masterben

I suspected it's because Photoshop applies some kind of sharpen filter but I wasn't sure. It does look somewhat better with that additional sharpening, I must admit. Thanks.

I've noticed that when I resize a picture to a smaller dimension (downsize it), there is no noticeable difference between Paint.Net and Photoshop. Both programs have high quality output. However, if I resize a picture to a bigger dimension than the original (and constrain proportions), there is a noticeable difference in picture quality when you compare Paint.Net and Photoshop. I wonder if this is really so, or maybe I should make some adjustments in the Paint.net options. Right now I have "Best quality" chosen in the settings for picture resize. Here is a little example of what I mean. Pay attention to the clarity and sharpness of the details, such as the man's hair and beard after the resize. I love using Paint.Net as it is free and so much lighter on the resources than Photoshop... but I'd really like to have this resize in a bit better quality, such as in Photoshop.