Resizing Images for Web - Frustrated!!!

Okay. So I've gone with one of those template-driven services to get my first site up. It is very exciting and it has really made me confront my own work in ways I had not expected. That's the good news.

The bad news:

WHAT A PITA!!! My service's interface is very labor-intensive and I'm having one major problem - resizing images. Photoshop stinketh for this. I'm using the original CS. My file size limitation is 225K. My images will be 900 pixels wide at 72 dpi. So, I resize the image and save using .jpg compression level 9 or 10 (for B&W) and usually get an image under 225K. However, for color images, my files sizes are all over the place. One image at compression level 8 may be 210K and the next 400K! I have images that need to be compressed at level 2 or 3 to get them small enough! This leads to a noticeable loss in quality.

I've tried using Save for Web but am getting similar (and other more significant) problems and the Batch Web Gallery under Automate has a maximum size of 450 pixels wide.

Any ideas/suggestions/recommendation are hugely appreciated. And yes, I've tried using the aged whiskey but that just makes everything look blurry...

What kind of problems are you having with Save for Web? I use it all the time (CS2) for both scanned images and occasionally digital camera shots and it works like a charm for web presentation. If you spell out the problems, the collective mind might be able to make some suggestions.

Thanks Harley-

When I click Save for Web, the image gets significantly altered, notably with regards to saturation. It seems to really compress the image and make it less colorful. I over-saturate the image prior to doing this but it changes from one image to the next. I can check ICC profile to add my sRGB profile and prevent this but then I'm back to square one. One image ends up being 180K and the next say, 350K. No compression level seems to work for all images.

Here is the process I use in Photoshop CS2.

• Flatten the image

• Resize to the appropriate pixel dimensions

• Convert to 8 bit mode

• Convert to profile selecting sRGB

• Save for web

In the "Save For Web" dialog there is a small arrow that reveals a drop down menu. Select "Optimize To File Size..." and enter the desired file size in the box that pops up.

If the original CS doesn't have "Optimize To File Size..." in the "Save For Web" dialog you'll have to play with the compression for each image.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Mark

Mark-

That did it. It's hidden under the drop-down menu in the upper right.

Thanks a million!

MC

Did you try the image script processor to resize the image? It's an easier tool than the "Save for Web" function in PS. It doesn't seem to introduce any problems in the image and the files come out 100-200+ Kbytes at 400x600 (35mm) or 480x600 (4x5). Just a thought.

I was having major saturation problems as well. My images went dead flat when posted on the web.

I changed my workflow to:

Flatten image
Convert to sRGB
Convert to 8 bit
Resize
Sharpen
Save for Web.

My saturation problems went away.

BTW, when resizing for monitor/web display, it doesn't matter how many DPI you set the image to. Only the pixel dimensions count.

Another thread posed an issue about newbies & reaction to some one whose conversations centered on using switching of digital formats to produce a LF style format. Although it didn't seem to produce much interest, I was thinking that the reverse engineering => producing small format (files) to produce the LF image could be used to form smaller cross-sections which would enlarge when mouse over or clicked to produce local magnification while reducing the bandwidth useage?
What I do is work on the image at high dpi then save it to file (non-compressed format) then resize to web dpi & save as jpeg. Afterward I check properties to insure file size is viable for web useage.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Clay Turtle

. . . . . producing small format (files) to produce the LF image could be used to form smaller cross-sections which would enlarge when mouse over or clicked to produce local magnification while reducing the bandwidth useage?
What I do is work on the image at high dpi then save it to file (non-compressed format) then resize to web dpi & save as jpeg. Afterward I check properties to insure file size is viable for web useage.

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You might find Zoomify interesting. This is one way you can share some higher resolution on the internet. I believe that Adobe PhotoShop CS3 includes the Zoomify Plug-in.

On the basis of editing, the old LivePicture software handled very large files (up to 2GB or 4GB, cannot recall exactly though it was operating system limited) in real time editing. The process and file type were proprietary. Unfortunately the company was bought out for their other software, and LivePicture stopped being further developed. I still have the last version running under Classic in OS X 10.3.9 on my G4. Anyway, I only mention it as a curiousity.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio