I am still in a fog over what appears to be a simple matter. I am trying to figure out how to reduce the size of my photos for e-mail. I have read about compression & size reduction but cannot figure out how to do it without simple cropping and loosing parts of the image. I have a Sony FD 95 an it has an e-mail setting which is fine for getting the idea across, but the image quality is poor. I am looking to be able to reduce fairly good quality images to send to my friends who do not mind waiting for the downloads in order to see a nice shot. I have Windows 982nd and an array of different editing programs that come with every new piece of hardware that I buy. I generally use the entry level Photoshop that came with the scanner (I think), but I also use Genotypes, the Iomega program, Arcsoft and others. I really cannot decide on what software to keep until I solve the above. Thanks for your suggestions. Larry

-- Larry Yerxa (larz@cybertours.com), July 18, 2000

Answers

Hi again Larry, heard any good codswallop lately?

Down to biz. In Photoshop, click on Image, go down to image size and click on it. You should now have the resizing menu box open in front of you, and it should show you the present size and resolution of your image. Make sure that the boxes at the bottom marked "Constrain proportions", and "Resample image" are ticked. Then just reduce the number of pixels in either the height or width box at the top of the menu. For instance, say it says your image is 1024 wide by 768 high, if you overwrite the width with 800, then the height should automatically change to 600. (This size is about right for a reasonable quality image on a monitor) Set the height or width to whatever you want it to be and click "OK". A moment later the image on screen should re-size itself. You may want to use the sharpen filter if you've reduced the image size a lot. Now select "Save as..." from the file menu and save it in JPEG format under another file name, otherwise you'll overwrite your original file. Attach the file to your e-mail and send it. Clear as mud, I hope.

The other image editors should have similar resizing menus, but I rarely use anything except Photoshop myself.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), July 18, 2000.

In photoshop you can set a fixed target size for the crop tool. Set it at 800X600 or whatever you wish. With the fixed target size box checked, if you crop the image, it will be automatically resampled to the size you selected. Remember to save it with a different file name than your original or the original image will be lost. Its quick and effective

-- Jonathan Ratzlaff (jonathanr@clrtech.com), July 18, 2000.

Thanks for the great anwsers, guys, but it seems I goofed in my initial query. I have Adobe Photo Deluxe, Not Photoshop. I took you suggestions and applied them to all the software that I have and still cannot accomplish my task. The closest I come is that PhotoDeluxe seems to allow me to reduce the image, but will only save it in it's own file format. I cannot rename it and save it to my folders of disk. it seems to save the whole program. How much does the Photoshop software cost? Larry

-- Larry Yerxa (larz@cybertours.com), July 18, 2000.

Sorry about the misspellings, there is a mondo thunderstorm coming in and I'm trying to get off this desk mounted lightning rod.

larry

-- Larry Yerxa (larz@cybertours.com), July 18, 2000.

Most editing programs have either a help file or a manual. Try looking for "resize" or "resizing" and see what comes up. If that fails, try "resolution", "cropping", "compression", or "Jpeg".

Often you'll find the compression settings on the menu that pops up when you select "Save As" and select Jpeg as the file format you wish to save the new file under. Make sure you use at least a slightly different name than the original file name. Some programs let you select the compression level on a numeric scale or pick from a list of descriptive(?) terms like Fine, High, Normal, Basic, etc. The trick is to "save as" to create the new file and then close it and reopen it to examine the changes due to compression.(some programs do not automatically re-render the on screen representation to reflect the compression used to save the file) If you go too far on the compression, you can go back to the original file and start over again with a lower level of compression. Generally speaking you can compress files between 8 and 12X's without seeing any obvious artifacts. (Bear in mind that most camera's produce jpegs with between 4:1 and 12:1 compression in the Best or Fine and Normal modes right out of the camera) For email, a 640x480 or 800x600 image is usually sufficient to give a good impression. If you're looking for quality, be prepared to upload and download larger files.

-- Gerald M. Payne (gmp@surferz.net), July 19, 2000.

I have been using ulead photo express.When i select share,and then e- mail,it sends a jpeg,and the original tif is still saved in the album file

-- Brad Miller (bonnieheath@sympatico.ca), August 25, 2000.