Misleading & Disappointing Thumbnails.

[Athiril]

I just want to say I want to keep this to the lighter side and not have somrthing totally serious over

Anyway, I often notice.. film or digital images, that the thumbnail, such as here on APUG in the gallery or on flickr just blows you away and you get in for a closer look, of whats near equivalent of a 4x6" on screen.. and the disappointment sets in.. "ripped off!" so to speak.

I notice that on many images that wow me at the thumbnail level, I mean there are others that aren't great at the thumbnail, but wow me at a bigger view.

Funny how the entire feel changes like that.

Just thought I'd share my thoughts.

 

[Vaughn]

I would say that they tend to surprise me more than disappoint me. But I like surprises.

What would disappoint me more would be to see a print that did not fulfill the promise of the thumbnail or larger image on the computer screen. While for some the image on the computer screen might be the desired final "product", some people might be far better computer technicians than printers.

 

[Rick A]

Speaking as someone who scans final prints only(save for the classifieds)the size you see is whatever size the print translates into electronically. There is a size limit that can be scanned in and if the original is to big, it must be reduced to fit the site allowance. The exception, I've found, is when importing from another site that allows for larger scan dimensions.

 

[Athiril]

Vaughn: Being a good computer technician has nothing to do with being able to preparing an image well for display. A good computer technician doesn't mean jack to scanned film or digital photography, they may completely suck at it

The underlying concept/skill is the same, the execution method is what differs.

 

[Rudeofus]

Anyway, I often notice.. film or digital images, that the thumbnail, such as here on APUG in the gallery or on flickr just blows you away and you get in for a closer look, of whats near equivalent of a 4x6" on screen.. and the disappointment sets in.. "ripped off!" so to speak.

I notice that on many images that wow me at the thumbnail level, I mean there are others that aren't great at the thumbnail, but wow me at a bigger view.

Funny how the entire feel changes like that.

It may have to do with the way we look at images, that we look at a thumbnail at once while we scan over a larger representation of the same image. We don't follow lines in a thumbnail because they are too small, so many compositional elements won't do much in a thumbnail. We also don't feel their color because there are usually many thumbnails on the same page, each with their own color. We also don't notice distracting objects and of course we won't notice blurriness or poor focusing in most thumbnails.

A thumbnail will respond much worse to (uncorrected) exposure errors or excessive contrast (think: harsh shadows). While the thumbnail won't show much, the full size image will reveal details in those critical areas and as our eyes scan over the image, they may even adapt to the exposure error or color cast.

These are all scenarios where the thumbnail will feel very different, leading either to disappointment or surprise.

 

[hpulley]

I find the reverse is often true with my stuff, probably my technique but I like pictures which have a lot of detail in them and often this does NOT translate well to a thumbnail. In a catalog of thumbnails my pictures would be overlooked when I think if people had the chance to view a nice big print up close they'd be impressed. Ah well... you can't win either way it seems but the real prize is to make a picture which looks great in a 1" catalog thumbnail AND printed 30x40".

 

[Ian Grant]

Illusion takes place with Thumbnails, it's just a fact of life, a painting not a photo but this is a perfect example. Is it Lincoln ? In fact it's a nude of Dali's wife Gaia, deliberately designed to illude

Ian

 

[Shaggysk8]

I would prefer the Thumbnails to be bigger or like the google images hover over and you can see a bigger preview.

 

[Klainmeister]

To the OP: I've noticed this will real people as well.

 

[Mike Té]

I often notice.. film or digital images, that the thumbnail, such as here on APUG in the gallery or on flickr just blows you away and you get in for a closer look, of whats near equivalent of a 4x6" on screen.. and the disappointment sets in.. "ripped off!" so to speak.

That's why I always print 2cm x 3cm.

Also, it takes me ages to get through a box of 16x20 paper.

 

[Dinesh]

That's why I always print 2cm x 3cm.

Also, it takes me ages to get through a box of 16x20 paper.

Kung Pow!

 

[Dave in Kansas]

I find the thumbnails to be so small that I sometimes can't tell what the image is until I click on it. It often results in unexpected surprises.

Dave