YNCH with 2 crawfish

Angela, a lovely BIF of the YCNH. You should not have this kind of problem with a 16.2 MP image, unless you have a metadata file full. Do you use "Save to Web"? Which Bicubic algorithm do you use to reduce? I have been using Save to Web since CS2, and am satisfied with the results almost without exception. With CS5, I used bicubic smoother to reduce, sometimes bicubic sharper. So far with CS6, I am using bicubic auto.

Also, I will sharpen selectively and use a light to medium lens blur of the BG (when I can), sometimes NR, to get a slight blur. That has a dual function of improving bokeh and reducing upload weight, saving the quality for the subject.

I have found over time that I can go to 70% of full quality without a significant drop in visible quality; although in practice I try to stay above 80%. For the 720 image at 300 MB, my quality improves by 8% to 11%, still remaining under the 300 MB limit. All of the above with a 12.2 MP D300S. You should be able to do at least as well with the D4, even at 16.2 MP.

Thank you for your help. Hopefully some of this will work. After hundreds of uploaded images you'd think I'd seen it all.

I like the image: a subject we seldom see in a flight photo; nice position; nice setting; nice composition.

I checked the EXIF in the image and it appears to be the standard info. Watch out for settings in Photoshop that save a lot of history stages (not showing up in your image as far as I can see). I have no problem keeping my 1200 px images under 500Kb, and my 720 px images under 200Kb while including EXIF. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to as well.

Remember that jpeg compression works best when there are large areas of very similar pixels in the image: the algorithm uses a single value to represent adjacent pixels with slightly different values rather than unique values for every pixel. If the image has fine texture (like the feathers on the subject or each blade of grass in the background is different from its neighbors) then you will have to go to a higher level of compression to get under the posting size limit.

Hmm - my eyes see a very nice flight picture where the heron pops from that green background. I would not know what to say other than "nice picture"

three thumbs up!!!

Excellent flight shot Angela. Love the crawfish and the spalshes off the feet.

Great BIF of this Yellow-crowned Angela. Nice to get the bird with prey and the water drops off the feet add nicely to the action in the image.

Wonderful flight photo, so very clear and sharp.

Outstanding Angela, I don't think I've ever seem a flight shot of a YNCH. Excellent work!

Ray

I remember this spot Angela, sweet flight shot and the crays are a bonus. I'd agree with what a couple of others have said, the grasses in the bg are probably the culprit in terms of the image having so much detail and selective sharpening of the bird is the way to go if you aren't already doing so.

A really lovely flight shot, Angela. And not a species we often see in flight. Regarding your compression problems, I'd guess it is the high level of detail in the grasses that is driving up your JPEG compression. Remember the .PSD file size isn't very relevant to the size of the JPEG. Depending on how you have Photoshop set up, you can have all of your earlier manipulations saved in the .PSD version, allowing you to "Undo" the las few changes you've made.

Here's my workflow when I have happy with the image in PS and ready to save it for posting:

1. Select "Save for Web & Devices" from the File menu.
2. Click on the little list icon in the upper right of the save dialog, and select "Optimize for File Size"
3. Select 500K for the 1200 pixel image.
4. Usually, I end up knocking the Quality number in the dialog down one more point to accommodate the EXIF data I embed.
5. Click on the Save button.

This leaves the .PSD version unchanged. Then re-size to 720px and repeat for the 200KB version.

HTH.

Jim DeWitt

I like the image as you posted. I can add one more point to your question: every time you add sharpness to an image you add informations that increase the file size. one method to reduce this extra infos is:
* double your picture resolution size (if it is 700px/in double it to 1400 )
* enlarge to 100%
* add sharpness
* downsize to the original size
this last will add the necessary sharpness but the information saved are less what they were if you did it directly at 700px. this works also for the selective sharpening.

Thank you all for this information and lots of good ideas.

Hello Angela

The Image is Eye-popping great!! two crawfish & the Water falling from the large feet Really makes this for me!!!

TFS

Bill

Very good timing on this, Angela. I'm not sure why you're having trouble with the file size, as it seems to be relatively simple in terms of color. I use CS4 and save for web, and an image like this would have no trouble getting to a reasoable size.

Amazing night heron flight shot. Well done.