Photoshop resample setting?

[fwhitesides]

What setting do you guys (and gals) use for resampling/resizing in Photoshop?

ie - Bicubic, Bilinear, Nearest Neighbor, etc.

[maderito]

I use bicubic interpolation for most work (the standard recommendation). When used for downsampling, you need to re-sharpen the image with USM.

Nearest neighbor is reserved for special effects when you intentionally want to empahsize undesirable image features - e.g. noise, jagged edges, etc.

The improvement of bicubic over bilinear is fairly obvious if you do side-by-side comparisons in areas of image detail. The bicubic method (a so-called bicubic spline) uses more image pixel data in its computations than the simpler (and faster) bilinear technique.

Photoshop CS has a 2 additional options: "bicubic sharper" intended for downsampling and "bicubic smoother" intended for upsampling. I haven't used them.

[scottbergerphoto]

I agreee with bicubic for upsizing and Scott Kelby recommends upsizing only 110% at a time(increase 10%). For downsizing I leave resampling unchecked, also as recommended by Scott Kelby.
Scott

[maderito]

For downsizing I leave resampling unchecked, also as recommended by Scott Kelby.
Scott

Agreed. (Hard to disagree with Kelby). But ... if you resize without resampling, you are not really downsizing. In the context of printing, you're simply sending the same image data to the printer at a higher resolution (pixels per inch). The size of the image (in pixels or bytes) hasn't changed.

This works out OK for printing, but when you need to resize images for the web, you definitely need to downsize with resampling.

[scottbergerphoto]

For downsizing I leave resampling unchecked, also as recommended by Scott Kelby.
Scott

Agreed. (Hard to disagree with Kelby). But ... if you resize without resampling, you are not really downsizing. In the context of printing, you're simply sending the same image data to the printer at a higher resolution (pixels per inch). The size of the image (in pixels or bytes) hasn't changed.

This works out OK for printing, but when you need to resize images for the web, you definitely need to downsize with resampling.
Agreed. When I save for the web, in PSE2, I go to File>Save for Web. That allows me to choose the type of file, quality(resolution), size, etc.
Scott

[w10d]

I agreee with bicubic for upsizing and Scott Kelby recommends upsizing only 110% at a time(increase 10%). For downsizing I leave resampling unchecked, also as recommended by Scott Kelby.
Scott

I had been using this 'stair interpolation' for awhile, mostly when needing to make large increases in file size (not often!). But I've been very impressed with the new 'bicubic smoother' option in PS CS, and I believe Adobe has improved all of the bicubic options in CS.

Although I haven't done any direct tests myself, I have heard several PS users say they have given up using stair interpolation since getting CS, as the bicubic smoother works so well on it's own.

[ecobo]

I use bicubic for interpolate photos. My limit for intepolation magifying is 300% in file size. I use it very rarely, but it realy works for me. The secret is to apply a Despeckle filter before the intepolation to obtain smoother details - it is the same when you use Bicubic smoother option in CS.