compressing photo's?

[kate90]

How can I compress my photo's so that i can upload them into posts, but so that they're not too small to view?
thanks

[cm_mtb]

How can I compress my photo's so that i can upload them into posts, but so that they're not too small to view?
thanks

on windows or mac?

[kate90]

windows, ive used microsoft office picture manager in the past, but it makes the pictures very small

[cm_mtb]

windows, ive used microsoft office picture manager in the past, but it makes the pictures very small

sorry, mac user here, so i can't help... but you could try a google search, or wait for someone else to chime in.

[Photo-John]

Kate-
I'm not familiar with Microsoft Office Picture Manager. But the picture dimensions and compression are two different elements. Compression is the size of the file in megabytes, kilobytes, etc. The dimensions of the photo are only connected to the file size in that a photo with larger dimensions will be a larger file. But sizing and compressing a photo are separate actions. The compression is set when you save the image as a JPEG. Photoshop offers 12 levels of JPEG compression. When I set up a photo for the Web, I set the image dimensions and then save it as a JPEG. It's when I save it as a JPEG that I determine the amount of compression.

I hope that sorts it out a little for you. I realize you still don't know how to actually set the compression with your software. But maybe my explanation will help you better understand how to look for the necessary controls and settings

Let us know if you need more help. That's what we're here for!

[OldClicker]

windows, ive used microsoft office picture manager in the past, but it makes the pictures very small

What else do you have. The compression 'feature' is very limited in Picture Manager (never knew there was one in Office). - TF

[OldClicker]

Kate-
I'm not familiar with Microsoft Office Picture Manager. But the picture dimensions and compression are two different elements. Compression is the size of the file in megabytes, kilobytes, etc. The dimensions of the photo are only connected to the file size in that a photo with larger dimensions will be a larger file. But sizing and compressing a photo are separate actions. The compression is set when you save the image as a JPEG. Photoshop offers 12 levels of JPEG compression. When I set up a photo for the Web, I set the image dimensions and then save it as a JPEG. It's when I save it as a JPEG that I determine the amount of compression.

I hope that sorts it out a little for you. I realize you still don't know how to actually set the compression with your software. But maybe my explanation will help you better understand how to look for the necessary controls and settings

Let us know if you need more help. That's what we're here for!

"But sizing and compressing a photo are separate actions." I just tried Office Pic Mgr and apparently Microsoft doesn’t know that. It has a 'sizing' feature, but then the 'compression' feature also makes it smaller??? - TF

EDIT: Looking at it better - It has three compression choices and each has a photo size along with the file size reduction. You can have 1024x768, 448x336 or 160x160. It also doesn't do anything if your photo size is already smaller than the one you choose. - TF

[Rocket_Scientist]

I have used Office Picture Manager to reduce the file size of photos without making them too small to view.
You can choose Picture | Resize... and then choose the Predefined width x height: dropdown. Choose
something like 1024x768 or 800x600, and then, of course, save to a different file name.

Hope that helps...

[OldClicker]

I have used Office Picture Manager to reduce the file size of photos without making them too small to view.
You can choose Picture | Resize... and then choose the Predefined width x height: dropdown. Choose
something like 1024x768 or 800x600, and then, of course, save to a different file name.

Hope that helps...

But if the file size is still larger than the 293KB allowed by this site (mine was still 2.8MB), you have to go to the 'compression' feature, correct? - TF

[Rocket_Scientist]

Well, actually, if the issue is posting on PR, you do not have to resize at all...

Here is a picture I posted:


The original, which is in my gallery, is 686,698 bytes, and 1600x1200 pixels. To
post it here, I obtained the URL to the medium sized copy the gallery creates,
and posted a link to it. I suppose there are some drawbacks to this technique,
one of which seems to be that if someone is not logged in, they do not see the
picture, just the reference, I think. But this saves me a lot of resizing...

[OldClicker]

Well, actually, if the issue is posting on PR, you do not have to resize at all...

