Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Design and Content : optimizing images

[marhamat]

We have a variety of car images that are coming out too big off the digital camera. As we will be working with a lot of images now and in the future I am wondering how the best way is to optimize images? Is there a service out there that does this?

[rrdega]

What imaging software do you have? I know Photoshop has real nice features for this, as well as Paint Shop Pro...

I don't have the full Photoshop as yet (saving my pennies...), but Photoshop Elements (free with the Epson 2400 Scanner) has a nice optimizing feature as a part of the Save for Web feature...

And in JASC's Paint Shop Pro (free 30 day eval available for download) the optimizer is built into the Export feature...

[rrdega]

As an added thought, let me say that generally what you will need to do with images from Digital Cameras is to resize the image to the size you want on the website (never force the size by HTML only, as that does not reduce the data transfer from the server at all), and then save photos as JPEGs with a compression ratio of somewhere around 50... Once you have one of the programs I listed above, you can experiment with the compression ratios to get the saved image to the size in bytes you want, while not giving up too much quality...

Also, keep your original images... Save the ones to be uploaded to the web-server as a different name. Then if you ever want to come back and work on the image again, start with your original, and reapply your optimizations. Constantly applying optimizations to the same image over, and over again result in additional loss of quality.

[Shrill]

Yes, the best thing to do... like rrdega suggested above is to actually re-size the large images down to smaller sizes using the 'resample' or 'resize' functions within any decent graphics software.

Then use the 'sharpen' filter to get back a little crispness to the image after it's been resized down, and then the built in image optimization features (in Adobe PhotoShop you can use ImageReady or 'Save for Web...') this will then allow you to optimize the image for web use, playing around with different colour presets and image compression settings.

Most of these programs also will let you know the size of the image as it's being optimized, and will also often be able to compare (side-by-side) the original image and the new one you are creating... I believe PhotoShop 7's 'Save for Web...' feature also shows you the time it will take to download your image in it's current optimized state - which can be quite handy.

It’s often a personal judgment on quality verses size at the end of the day, but if you follow these general steps you can’t go far wrong, and should come up with an image that is greatly reduced in filesize for web viewing or otherwise.

[1AsianChic]

yes Adobe Photoshop will do the job

[BowlingShoe]

Or if you're just resizing and don't have PS/PSP, try irfanview.. it's free, small, and convenient for resizing/cropping.

[Mekhu]

www.gifcruncher.com

Also a jpeg cruncher on their site.

[WildCard]

I think PSP has a batch processor included, doesn't it? Then if you have 500 pics, you just tell PSP to resize the whole batch and convert to JPG, etc.

I've never done it, I could be wrong, but I think I read about that at PSP's webpage at www.jasc.com a way's back.

Hope it helps-
-Wc-

[AdidasROXX]

also, dont forget about the DPI. like for my camera, it shoots at 300DPI, but if I decide to use it for web graphics, of course I optimize it down to 72DPI, since 72 and 300 makes no different on the web.

[VRonline]

If you are using Adobe Photoshop, and using these images on the web, here are some suggestions.

- Firstly make sure your resolution is at max 100 px/inch, Photoshop recommends 72px/inch but it have changed.

- Try and get your images as small as possible and dont leave it too html or whatever to resize them.

- When saving, choose File > Save as for web. Since you are saving full colour images, I'd recommend going for a jpeg. So choose jpeg as the saving format. Select "Optimized" and lower the quality to around 80 (see if you can go lower, but from that point, your image will begin to dither. Make sure "PRogressive" and "ICC Profile" are unselected.


Good luck