How do I get posted photos to look better?

[tmonatr]

I see the photos posted on this site, and I wonder how they still look so good given the restrictions for pixels and file size. When I try to save a picture for posting, it looks terrible (not sharp and a ton of compression artifacts). What am I doing wrong? I save in Elements 3.0 with Save For Web. I lower the pixels, then the quality to meet the restrictions, but the picture then looks bad. What is up?

[kevin_c]

Save the image to your own web space or photo hosting site and simply link to it within your post - This way you can make them larger than 100k (but still no more than 800px wide!!)

Still bear in mind some people still use dial-up, so don't make them too large - certainly unser 200k if poss I'd say
I post mine about 600-700px wide and around 150-180k usually and get pretty good quality.

For example...

http://www.clapcott.com/potn/gg002.jpg

This is 630px wide and only 128k

[Choderboy]

What Kevin said.
Not everyone considers dial up users as much as Kevin , so check file sizes of linked pics you are impressed with and you may find they are 200-300KB.

[Beau Hudspeth]

You can always look HERE (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=265690) as well as doing the above. ;)

[Hellashot]

If you are saving files under 100kb to attach to this site, that could be your problem. People have their own photo sites that pictures on here are direct linked to that are over 100kb and thus look better. Plus whenever you resize a picture you need to resharpen it.

[Curtis N]

Try reducing the pixels a bit further. Perhaps 600 x 400 rather than 800 x 533. This alone wil cut the file size in half. Most shots that size will compress to under 100kb without significant quality loss unless they are highly detailed (images with a lot of detail are more difficult to compress).

Sharpen after resizing, not before. Use a radius of 0.5 pixels or less.

As mentioned, finding another place to host your files may be the easiest option.

[SgWRX]

doesn't save for web mean it converts it to a gif file with limited colors?

[kevin_c]

doesn't save for web mean it converts it to a gif file with limited colors?

No - You can save as JPG, GIF or PNG (just drop the menu down to see them ;) ) It strips out any meta data and allows you to vary the compression more precisely.

This site explains a bit more:

http://www.elated.com/articles/the-save-for-web-feature/