Oh no... just arrived at the next hurdle!

[kazzie]

Things were going so well... I've taken some pictures of my young neice and my sister has asked me to email them to her. Something is not right!

With my old digicam, I could take a pic, save it and post it on this page and it would automatically be the right size. How do I achieve the same with this new Rebel? Do I have to fiddle with every photo to reduce the size? If so... what would be the appropriate size? I haven't a clue what I'm doing here :?

The photo attachment to sis's email is obviously massive because it's taking ages to send.

Sorry to be a pain. I really appreciate any help on this.

Kaz

[maderito]

So that folks can reply:

What kind of camera do you have?
What kind of computer? (Windows XP, Mac OS, other)
Do you have any image editing software?

In the meantime, check out the free utility infranview (http://www.irfanview.com/) which makes it easy to resize images.

[kazzie]

Thank you for the prompts Woody.

The camera is a 300D (Rebel). I have Windows XP and have installed the Abode Photoshop Elements 2.0 (which came with the camera).

I am embarrassed to admit that I have made a clanger! I had absolutely no idea when I purchased this camera, about the amount of research and learning required in order to successfully complete simple tasks e.g. email a photo!

Anyway, I am always game for a challenge, but am being hindered by the terminology. I keep getting uncomfortable flash-backs of my chemistry lessons at school where I couldn't comprehend anything the teacher was saying... within seconds I would be experiencing an involuntary mental block before reaching coma stage by the end of the lesson. Oh well... deja vu!

I must get my head around this!

Thank you

Kaz

[maderito]

I must get my head around this!

We've all been there. :twisted:

Probably the first thing I had to wrap my head around when switching to digital were the issues and terms related to pixels, resolution, dpi, ppi, and more. It can't be explained simply. You have to fool around with it for a while. Understanding develops - slowly in my case. You can read this (http://www.photo.net/learn/resize/) which will also help you with Photoshop re-sizing.

In the meantime, to re-size an image for e-mail:

- Open an image in Photoshop
- Open the image size dialogue (Image/Image size)
- Check the boxes "constrain proportions" and "resample image"
- Select the "bilinear" option for resample image
- In "pixel dimensions" change the width to 600 pixels for a landscape mode image; 400 for a portrait mode image. That will give you a height of 400 or 600 pixels (assuming you didn't crop the original image first to a different width:height ratio). This image will fit on most monitor screens.
- Click OK.
- In the Navigator pallette (Window/Navigator) increase the viewing size of the image to 100%. This is the image size you're sending out.
- SAVE AS a JPEG (File/Save As) and give the file a different name.
- Use a JPEG "quality" setting of 8 which will give you a file size of about 50K (down from the original 1MB+ image file).

You can e-mail this saved image to friends without overloading their e-mail boxes or hardrives.

You could also do this a bit more simply in Infranview. The principals are the same. There are also other not so little details related to re-sizing and saving images that I haven't mentioned. Youl'll get to them in good time. :)

Welcome to the forum. . . and please share some images. :P :P

[John_T]

Since you have PSE2 Kaz, a little simpler might be to open the pic in PSE2 and either, under the File menu or the icons at the top, choose Attach to E-mail selecting Auto-adjust, or choose Save for Web where you can very exactly adjust the image size and/or the file size. You can then save the image and attach it to the e-mail.

I would try both to see what suited me best. Save for Web gives you the most control, and both leave the original image as it was. Check it out.

[RoB_m]

you'll want to reduce the image resolution to 72dpi. 72 is the dpi of all computer monitors. anything more is a waiste.

the way i do it:
open image > goto image size > change the dpi to 72 first because it will scale down the picture. after that, go to the heighth and width and make it smaller or larger if you want. click ok and save for the web. that should be all you have to do to make them web ready.

always change the dpi first though. it'll save you a lot of headaches.

[dn7elson]

you'll want to reduce the image resolution to 72dpi. 72 is the dpi of all computer monitors.

Modern, high resolution monitors are 96 dpi/ppi. The old SVGA ones are 72dpi/ppi or if you happen to run VGA or SVGA on a high res monitor you can also get there.

I am running native resolution of 1600x1200 on a 20.1" LCD that is marginally wider than 16" which puts it right at the 96 dpi mark.

Given the wide range of monitor sizes and possible resolutions, the PPI can vary.

[kazzie]

Thank you again.

I'll have a bash at resizing tonight (after I've watched England getting thrashed by Portugal in Euro 2004 :roll: ).

This weekend I'll have a serious go at getting acquainted with PSE2. Once I've done this, I might be brave enough to post a pic somewhere (probably on the pond forum I visit - not quite ready to be totally humiliated on here yet!).

Many thanks.

Kaz

[dn7elson]

I might be brave enough to post a pic somewhere (probably on the pond forum I visit - not quite ready to be totally humiliated on here yet!).

Note that there are 2 separate forum areas to post pictures here. One is for Critique, the other is for Sharing. The latter is just what it says and is where you should not be afraid to post even if "you can't take rejection" :lol: as it is a friendly bunch.

The Critique area is also generally a friendly bunch, but is geared much more toward comments, suggestions and, well yes, criticism.

In any event, post just an image or two to start, not a whole gallery and you will find the experience well worth the effort.

[DC]

you'll want to reduce the image resolution to 72dpi. 72 is the dpi of all computer monitors.

Modern, high resolution monitors are 96 dpi/ppi. The old SVGA ones are 72dpi/ppi or if you happen to run VGA or SVGA on a high res monitor you can also get there.

I am running native resolution of 1600x1200 on a 20.1" LCD that is marginally wider than 16" which puts it right at the 96 dpi mark.

Given the wide range of monitor sizes and possible resolutions, the PPI can vary.

Please don't confuse the girl....

