How to resize photographs for the Internet

[possum]

I think I posted that message in the wrong place. Sorry.

[Kym]

Gosh I am so lost. I dont have photoshop at all only paint and the software that came with my new camera. It is photoimpact 12se. I havent ever used anything of this kind before and so I am assuming I need to download that to edit my photos instead of just using the standard windows programme on here.(photo gallery).
There is so much to learn besides learning how to use the camera and taking photos.
I would like to put some photos on here for critique, but cant understand how to do it in my home page. Please help!!!!!! Sorry to seem so dumb but this site is so different to others I have been on, but also so very good, and the tutorials seem so informative. Thank you. Possum.
PS only joined yesterday.

I think I posted that message in the wrong place. Sorry.

No problems.

Have a look at the New To Photography forum.
Among other things it cover's how to post images etc. and gives options for free software (item 7).

[mikew09]

Excellent Rick - now I see where I was going wrong with the quality. Thanx - this tip will go straight to the pool room. :-)

I have a favourite folder I have named The Pool Room for all my favourite topics. Bit of a fan of that movie.

[Geenie]

Thanks Rick, I found this very helpful.

[ricktas]

Thanks Rick, I found this very helpful.

Welcome Geenie. Good to see you posting. If you need assistance getting around the site, just ask. If you can't find the answer to something, click my username in a post and send me a private message and I will assist.

[chrisbevan4]

For your information

There is freeware program from http://www.faststone.org/ called FastStone Photo Resizer

That allows image resizing and can even do a batch of them at once.

Chris Bevan

[phild]

If you have XP it's worth downloading the excellent image resizer powertoy, it integrates in to the explorer shell and allows resizing of single or multiple files at in a simple manner. On my Vista machine I use VSO image resizer as the Microsoft powertoy doesn't work with Vista.

[Bill44]

You may find it beneficial to resharpen after downsizing.

[ricktas]

BDSIZER is also a good option for those without Photoshop and it is Free.

http://www.photo-freeware.net/bdsizer.php

[Kym]

There are two main controls for image file size when saving as a JPEG image.

First is the size in Pixels.
I.e. The number of pixels width x height.
Changing the size in Pixels has a secondary effect of changing the file size.
Eg. an image 3000px x 2000px resized to 1000px x 667px will be a smaller file, 6,000,000px
down to 667,000px.

But is the file small enough?

Secondly, the JPEG compression setting.
File size can also be adjusted by setting the JPEG quality (1-100) when you save the image.
The quality is also another way of saying which compression level you want.
The more compressed the image the more detail you may lose.

So to size an image for AP you should set the pixel size you want (typically no more than 1024 on the longest edge)
and adjust the JPEG quality (compression) to get the file size under the 250kB limit.

Some other advanced controls that have a minor effect on the image size are:

• Including meta data all, in part or none
• Saving baseline or progressive (and how many scans, 3 or 5 etc)
• Saving colour profile information (don't bother with sRGB as that's the web default)

Note: You should always make sure the image is saved as an sRGB colour profile for web publishing.

[David]

Thanks Kym and Rick: another quality tutorial for people to learn from.

[Elvie]

Thank you Rick this has helped me with resizing as I always have several attempts before I get it right

[Kimbolina]

For your information

There is freeware program from http://www.faststone.org/ called FastStone Photo Resizer

That allows image resizing and can even do a batch of them at once.

Chris Bevan

Thank You chrisbevan. The program you suggested is so easy to use, as I don't have Photoshop.

[bettess]

Thanks very much

[mbundock]

Great Tutorial, I found it very helpful
Mark

[rojo68]

Hi ricksta im having trouble resizing because i am running a Mac 10.5.8 and i cant figure out how to do it . Its help guide is useless

[ricktas]

Hi ricksta im having trouble resizing because i am running a Mac 10.5.8 and i cant figure out how to do it . Its help guide is useless

this is not operating system based. What photo editing software do you use?

[Kym]

Hi ricksta im having trouble resizing because i am running a Mac 10.5.8 and i cant figure out how to do it . Its help guide is useless

The principle is the same regardless of software.

Do these two things.

1. Size the image to no more than 1,024 pixels on the longest edge
2. Save the image and adjust the JPEG compression level (a.k.a. quality) until the filesize is less than 250kB
   - there is usually some control on the save function of most software for this step

It would help if you told us what image software you have on you Mac?

[elizabeth77]

Thank you! All these tutorials are very useful for us beginners!

[pfunston]

Thank you Rick,

This was really easy to follow and I've already resized a picture to post.
Thanks to MBPhoto as well, I have now created my first action in Photoshop.

Paula