Help with shrinking to "post" size

[Craig Scaling]

Hello,
I am a newbie in need of some help.
Being new to the photography field, I am having trouble keeping the photo quality when I shrink my photos down the the maximum 100KB post size. I am losing alot of quality, and pictures are looking fuzzy. But when I see others'  pictures, taken with basically the same equipment, they are not having the same trouble.
Can someone help me please? I am shooting with a Canon digital rebel, 6.3 Megapixel, and the originals are outstanding.
Please advise,   thanks!    Craig

[Jorgo]

Resize the copies as 750 pixels wide at most, to fit on the fencecheck space.
Then when you "Save As", save them at a JPEG quality of about 6 or 7, whichever will allow a size below about 90kB.
Each photo will be different, depending on complexity.

I hope that makes sense.

[M.M.]

Also, it's best to resize for posting using the "Save for web" command.

If you choose to stick with the Resize command, make sure you use a copy of the image (as Jorgo hinted) and resample to avoid the "jaggies."

-M.M.

[Mickey]

My SOP nowadays is:

• Filter - Sharpen - Unsharp Mask (for kit lens between 50 - 75 / 1,5 / 1, for L-lenses 25 - 35 / 1,5 / 1)
• Enhance - Adjust Brightness/contrast (brightness ± 0 - 15, contrast + 0 - 10)
• Enhance - Adjust color - Color variations - Saturation (first slide the bar on the left lower side to the left to make smaller steps)
• Image - Resize - Image Size (either 650x433 or 780x520 pixels - if you have a blue sky you can get away with 780x520 and quality around 75 - 90)
• Save for Web - Quality (set to a value that corresponds with a file size just under 100 kB)

When I have a batch of pictures and need to be quick, I will use File - Batch processing (JPEG max quality, convert image size to either 650x433 or 780x520) and then do the above steps, but sharpening should be less then. I am not claiming the above is THE way to process your pictures, it's just the way I do it. Any suggestions / remarks / corrections are welcome!

I am never sure what to do with the DPI for web, can you lower that to 96 without visible loss of quality, so you get smaller files? Anyone?

One of the benefits of "save for web" is that you loose the meta-data (which hold info on camera settings, etc.), resulting in a smaller file with higher quality then with "save as", if I remember correctly. There was a thread on this subject where professor Tyson V. Rininger suggested the use of "save for web". I have used it ever since.

Mickey

[Jorgo]

Hi Mickey,

My only SOP which varies markedly from yours is to Sharpen the Image AFTER resizing it. That helps reduce jagged edges even more.

[Mickey]

OK Jorgo, I'll try that !

Really I'd like to hotlink, like some of the other FCs do, so I can post bigger files which look way better  ...

Mickey

[Rob Guess]

OK Jorgo, I'll try that !

Really I'd like to hotlink, like some of the other FCs do, so I can post bigger files which look way better  ...

Mickey

Get yourself an account with http://www.photobucket.com this will give you the storage you want and allow you to hotlink the image into here.

[Stephanie McKee]

I too am a TOTAL NEWBIE and amature with a Canon XTI 11 megapixil and I too was getting so frustrated at not being able to get a few of my photos on-site so MANY THANKS for teaching me something new.

Stephanie

[Mickey]

Stephanie, welcome . Do you have any editing software like Photoshop Elements?

Mickey

[Stephanie McKee]

No unfortunatly not. I have the typical microsoft photo stuff htat came with my laptop last year

SAM

[Dave O'Brien]

Stefanie, there is a free editing software called GIMP that I've heard a lot of people use. I use Photoshop Elements 5.0, I believe 7 was just released. That's only $80 or so. Does most of the stuff you need to edit photos.

good luck and welcome aboard

[Stephanie McKee]

Great to know...Maybe Santa can put it in hte stocking this year!

And check out GIMP!

Thanks a MIL!!

Steph