Here is a picture I posted:


The original, which is in my gallery, is 686,698 bytes, and 1600x1200 pixels. To
post it here, I obtained the URL to the medium sized copy the gallery creates,
and posted a link to it. I suppose there are some drawbacks to this technique,
one of which seems to be that if someone is not logged in, they do not see the
picture, just the reference, I think. But this saves me a lot of resizing...

You posted a 470x353 which is about the same size as Office Pic Mgr would give for the 'Web Compression'. I think the OP considered this too small - the point of the thread.

Kate - There are many free resizing/compression programs that come up in Google, but I don't know which work and are safe to download. If we keep bumping this thread up, someone will come along that knows. Problem is that most here have fairly sophisticated editing software that also does this so have no need.

TF

[Rocket_Scientist]

You posted a 470x353 ...

Oh, but I could have posted the original...


...or something from another site...


But that's usually too large for most viewing here.

[OldClicker]

Oh, but I could have posted the original...


...or something from another site...


But that's usually too large for most viewing here.

Yes you could, but I don't think that answers the OP's question either.

Kate,

Here are some recommended by cnet which should improve the likelihood of them not being harmful.

http://download.cnet.com/windows/gra...censeName=Free

I can recommend Thumbs Plus. I use an older version for simple viewing and I have seen it mentioned by others on this site. It's not free though - about $60 the last time I paid.

http://www.cerious.com/

TF

[freygr]

You need a version of photo shop, Elements, Corel Piant, or a program with photo editing. I use the bundled function in Thumbs Plus but I believe other image viewing software also have bundled editing.

With PhotoShop or Elements it's under image, but the selection is different resize in elements and image size but in Thumps Plus it's under transform.

The steps:

You my wish to blur before resizing.

1) PhotoShop or Elements make sure the "Resample Image" and "Constrain Prorotions" are checked and the units are set to pixels. Enter in the greatest pixel field 800 and click ok

2a) Save, but rename it so it does not overwrite your original photo

2b) NOW the important part adjust the quality slider down to 3-5 but you will have to check the file size after the save using PhotoShop or Elements. With Thumbs Plus in the save window check the Computer File Size box, select the Sub-sampling and adjust the Quality-slider so the files size is just smaller than the max size allowed.

[Frog]

Until you get an editing program you can download windows power toy pic resizer.
Easy and quick if not the most sophisticated.
After the easy download, when you right click a pic it will give you the option to resize in the drop down box.
Click resize and then choose medium for here. It gives you a second downsized image.

[kate90]

thanks guys, i think i've got i better idea now, i also have Gimp2 and PhotoScrape, i'll have a fiddle!

[Photo-John]

I suppose there are some drawbacks to this technique,
one of which seems to be that if someone is not logged in, they do not see the
picture, just the reference, I think. But this saves me a lot of resizing...

You got it backwards. If you link to your photo people who aren't regiestered or not logged-in can see your photo. It's when you upload from the gallery that they can't see it. That's meant to encourage people to register. I don't know if it's an effective strategy, though. I've been thinking of making it possible for everyone to see photos uploaded from the forums.

[Ultra Magnus]

Get irfanview. It's a free (albeit a bit crude) photo editing program. You can do simple stuff like saturation, brightness, but it has a real nice resize/resample, and jpeg compression control (and batch processing). The only deal is you can't tell how big the file will end up until AFTER you save, so if it's too big, you'll have to adjust the slider a bit and save it again. If you didn't know, Photoshop gives you a predicted file size in the jpeg quality dialog. But Photoshop only gives you levels of compression, 1-12, where irfanview is a slider from 0 to 100. To think of it, I've never tried any program on it's lowest setting...

One more helpful hint, I see a lot of people over compressing photos for posting. This creates a real crappy image w/ lots of jpeg artifacting. Try to size your pictures for the maximum (sorry PJ) allowable size, like around 200kb, 800px on the long edge (or whatever it is now, I think it's been upped, or maybe that's another forum...). Some people post pics compressed all the way down to 20kb. It's super annoying.

BM