Help Files Camera and Photography Forum

For general camera equipment and photography technique questions. Moderated by another view. Also see the Learn section, Camera Reviews, Photography Lessons, and Glossary of Photo Terms.
Results 1 to 7 of 7
  1. #1
    Junior Member curious and learning's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Central Florida
    Posts
    12

    making a picture a smaller file

    Please excuse my ignorance, I am new to all of this. I have tried to attach a picture for comments but it keeps telling me my file is too large. Is there a way to make it smaller? How much will this compromise the quality? Thanks in advance for any help or tips you may offer!

  2. #2
    Sitting in a Leaky Dingy Michael Fanelli's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Perryville, MD
    Posts
    926

    Re: making a picture a smaller file

    Quote Originally Posted by curious and learning
    Please excuse my ignorance, I am new to all of this. I have tried to attach a picture for comments but it keeps telling me my file is too large. Is there a way to make it smaller? How much will this compromise the quality? Thanks in advance for any help or tips you may offer!
    Use a higher jpeg compression. Yes, it will hurt the quality but, most of the time, you can't really see it on a computer screen.
    "Every great decision creates ripples--like a huge boulder dropped in a lake. The ripples merge and rebound off the banks in unforseeable ways.

  3. #3
    Junior Member curious and learning's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Central Florida
    Posts
    12

    Re: making a picture a smaller file

    I wasnt joking about the ignorance thing. How do I compress the file?

  4. #4
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Anchorage, AK USA
    Posts
    11

    Re: making a picture a smaller file

    Open image in whatever editing program you use, select Edit, Image Size, Constrain proportions - and resize to ~480 pixels x (whatever the contrained size comes up - hopefully not too much more than 640).

    Use 72 dpi - the standard for screen veiwing.

    Save file with different name (as a .jpg) so you don't permanently change your "digital negative" file.

    Depending on editing program, you may have numerous choices for setting the "compression". Baseline standard, medium is decent choice.

  5. #5
    Junior Member curious and learning's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Central Florida
    Posts
    12

    Re: making a picture a smaller file

    Thank you, thank you, thank you!

  6. #6
    has-been... another view's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Rockford, IL
    Posts
    7,649

    Re: making a picture a smaller file

    Yes - the main thing is to reduce the size. 600 pixels on the longest side is probably fine and I'd guess that most of the images posted here are close to that. This will be 600x400 or 600x450, depending on the camera. I usually "save as" to my desktop so it's easy to find, but whatever works for you.

    Not to cause confusion, but 72dpi really doesn't apply to an image that's only looked at on a screen. I'm just saying this is one step you don't need to worry about if you're only looking at the image on the screen (a 600x400 will be too small to print anyway).

    The image will be displayed in the number of pixels that are in the file. There is no dimension (in inches or mm) when we're talking about looking at an image on a screen or thru a digital projector; only in a print. There's a recent thread in the Digital Imaging forum that talks about this if you're interested, the title is something like "X pixels is what size" or something like that.

  7. #7
    Pentax Forum Moderator
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Platteville, WI, United States
    Posts
    2,043

    Re: making a picture a smaller file

    Also, before trying to post here...make sure the file is not larger than 195kb...if it is, just make your dimensions slightly smaller. As I have learned...the hard way...640x480 and 195kb max...hehe hope this helps

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Please Help!! Cannot read file!
    By aeris32 in forum Help Files
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 04-13-2005, 07:23 PM
  2. Please Help!! Cannot read file!
    By aeris32 in forum Digital Cameras - General
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 04-13-2005, 04:42 PM
  3. Replies: 5
    Last Post: 03-24-2005, 10:00 PM
  4. 4x6 file size-
    By tramp in forum Help Files
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 07-30-2004, 01:34 PM
  5. Optio S4i - video file won't play on PC - sound only
    By digione in forum Digital Cameras - General
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 07-28-2004, 08:38 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •