Hello all,
I am a new member, and so far all my photos are coming out fairly small on the website. Can anyone offer any advice on how to meet the maximum file size of 200 KB and come up with a photo that is 4x6 inches. I have noticed that some members have photos this large or bigger online.
But I cannot figure out how to get there with my jpegs, which have been shot on the fine setting in the camera and which I am saving in photoshop as medium quality.
I cannot even get close to an image size of 720 pixels on its longest side without the file size going over 200 KB. Using PhotoShop 7. My cameras are a Nikon D70 and a Coolpix 5700.
I am going into PhotoShop 7> Image>Mode>Convert to profile>sRGB
Thanks for your patience and any advice that you can offer.
Paula Dittrick
One suggestion is to use the Save As Web... option. It produces smaller output than the regular Save As command.
Personally, I resort to a different program. The free program GIMP (GIMP-Win-2.3.8 , or GIMP-Win-2.2.11 if you're using the IM client GAIM) is excellent at compression, and I always run my files through it before posting to the Web. It doesn't do color management, though, so be sure to do that prior to this last step.
Paula when sizing your images for the web make sure you set the resolution to 72. I'm not sure what the deafult setting is, but anything much over 72 resolution will result in a larger file size.
Here's what I do and I am in no way a ps expert.
Convert image to RGB 1998 make my adjustments
Image> Mode> Convert to Profile sRGB IEC61966-2.1
Image> Resize make sure Constrain Proportions tab is checked > change resolution to 72 before entering in a value for height and width
Then I sharpen and lastly use the save for web feature. When saving for the web there should be a tab off to the right of your options that allows you to select optimize to file size I usually enter less than 200 in oder to ensure my files are within the limits, so I put in something around 175-180.
For web use the print resolution is meaningless. You just need to worry about the file's dimensions in pixels. Here's a basic workflow you can start with:
1) Apply any color/contrast corrections to your image and save the master file
2) Go to Image -> Image Size and set the long dimension (height or width) to 600 pixels. Let Photoshop calculate the rest of it.
3) Flatten the image (if layers are used)
4) Go to Filter -> Sharpen -> Unsharp Mask (start with values of 300 / 0.3 / 0 and adjust if needed)
5) Go to Image -> Mode -> Convert to Profile and convert to sRGB
6) Go to FIle -> Save for Web, make sure JPEG is selected and adjust the Quality setting until the file size is below 200k (it will be displayed in the lower left corner) and save under a new name (don't overwrite the original master file!)
Thanks everybody for your very helpful tips on compression and for your patience with a PhotoShop novice. I also am relatively new to digital photography.
Regards, Paula
Paula - - Important - - Doing everything that Guy said will get you what you want, BUT you have to remember one more thing. When you do that save for web and give it a new name it creates a whloe new image file, but you have to be sure that - - when you close the image that you are working on, you do not save it again. Just pick "do not save" option to close it. If you don't, then any other things you did to that file will be saved along with it and you don't want your original file to turn into a jpg or some other low-res file type. This is why it is really best to make a dupe of the original and do all of your work from that one ONLY.
Posted by Martin Ziese on May 11, 2006 at 12:58 AM
Paula,
Here is a site that I think you should check out. Although it deals mainly with Photoshop CS and CS2, you maybe able to use some of the tips in it to get to the end result you wish to achieve
www.radiantvista.com/vidio_tutorials/
There on that page, fourth from the top, is a free video that you can download and it takes you through the steps necessary in preparing an image for the web.
You’ll need either Windows Media Player or Quicktime to view it.
Martin
Posted by Brent Murphy on May 15, 2006 at 11:45 AM
As Guy said, changing to 72 dpi doesn't change anything when it comes to file size. That is a printer setting, not a display setting. 720 pixels are 720 pixels, no matter what the dpi is set to.
The other thing you can do, similar to what everyone else has said, is use the Save for Web option. However, you can pull down the little Options arrow in the Save for Web window, and choose "Optimize for file size". You can then enter 200kb as a file size, and it will compress the file just enough to get this exact file size. Works like a charm.
Discussion
8 repliesI am a new member, and so far all my photos are coming out fairly small on the website. Can anyone offer any advice on how to meet the maximum file size of 200 KB and come up with a photo that is 4x6 inches. I have noticed that some members have photos this large or bigger online.
But I cannot figure out how to get there with my jpegs, which have been shot on the fine setting in the camera and which I am saving in photoshop as medium quality.
I cannot even get close to an image size of 720 pixels on its longest side without the file size going over 200 KB. Using PhotoShop 7. My cameras are a Nikon D70 and a Coolpix 5700.
I am going into PhotoShop 7> Image>Mode>Convert to profile>sRGB
Thanks for your patience and any advice that you can offer.
Paula Dittrick
Personally, I resort to a different program. The free program GIMP (GIMP-Win-2.3.8 , or GIMP-Win-2.2.11 if you're using the IM client GAIM) is excellent at compression, and I always run my files through it before posting to the Web. It doesn't do color management, though, so be sure to do that prior to this last step.
Here's what I do and I am in no way a ps expert.
Convert image to RGB 1998 make my adjustments
Image> Mode> Convert to Profile sRGB IEC61966-2.1
Image> Resize make sure Constrain Proportions tab is checked > change resolution to 72 before entering in a value for height and width
Then I sharpen and lastly use the save for web feature. When saving for the web there should be a tab off to the right of your options that allows you to select optimize to file size I usually enter less than 200 in oder to ensure my files are within the limits, so I put in something around 175-180.
I hope this helps
1) Apply any color/contrast corrections to your image and save the master file
2) Go to Image -> Image Size and set the long dimension (height or width) to 600 pixels. Let Photoshop calculate the rest of it.
3) Flatten the image (if layers are used)
4) Go to Filter -> Sharpen -> Unsharp Mask (start with values of 300 / 0.3 / 0 and adjust if needed)
5) Go to Image -> Mode -> Convert to Profile and convert to sRGB
6) Go to FIle -> Save for Web, make sure JPEG is selected and adjust the Quality setting until the file size is below 200k (it will be displayed in the lower left corner) and save under a new name (don't overwrite the original master file!)
7) Post to NPN
Guy
Regards, Paula
Here is a site that I think you should check out. Although it deals mainly with Photoshop CS and CS2, you maybe able to use some of the tips in it to get to the end result you wish to achieve
www.radiantvista.com/vidio_tutorials/
There on that page, fourth from the top, is a free video that you can download and it takes you through the steps necessary in preparing an image for the web.
You’ll need either Windows Media Player or Quicktime to view it.
Martin
The other thing you can do, similar to what everyone else has said, is use the Save for Web option. However, you can pull down the little Options arrow in the Save for Web window, and choose "Optimize for file size". You can then enter 200kb as a file size, and it will compress the file just enough to get this exact file size. Works like a charm.