PC Monitors do not have dpi, ppi or any other kind of pi. They only have a resolution: x pixels by y pixels.

See this article that explains why :)

http://www.scantips.com/no72dpi.html

[dn7elson]

PC Monitors do not have dpi, ppi or any other kind of pi. They only have a resolution: x pixels by y pixels.

Sorry to disagree, but where there are pixels and dimensions, there are PPI. It has nothing to do with the internal printing dpi in an image.

Monitor PPI relates to the total width (and depth) of pixels and the total width (and depth) of the screen. This relates to screen resolution. If you have a screen that is 16 inches wide and are running a resolution of 1600x1200, you have a ppi of 100, unrelated to any printing resolution that the image might show, which is for printing purposes only.

[DC]

PC Monitors do not have dpi, ppi or any other kind of pi. They only have a resolution: x pixels by y pixels.

Sorry to disagree, but where there are pixels and dimensions, there are PPI. It has nothing to do with the internal printing dpi in an image.

Monitor PPI relates to the total width (and depth) of pixels and the total width (and depth) of the screen. This relates to screen resolution. If you have a screen that is 16 inches wide and are running a resolution of 1600x1200, you have a ppi of 100, unrelated to any printing resolution that the image might show, which is for printing purposes only.

I could go into a long diatribe about how video card resolution is not related in any way shape or form to a monitor, but this isn't the right topic, forum or even website.

So I guess we'll agree to disagree :)

[kazzie]

Well I have spend a bit of time finding my way around PSE2... please bear with me. Following the helpful posts, I think I have finally sussed out the sizing issue. Now to see if its worked:

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0TQClApIYweGq2Q6flOB5oJltWIcrpTGHPXPhkOZqJGJzPE*xu g!mo0yQhvCi1dXXSVwgDW1!nLvH2JAZVLm6XWzmFrqeYnlfswH PNi1XdVV0dLuFDV1HYw/Elatesting.jpg?dc=4675477975258465360

Hmmm... I can see I've lost loads of quality - set it at 8. Do I need to sharpen or something?

Sorry about this.

Many thanks

Kaz

[maderito]

Nice shot of a pretty young lady!

Some people are quite particular about how they downsize and then sharpen images. But most agree that you need to do some sharpening.

I would try UnSharp Mask (USM) with settings of radius=0.5, amount=100%, and threshold=0. I use these settings for images I post to the web when I'm not super concerned about getting a perfect result.

I'll leave some space below for a hundred other opinions and approaches to this straightforward, everyday problem. :)

[kazzie]

Thanks Woody... I'm giving that a try now!

Kaz

[kazzie]

Well I followed your instructions and something is not quite right:

Firstly, the threshold would not accept 0.1. A box appeared saying 'An integer between 0 and 255 is required. Closest value is inserted'. Crazy eh? Anyway, the lowest value permitted was 1.

Ok... so I have used the following settings: radius 0.5, amount 100% and threshhold 1.

The result - the poor kid looks like she is going grey at 5 years of age!!! What am I doing wrong?

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0RgAZA9cVvxmmmMs1CzJDr4XdRqe3W9MZb927dfV*000sNpx!7 UeW1*3VlEszGCCtKCCWJDaeymIF!dRtL4u*lMVU8KNFRDzDjMs o0sAr6x8/usm.jpg?dc=4675477983687461165

[maderito]

Oops - that hair looks a little frosty. :shock:

Cut back the USM amount -- maybe to 50.

And maybe that setting for JPEG image quality should be 10. :?

You might also experiment with a little added contrast using Image>Brightness/Contrast to give the image a some pop.

Practice makes perfect. :) :)

If all the above fails, we'll have to turn this project over to the downsizing pros on the forum.

[kazzie]

Thanks again... if nothing else, I am gaining in confidence to simply 'fiddle' in PSE2.

Kaz

[Andy_T]

Kazzie,

nice pic and have fun at playing around with your pictures ...

... after all, you *do* have time now in the evenings when the rest of Europe (with the exception of England, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, ...) is busy watching the EM finals :lol:

Best regards,
Andy

[macke]

All the answers that you've gotten are good. However, if all you want to do is to do a quick re-size for sending the image in e-mail, and now fussing too much about colour balance, sharpening and the like, XP has a pretty nifty feature to it.

When you select the picture, on the left hand part of the screen you will have a collection of icons. One will be of an envelope with the link e-mail this picture. When you click on this icon, it will prompt you to send the image as is (size-wise) or to reduce the size. Select reduce size and it will automatically reduce it to 640px max, perfect for the quick e-mail.

--max

[kazzie]

Thank you again for the encouragement and advice.

I do have another question: This evening I nipped out into the garden to take a 'not very interesting' dusk shot. I've just looked at the photo and strange a 'globe' of light has appeared in the picture. Is this normal?

Kaz

[macke]

Thank you again for the encouragement and advice.

I do have another question: This evening I nipped out into the garden to take a 'not very interesting' dusk shot. I've just looked at the photo and strange a 'globe' of light has appeared in the picture. Is this normal?

Kaz

Kaz, sounds like flare... Try this one out for a more thorough explanation.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-03-01-12.shtml

[kazzie]

Thank you Mac... that was an interesting link. Still leaves me puzzled though... my 'globe' looks like a white football hovering a few inches above the lawn. There was no light source (dark area of the garden). Oh well... maybe I should head for a paranormal forum... I've heard all about these strange globes :roll:

Kaz

[stopbath]

The original downsized photo looked good. No real urgent need to bother sharpening it. It's an e-mail image...

As for the 'globe' in the dusk shot. Could be a bug flittering by in front of the lens. Could be a reflection off something (bottle cap?). If the flash was used, then I would guess it's just dust floating in the air (which comes out as a ghostly little sphere.)