reducing file size without too much loss

[graham.hobart]

Just a quick question- some of my Canon 60Da files (well , all of them) are big, big,big, and to post them on here I try and use either paintbox.net or on the Mac using the viewer- they can shrink but they lose an awful lot in the process. How do people get good smaller pics that are more representative?
Cheers
Graz

[mithrandir]

I use GIMP. There is a Mac version (http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/). You need to first reduce the size to around 1000 to 1200 pixels wide otherwise you have to reduce the quality much too much.

What I really would like is a plugin that runs on Win64, Linux and Mac where you could say "I want a jpg/png/whatever no bigger than 200KB. Reduce the size to preserve 90% of the quality." Otherwise it's trial and error guessing the size and quality.

[iceman]

You need to make sure you reduce the dimensions of the photo first - so reduce the longest width to 800-900px first, and then save as jpeg.

Depending on the image, you may need to reduce the dimensions to 700px wide to still be able to save as 80-90% jpeg quality to be under 200kb.

If you try and upload a larger than 200kb image to IceInSpace, it will automatically reduce the quality to get it under - and so your image will show more compression artifacts.

So it's best to control the process yourself.

[ZeroID]

I use Paint Shop Pro ( an old version ) and resize the image to the required spec then run Unsharp Mask which gives a wee edge accentuation and clarifies the image shape better. It is not giving more detail, whenever you reduce in size you have to lose detail but it does help make the image look better.
Unsharp Mask is common to most reasonable photo editors I beleive. Default setting is 2 which seems quite good. You will see the difference when you try it.

[brian nordstrom]

:) Hi I use the " Windows Live Photo Gallery " here on my PC using windows 7 and as Iceman says drop the photo to 800-1000 pixles on the longest side , that drops them to 699x1000 and thats about perfect for displaying here at IIS , or just about anywhere .;)
It took me a while to sort it as I am sure you will , given a little practice .
Brian.