How best to SHRINK large digital photos for email file sizes
Eunice Santorini
My digital camera takes shots at 5 Megapixels, which in 'fine' mode,
typically produces photographs around 3,000 KB in size (which is two
orders of magnitude too large for proper emailing (i.e., < 100 KB).
Assuming the photo is NOT going to be printed, and assuming the photo
is simply to be elecrtonically viewed by family members (some of whom
are on 56K bit/sec modems) ...
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO SHRINK these large photos for emailing?
Below is my best attempt at deciphering the algorithm and the Windows
tools to use (free is best as we are NOT professionals).
PLEASE critique this note below so that we all benefit from your knowledge.
Let me know where I am wrong. Please give suggestions as to how to improve
the algorithm proposed below. All I want is the best free and easy method
to shrink photos to, say 50 KB or so, keeping the best possible picture.
Thanks,
Eunice
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tentative conclusions (based on a two-hour test as shown below):
A. Using JP2 allowed the SIMPLEST reductions to size; but was incompatible.
Reducing RESOLUTION (DPI or Pixels per inch) had little affect.
Reducing JPG QUALITY (from 100% to, say, 50%) has the largest affect.
B. Quartering the size & halving the quality produced VERY SMALL SIZED JPGs:
This reduced the file from 1920 x 2560 pixels (3,212 KB)
To: 480 x 640 pixels ( 36 KB)
C. Halving the size & quartering the quality produced VERY USABLE JPGs:
This reduced the file from 1920 x 2560 pixels (3,212 KB)
To: 960 x 1280 pixels ( 68 KB)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. One way to shrink photos for sending in email is to use JPEG 2000 format:
a) First download the free IrfanView v3.80 photo editor/viewer:
http://www.irfanview.com
b) Then, at the same site, download all the plugins, including the:
LuraTech Lurawave .jp2 JPEG 2000 Plug-in
(Register that plugin if you plan on resizing photos larger than 640x480.)
c) When you save as a JP2 file, you can compress to any desired size, e.g.,
10 x 1024 = 10240 bytes 20 x 1024 = 20480 bytes
30 x 1024 = 30720 bytes 40 x 1024 = 40960 bytes
50 x 1024 = 51200 bytes 60 x 1024 = 61440 bytes
70 x 1024 = 71680 bytes 80 x 1024 = 81920 bytes
90 x 1024 = 92160 bytes 100 x 1024 = 102400 bytes
Note: I've found 100x to be best; but 70x is acceptable for emailing.
These JP2 photos are VERY GOOD (even at this small size of 70 KB)!
However, the biggest problem with the JP2 format is folks might not have
a viewer (IrfanView views them just fine but Netscape 7.x does not) and
the plugin is not free (so we need a better free easy method than JP2).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Another way to shrink photos is to use IrfanView on JPG files alone:
a) First, resize the original JPG photo
Image->Resize/Resample->Current size = 1920 x 2560 pixels (3,212 KB)
Image->Resize/Resample->New size = 640 x 480 pixels (3,212 KB)
This reduced the file from 1920 x 2560 pixels (3,212 KB)
to: 640 x 853 pixels ( 443 KB)
using an IrfanView default JPEG Save Quality of 100%.
Still, that's too large to email normally.
b) One way to further shrink this is to reduce the JPEG Save Quality
to, say, 50%.
This reduced the file from 1920 x 2560 pixels (3,212 KB)
to: 640 x 853 pixels ( 58 KB)
using an IrfanView default JPEG Save Quality of 50%.
This gave acceptable results, it seemed.
c) Another way I could have shrunk this was to further reduce pixels:
Image->Resize/Resample->Current size = 1920 x 2560 pixels (3,212 KB)
Image->Resize/Resample->New size = 640 x 480 pixels (3,212 KB)
Then, to reduce further, press the "Half" button (as needed).
This reduced the file from 1920 x 2560 pixels (3,212 KB)
to: 640 x 853 pixels ( 443 KB)
to (by pressing "Half"): 320 x 427 pixels ( 124 KB)
using an IrfanView default JPEG Save Quality of 100%.
But, overall, I didn't like the quality of these results.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Another way to shrink photos for emailing is to use LView RESIZE:
a) First download the shareware LView Pro (I used 2002 1st Quarter) from:
http://www.lview.com
Note: LView Pro provides the functions: Resize, Redimension, & Resolution.
b) Resize the picture in LView (which is more of an editor than IrfanView):
Image->Resize->33% of 1920 = 633.6 pixels width
33% of 2560 = 844.8 pixels height
This reduced the file from 1920 x 2560 pixels (3,212 KB)
(at an Image Resolution of 300.000 pixels per inch)
to: 633.6 x 844.8 pixels ( 224 KB)
using an LView Pro default JPEG Compress Quality Factor of 95%
(resulting in an Image Resolution of 300.000 pixels per inch).
