Resizing Images

We've all received that photo in an email where a huge, hairy nostril (or some such thing) is staring back at us. Very irritating.  Worse yet, are you the guilty party who might be sending these gargantuan files?

Today's cameras are capable of giving us wonderfully, huge images which are great for printing. However any image that you plan to show on the screen, be it email or posting on a website, can be reduced to a fraction of the original file size and still show beautifully.  The human eye will never know the difference and it will also load in a fraction of the time.

I've been resizing images forever and it really hadn't occurred to me to do a "How To" on the subject.  However thinking back, this is probably the number one thing people have asked me to show them.  Pretty basic stuff, but if you're new to photo editing it's definitely something you need to know.

If you've read my previous posts you know that I'm using Photoshop Elements and that I never, never, never recommend altering your original image.  The first thing I always do after opening an image in Elements is go to "File" - "Duplicate".  Then close and put your original away for safe keeping.  OK, so now you've got a full size, duplicated image on your screen. Let's get started...

Above is my original (duplicated) image straight out of the camera.  It's a 2.87 MB file measuring 4912 x 3264 pixels - or roughly a 14 x 9" image at 350 ppi (pixels per inch).  Note -it's not legible in the above screen shot, but in the snippet below you can see that in order to fit the entire image in my work area it automatically opened at less than 20% (right above where the "image size" dialog box is). More on this later.

The fact that it's 350 ppi means that it is going to be MUCH larger on the screen than the 14 x 9" since screen resolution is more along the lines of 72 or 96 ppi.

Now go to "Image", select "Resize" and then "Image Size".  

On the left is the dialog box that opens showing my current file information.  Make sure that all 3 check boxes are checked.  Then on the right you can see what happens when changing the resolution from 350 to 72 (standard resolution for website viewing). The width & height have been reduced drastically as it pertains to pixels, yet our actual document size in inches remains the same.  In other words, we have just reduced the file size dramatically, but you've now got an image that will display correctly at approximately 14 x 9" (or whatever your original started out as). This is still a pretty big image for most purposes, so you may want to take it a step further.

Keeping all the boxes checked, go up to the pixel dimensions. Since we have "Constrain Proportions" checked, it will only be necessary to change either the width or the height. The other will adjust automatically.  At 72 ppi, a width of 600 px's gives us an image that will display at approximately 8 x 5".  Or you may want to go 800 px's wide or whatever.  My point being that something in this range is a much more manageable size to send via email, especially if you're sending multiple images.  It's also plenty big for posting to facebook*, etc.  So decide on a size and hit "OK".

*If you're a facebook junkie, please read the comments section at the bottom of this post for an update to this info.

And WHOOPS!  You now see a tiny, barely recognizable, little image.  Before you start cursing at me, note that Elements is still displaying your image at less than 20%.  This pretty well illustrates just how much you have reduced the file size.  To now see your image at the true size you have reduced it to, simply grab your zoom tool and increase the image to 100%.  

Voila! At 100% my image is now displaying on the screen at that approximate size of 8 x 5" that I had chose.  It's worth noting here that once your image is displayed on the web, the size will appear slightly different on different monitors. This is due to the fact that monitors come in and can be set at different resolutions.  Not to worry - regardless you now have an image that is not obnoxiously large.

Now rather than doing a "File" - "Save" or "Save As", I select "File" - "Save for Web".

The above dialog box will open giving you the option to set the quality.  I find that a JPEG set at anything around 80% or above is excellent.  This "Save for Web" step further optimizes your image for the web and removes some of the file information.  The viewing dimensions remain the same, but your file size has been reduced even further, making loading just that much faster.

Whew!  For something I consider pretty basic information, this just might be my longest post yet - and I still don't know that I've explained it all that well.  If you've got any questions please leave them via a comment and I'll do my best to respond.

Are You Trigger Happy?

"... it's a Camera, not a Machine Gun!"

This is one of the best bits of photography advice I've come across lately.  It was tip #10 in a recent Digital Photography School website feature - "Ten Quick and Easy Tips to Improve Your Photography"*.

