What is this and how do I avoid it?

[Lulabelle5]

I had this printed at 11x14 and there is a patch of "waffle" in the upper left corner. I thought it was from the lab until I really blew it up and saw that it is part of the image. It didn't show at normal working size. What caused it and How do I avoid it in the future? Thanks for looking.

[Damien Symonds]

Hi Lulabelle, thanks for posting.

It could be a number of things, I guess.  First, can I ask, did you shoot this photo in raw format?

[Damien Symonds]

@Lulabelle5, are you still there?

[Lulabelle5]

I had to be away, sorry. Yes shot in raw

 

[Damien Symonds]

Great.  If you take another look at your raw file, do you see any evidence of the problem there?

[Lulabelle5]

There is none of it in the raw file

 

[Damien Symonds]

Ok, so you've introduced it somewhere in your editing.  Have you kept your layered PSD file?  So that you can trace the problem?

[Lulabelle5]

No I didn't. I should save at least until I get prints I'm now realizing. But my habit is to flatten and save. Unless there is some function that creates a waffle pattern, I may not have more to give you.

 

[Damien Symonds]

3 minutes ago, Lulabelle5 said:

But my habit is to flatten and save.

I suspect that is not the only bad habit that's bitten you on the ass here.  At what stage of your edit did you sharpen?

[Lulabelle5]

Last thing

 

[Damien Symonds]

After resizing for print?

Well, first I should ask - did you resize for print?

[Lulabelle5]

I think I tweaked the yellow color a little after

[Lulabelle5]

I didn't resize. I cropped n the labs site when ordering

[Lulabelle5]

Maybe I should just re-edit it and check with each step to see if it appears again.

[Damien Symonds]

Ah, crap.  Strike 2.  PLEASE don't wait too long to change your life: https://www.damiensymonds.net/trainingsharp.html

Well, I see no course available to us except for you to begin the whole edit again, following the same editing steps as closely as you can remember from last time, and see where the problem arises.  I assume it was with the sharpening, but since you didn't keep your layered master file, we can't check

If you haven't done so already, you MUST read this: https://www.damiensymonds.net/2010/02/trash-those-jpegs.html

[Lulabelle5]

OK. thank you for your time.

[Damien Symonds]

Let me know what you find.

[Lulabelle5]

I re-edited and it is no longer there. One of life's great mysteries.