Sizing down photos

[robec1347]

You guys all take such great pictures. My question is how do you size them down to the 100 kb limit for the registry set? When I get the photos out of the camera and get it in to the image editor, it's already at 1 Mb. I have to size it down about 4 or 5 times to get it that small. Is it better to send the photos to a hosted site? Do they have size restrictions? I know I'm just going through two many steps and it's driving me nuts.

[MunkyMan95]

Something like photobucket sizes the photos down if they are over 1 MB. I use a simple MS Paint program. Here's how I do it:

 

Go to File, Open

Select your photo

Then go to Image, Stretch/Skew

Enter the proportions. I usually divide it by half until I get the size I want. So type in 50 in the top box, and 50 in the bottom and continue that until you get the right size. Hope this helps.

[MikeInFL]

In order to get pictures down to 100k, here is exactly what I do:

 

First, I downsize the picture to around 500 to 600 pixels square, then I vary the amount of .jpg compression until the picture is under the 100k limit.

 

Personally, I use Photoshop Elements which enables you to control the amount of compression (and therefore the file size) very easily during the save function.

 

An alternative to the above process (similar to what Chad describes in his post above) is:

 

Resize using MS Paint or your favorite image editing program to 500 pixels square. Load into MS Paint, save, check the filesize, then resize/downsize (using CTRL-W) and resave until the file size is below 100k. This is a more kludgy solution -- as MS Paint's resizing algorithms are not nearly as good as Photoshop's and the jpg compression is not adjustable -- but it works.

 

Hope this helps...Mike

[robec1347]

I use Photoshop and I do size the photo down to 500 by 500 pixels. The problem arises when I use the save as dialog and adjust the compression. You can adjust on a scale of 1 - 12, with 12 being the least compression. But it never tells you how big the file is going to be after applying the compression. It would be much easier if there was some sort of slider with the target number on it.

Thanks for all the imput, I'll keep working on it.

[DC Dawg]

You may be better off using "Save for Web" and play with the settings in that dialog box. I do this all the time with PS-elements.

 

Scott

[robec1347]

Great solution. Now why didn't I think of that? That's why I'm so impressed with this site. You all have so much to offer. I used to think I knew a little about coins until I came here. And the young ones, sheesh, they could probably write a book with all they know.

 

Thanks again,

Bob

[Bruceswar]

Glad you like it here Bob. Enjoy your stay and ask questions when needed.

[HalfMad-migration]

You may be better off using "Save for Web" and play with the settings in that dialog box. I do this all the time with PS-elements.

 

Scott

 

I agree with Scott. Photoshop's "Save for Web" function is very convenient. It allows you to see both your original and the changed version. Also allows you to set pixel size and compression to get a combination of the two for the final upload size you want. (I'm on a Mac but I assume the PC version is the same.)

 

Rich

[robec1347]

I'm on a mac as well. You are right. I've done plenty of things with Photoshop, but I never used it for posting pictures on the web. You can bet your bottom dollar that I will now. Like I said before, what a great tip.

 

Bob