"Unless you are taking action shots or a time lapse series, try to reduce the number of shots.  Don't just fire away hoping for something good to appear during editing.  Think, move and adjust your framing before you click the shutter.  You'll develop better instincts and save hours of time editing those hundreds of extra images."

I truly do believe this is a great tip to "develop better instincts", but I have to confess it was "save hours of time editing those hundreds of extra images" that really hit home for me.  I'm definitely going to keep this in mind and hopefully will get the added bonus of both results!

*The DPS article was written by Amar Ramesh.  You can see some great examples of his photography on  his facebook page.  I especially like his shots of people.

Lens Hoods - Everything We Need to Know

Just a quick post to share an excellent video that popped up on facebook via DPS (Digital Photography School).  I had searched high and low for this info on the internet a while back and came up empty.  Then up pops this WONDERFUL video link on facebook.

I was doing a happy dance just to find out that most lens hoods are reversible - on the camera - for storage!  OMG!!!  All this time I've been removing mine and dangling it from the snap on my camera case.  I actually paused the video, went and grabbed my camera to give it a try.  Sure enough! 

Of course the information I was really after was why to use one style of hood over the other (since my camera came with both, but with no explanation).  And this video explains it all. Thank you DPS!!!

By the way, I have barely tapped the surface of this newly found resource of mine, but it appears to be a great place to get all kinds of tips.  If you're not already tuned into it, here are the links:

DPS Website

DPS on Facebook

Yipee! A BetterPhoto "Editor's Pick"

I just came in from my mid-afternoon break -walking the dogs in this glorious thing called 'sunshine'!- to discover that a recent entry I'd submitted to BetterPhoto.com, was awarded an "Editor's Pick".  The return of sunshine had already made my day, but this is the frosting on the cake!  WooHoo!!

Now that I'm done patting myself on the back, I'd like to show that this is an example of what you can often find in one of your ho-hum, not so terrific shots.  Before you discard an image take a second look and see if there might be a better image within the image.  Here is my original shot:

Obviously I'd made some lighting adjustments as well as the cropping.  The original wasn't all that bad, but after looking at it I really wanted to focus on the long swoop of the stamen.

So now with a smile on my face, I shall return to the ho-hum day job.  If I look hard enough maybe I can find a bit of frosting there as well!  Like it pays the bills, provides the medical, blah, blah, blah... ;)

In Camera Panoramas

Panoramas - Something I know next to nothing about, but I'm working on changing that.

Like lots of digital cameras, my Canon Elph compact has something called "stitch assist", which I've never had much luck with.  However in all fairness, I've not really spent any decent amount of time at it.  I just kind of played with it a time or two, didn't get any great results and moved on.  (Apparently I sometimes have a short attention span.)  Anyway my point is, it just might be a dandy little feature if I'd only give it a bit of a chance.

My Sony Nex5N has something called "sweep panorama".  Even though my love affair with this camera began more than a year ago, I'd never bothered to use it.  So while vacationing in Hawaii recently I decided to give it a go.  My first attempt was overlooking the Halemaumau Crater.  I carefully steadied the camera as I panned slowly from left to right.  I made several attempts - each time getting a nasty-gram from my beloved Sony - a horrible beeping noise with the message "move the camera from left to right".  Well dammit!  What did it think I was doing?!  I consult the help menu and again I'm told "move the camera from left to right".  After briefly questioning my abilities to know my left from my right, I set out to try again.  Well it just so happens that next to me some young 'fella with his smarty-pants phone is panning and he's just going lickety-split.  And it worked!  So I throw myself into 'overdrive' and finally my camera captures an image.  It turns out I was just underestimating technology and my camera was just wanting me to pick up the pace.

Now you can see above, this first attempt is not a roaring success.
It's very clear that I wasn't steady enough for the camera to match up the segments.

So I give it another try, moving quickly but steadier and tackling a little smaller area.

Not too bad.

A couple of days later while heading to the beach, I decided to try it again.

This time I got several decent panoramas and was able to pan a bit wider distance.  Success!

Of course by then I'm feeling pretty smug and decide I'll test things out going vertical instead of horizontal.  Well guess what?  No matter how many times I tried  - and at various speeds - I wasn't able to get one stink'n shot.  Not even a messy, zig-zag one like my first example...  Ah well, something for another day.