[Quality of resized pics could be better]

If I remember correctly, this is because Photoshop applies a sharpen filter as part of an upscale unless you tell it not to. It's not a matter of "quality," it's simply subjective cheating.

So, just resize in Paint.NET and then use Effects->Photo->Sharpen, probably with a value of 1.

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.

[Quality of resized pics could be better]

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.