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October 19, 2006
[ SIZE MATTERS ]
EVER HAD YOUR EMAIL INBOX STUFFED UP when a pal has sent too many pictures that are too big and the ISP blames you?
Or worse yet, have you ever stuffed up a pal’s email box by thoughtlessly sending ten pictures of your Bali trip straight from the camera?
The most frequent plea for help that comes to dpexpert is to do with email overload due to huge picture files. This is particularly a problem when a broadband user sends untreated picture files to a dial-up user. Keeping files at a manageable size is basic internet etiquette.
A picture file straight from the 6 megapixel Canon IXUS 800is is about 1.3MB in size. That is far too large for a casual email transmission. If you send four or five such files a dial-up surfer will take most of the day to download them, always supposing that the ISP will allow it.
The simplest free application that makes resizing a doddle is the little program Irfanview. (www.irfanview.com) This is essentially an image viewer which dpexpert uses as the default program to instantly open images but it also has some editing functions, one being image resizing.
Open the image in Irfanview, click on Image on the toolbar and then select Resize/Resample. In the dialogue box tick Preserve Aspect Ratio and, if necessary, change the DPI to 72. Then in Set New Size type 640 pixels for Width.
It is important not to save the file over the original so always select File/Save As and in the Save As Type drop-down choose JPG. Then give the file a new name. Tick the Show Options selection and in the side dialogue box move the Quality slider to 70.
The new file size will be somewhere between 25 and 50Kb, depending on subject matter and fine detail. This is perfect for emailing.
Both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements have an option under File to Save for Web. First resize the image to something like 640 pixels wide and then choose File/Save for Web. When this is selected a display of multiple images comes up showing the picture quality at different degrees of JPG compression. Click on the picture that appears the best compromise of size and quality and then choose Save and give the file a new name.
Serif PhotoPlus 6 is a free image editing program that mimics PhotoShop in its basic functions. The difference with this program is that when it comes to saving the resized image it is done via File/Export, not Save As. Click on Optimizer, choose JPG from the drop-down and use the quality slider to adjust the output size.
File size is determined by the original image dimensions, usually measured in pixels; the resolution expressed as DPI (dots per inch); the degree of compression (JPG is a compressed format in which some picture quality is sacrificed in order to produce smaller files -- the size/quality compromise is controlled with a slider) and the detail in the picture. Images with a lot of fine detail do not compress as well as those with large areas of solid colour -- there is nothing you can do about that, it is simply a factor.
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MORE ON RESIZING...
Helpful readers have drawn my attention to the splendid Microsoft Image Resizing Powertoy
This is such a ripper little doodad -- and it's free -- that it really makes all of the foregoing superfluous. You downnload and install this Powertoy and it installs an option in the Right Click Context dropdown menu called Resize Pictures. You select the preferrerd size from three options that are geared to screen sizes -- 640x480, 800x600 or 1024x768 pixels. My preferred size for email is 800x600 regardless of the size of the destination display. The only thing the PowerToy doesn't do is provide user control over the degree of JPEG compression, but as a one-click image resize routine it is excellent.
Many thanks to those who have pointed me in the direction of this PowerToy. While you're on the PowerToy page do look at Mr Gates' other offerings -- there are a lot of useful mini-applications here including one that is necessary to display thumbnails of RAW images in open folders.
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Posted by terry at October 19, 2006 05:29 AM
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Comments
A good article and one that is not too late with the rush of digital cameras hitting the shelves these days....there is however, another and I think better alternative (for those using XP) to that mentioned and that is the Image Resizer power toy available for free from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
This small too allows you to right click on an image file and select the resize option to alter the size of the image to small (640x480)and large (1024x678). There is an option to convert to a size that is compatible with handeld devices as well as a custom option. There are a couple of others that are less used but just as handy.
This little app works with all types of images from JPG, GIF, TIFF, BMP and PNG.
Posted by: col at October 19, 2006 08:58 AM
Had another thought regarding large files and not just images...as most ISP's these days offer webmail as standard, I, even though I have had ADSL (still 512k at this stage) for a while still use it when a large file begins to download as some of my rellies like to send photos that are well over 1 meg. I find it is often better to log onto webmail, view the email and get an idea of the size and sometimes download it from there (if you do download it then remember to delete the email)....then send a message back politely asking them to reduce the size of any more images.
cheers
col
Posted by: col at October 19, 2006 11:58 PM
I'd like to recommend Picasa. I use PS and PSE for other things, but for quick and dirty enhance and sending photos by email its by far the best for the average user. You simply select images, press the email button and a message is opened with your photos automatically resized according to how you've selected in options. It's intuitive and straightforward and most people I've shown it to now use it themselves. I also like the fact that photos are only changed within picasa retaining your originals like negatives (although you can save an enhanced version if you wish), meaning that you're not at risk of losing details with each edit.
Posted by: JIll at October 20, 2006 06:34 AM
In my opinion the quickest and easiest way to send jpegs by email (on the PC) is to select the pictures in Windows Explorer that you want to send, right click and select 'send by email'. It then gives you an option to 'make all my pictures smaller'.
It makes them about 40k which is fine for most purposes, and there's no need to open any other application, or do anything to pictures one at a time.
This works for me on Win XP Home with a standard intallation, so I don't think anything special needs to be done for this to be possible.
I use Photoshop and Irfanview all the time, but this is the quickest way to do this that I've found.
Posted by: katharine shade at October 20, 2006 07:38 AM