting it on Twitter or Eorzea Collection. So what's going on? Well, let's understand some concepts related to digital images: namely formats, how they influence images in simple operations like crop and resize, and how to prevent loss of quality.

Resolution

This is the easiest concept to explain; the higher the number of pixels, the more detail the image will have. For example, a screenshot taken at standard 2K resolution (2048 x 1090) will have 2,211,840 pixels, while a 4K (4096 x 2160) will pack more details at 8,847,360 pixels.

That also affects file sizes, if you ever hear me crying about the size of my screenshots folder.

There's a myriad of resolutions and formats out there; for more information, check out this Wikipedia entry about display resolutions.

Digital Image Formats

There are many different digital image formats, but the 2 most common for XIV photography are JPEG and PNG - each with its own advantages and disadvantages.

PNG is a lossless format, meaning no data is lost when the image is saved. This results in higher-quality images, but also files that are larger.

JPEG is a lossy format, meaning some data is lost when the image is saved. This data loss can result in artifacts, such as blockiness and color banding. However, JPEG files are smaller than other formats.

The issue with JPEG is that its data loss is cumulative: Each time that you edit and save the file, a little bit of information is lost. Also, depending on the chosen compression level, the loss is quite noticeable. The image below shows how much noise (wrong data) is actually introduced by each compression level:

Crop and Resize

When you crop an image, you are removing pixels from the edges, often to give focus to a specific subject. In this scenario, the loss of information is irrelevant.

But when resizing- often to decrease the size of the image to better adapt it to a target site- you're losing detail, and the chosen interpolation algorithm may influence how much of the original image is used to help determine the result. Here's an example with a 20% resize, using raw pixel mapping on the left and linear sampling on the right. Notice the antialiased result that creates a much better effect:

Keep in mind that different programs may present the interpolation options in different ways. For example, this is how GIMP displays its options when resizing:

So with all that said, how should we proceed to preserve as much as possible of the original data?

How to Prevent Loss of Quality

Use a high-resolution image. The higher the resolution, the more detail the image will have, and the less likely you are to lose considerable quality when cropping or resizing. Nya Nya has an excellent guide about resolution upscale (a method that allows you to take a 4K screenshot on a 2K native resolution, for example) here. I highly recommend a read!

Use a lossless image format. Lossless formats, such as PNG, do not lose any data when the image is saved. This will help to prevent loss of quality when cropping or resizing.

Keep resizing to a minimum. The more you resize an image, the more likely you are to introduce artifacts or jitter. If you need a close-up, for example, take a close-up screenshot and resize it a little bit instead of cropping around a small area in a larger full-body image.

When scaling down, use interpolation methods that take more data from the original image into consideration, like Linear or Cubic, instead of raw interpolation.

Resize and save images in the expected resolution of a target site. For example, Eorzea Collection uses 339x570 for its vertical shot; cropping and resizing your image to this resolution will prevent artifacts from being introduced by the site's own resizing algorithm.

TL;DR: Keep the resolution high, the changes to a minimum, and save as PNG.

Placing a point source parallel to and relatively close to a character's face creates a nicely delineated profile.

Add highlights to black-haired characters by placing a very soft source very near the top of their heads.

Another one for black hair: look for well-lit backgrounds, or create one with another point light (a low-intensity Type 3 in this case).

Backgrounds in the same tone as the clothing subdues it and brings attention to the character.