Posting Print Scans

[ChrisW]

For lack of a more appropriate venue, I have chosen to posit my question on this forum.

When uploading images for the galleries, I am asked to limit the size of the image to 650x650. My current print scan files contain scans at 6000x6000 and are around 3 MB each. Is there a way to reduce my existing images to the 650 range? Normally I would not hesitate to re scan, but in some cases it would mean reprinting as well. Lazy, lazy.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

What software package are you using to process your scans? Virtually all image editors have a resizing function of one label or another.

 

[ChrisW]

I use a Canon CanoScan LIDE 30 on a Mac OSX, and can access an old version of Photoshop Elements.

 

[Will S]

resize it in elements using the "save for web" option. That is the easiest way.

Best,

Will

 

[ChrisW]

TFC and Will, thanks for the help. I did find the resize option and the save for web. The resize killed the image, and the save for web told me my original file is too big. It is becoming clear I may have to re scan all images.

Thanks again.

 

[Ole]

The free IrfanView is my preferred way of reducing for posting. Download it from www.irfanview.com , very simple to use. You can "batch process" - resize a whole folder, rename the resulting files, apply a touch of sharpen and a gamma tweak, and save the results in a new folder.

It also has some nice features for building websites - like mine.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Resize it in steps, about 50% at a time, and if you can resharpen slightly after each step in decreasing increments, you can get the small version to look more like the original.

 

[catem]

Before you 'save for web' you need to resize your image.

In Photoshop Elements go to Image > Image Size and you will get a dialogue box on screen. Change the pixel dimensions to the ones you want. It doesn't matter about the resolution (though lots of people change to 72ppi). Check the 'resample image' box and select 'bicubic'. Click 'O.K.'

Then save for web - there are various file formats to choose from, and you get a preview of how your resized image will look at different qualities.

You may want to use some unsharp mask last thing - go to Filter > Sharpen> Unsharp Mask. For a small jpeg with a filesize of around 100kb choose a percentage of between 50 - 150, and a radius of about 0.3 (you can experiment).

Cate

 

[ChrisW]

Yup, the resize works if I take it in steps and ask for maximum quality.

Ole, I will download IrfanView post haste.

Many thanks all.

Chris

 

[catem]

Yup, the resize works if I take it in steps and ask for maximum quality.

Chris

Are you using Elements 2? You can re-size in one step and with 'bicubic' there should be no need to re-size/sharpen in increments especially from a relatively small starting filesize.(3mb is quite small) I believe you can also set up batch processing in Elements if you want, but I have the full version so am not sure...(used to use elements 2 but didn't do any batch processing with it at the time)


It really should be straightforward once you've worked it out ...
Good luck
Cate

 

[ChrisW]

Cate, thanks for the guidance. It worked with one step. Alas, no batching on my ancient version.

Chris