c) Again, when I lower the JPG quality factor, I get appreciable reduction:
Image->Resize->33% of 1920 = 633.6 pixels width
33% of 2560 = 844.8 pixels height
This reduced the file from 1920 x 2560 pixels (3,212 KB)
(at an Image Resolution of 300.000 pixels per inch)
to: 633.6 x 844.8 pixels ( 59 KB)
using an LView Pro default JPEG Compress Quality Factor of 50%
(resulting in an Image Resolution of 300.000 pixels per inch).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Another way to shrink photos for emailing is to use LView RESOLUTION:
a) First download the shareware LView Pro (I used 2002 1st Quarter) from:
http://www.lview.com
Note: LView Pro provides the functions: Resize, Redimension, & Resolution.
b) Change resolution in LView (which is more of an editor than IrfanView):
Image->Resolution->From: 300 pixels per inch (dpi)
To: 72 pixels per inch (dpi)
This reduced the file from 1920 x 2560 pixels (3,212 KB)
(at an Image Resolution of 300.000 pixels per inch)
to: 1920 x 2560 pixels (1,470 KB)
without any apparentt loss of clarity (the screen is 72dpi)
using an LView Pro default JPEG Compress Quality Factor of 50%
(resulting in an Image Resolution of 72 pixels per inch).
c) If I were to also resize the picture by half or so:
Image->Resolution->72 pixels per inch
Save as 100% JPEG Quality
This reduced the file from 1920 x 2560 pixels (3,212 KB)
(at an Image Resolution of 300.000 pixels per inch)
to: 634 x 845 pixels ( 224 KB)
without any apparent loss of clarity (the screen is 72dpi)
using an LView Pro default JPEG Compress Quality Factor of 95%
(resulting in an Image Resolution of 72 pixels per inch).
However, I get down to the smallest size again by reducing JPG Quality:
Image->Resolution->72 pixels per inch
Image->Resize->33% yields 634 x 845 pixels (59 KB)
Using an LView Pro default JPEG Compress Quality Factor of 50%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Let's take a look at some of the things we've learned so far:
Note: Simply lowering the resolution did not gain me anything
(59 KB vs 59 KB)
by running the same steps w/o reducing the DPI.
a) The major factor seems to be the QUALITY SETTING.
For example, if I merely save the ORIGINAL picture at 50% Quality:
I get a picture of the following statistics:
1920 x 2560 (347 KB) at 50%
b) The next major factor seems to be the SIZE:
For example, if I merely reduce the size by half twice (i.e., 1/4):
I get a picture of the following statistics:
480 x 640 (262 KB) at 95%
c) Yet, I can reduce the kbytes to well below a hundred doing both:
Yet, if I perform both size reduction by half twice (i.e., to 1/4):
And, if I save with a QUALITY SETTING of 50%:
I get a picture of the following statistics:
480 x 640 (36 KB) at 50%
Note: The quality of this photo was a bit poor; so strive for >60 KB.
Reduce by 1/2 to 960 x 1280 & save at 50% = 113 KB with good quality.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. One other method to try is the Windows XP Send TO Mail Recipient:
a) Right click in Windows XP on any photo file & select:
Send To->Mail Recipient->(o)Make all my pictures smaller
(o)Medium (fits in a 800 by 600 window)
[OK]
b) For Netscape 7.x, this puts the file in c:\temp\moz_mapi\fname.jpg
with (decent) atributes of: 450 x 600 @ 300 DPI = 57 KB
c) Note: Settings of "(o)Small (fits in a 640 by 480 window)" resulted
in a (blurry) picture of 360 x 480 @ 300 DPI = 39 KB
Better to use the MEDIUM size.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Does anyone know why DPI settings did NOT change file sizes by much?
Does anyone have a BETTER FREE EASY method for shrinking photos for email?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FK
the size of the image for email. Everything else
is automatic.
FK
"Eunice Santorini" <unixa...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:558bba75.03090...@posting.google.com...
Posie
If your photos are being taken to email only change the resolution before
shooting them, check your manual or the manufactures web site for help.
If you might be printing them and want to keep the resolution high, use a
program like Photoshop or picture it to change the size of resolution. I
believe the software that came with your camera should have the ability to
change the size for emailing.
Good luck! To see my website pictures visit the link below.
Posie
--
www.photoartbyposie.com
Photographic art over the internet!
st...@temple.edu
> I do NOT know how best to 'shrink' photographs for sending in the mail.
> My digital camera takes shots at 5 Megapixels, which in 'fine' mode,
> typically produces photographs around 3,000 KB in size (which is two
> orders of magnitude too large for proper emailing (i.e., < 100 KB).
Why not just set your camera to a smaller resolution for photos
that you only intend to email or share on a web site?
Tim Glover
with Win 9.x)
While viewing your picture files in Window Explorer, right click the picture
file name, select "send to" then "mail recipient" Another window will open
which asks if you want to reduce the size of the picture file suitable for
emailing.
"Eunice Santorini" <unixa...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:558bba75.03090...@posting.google.com...
Randall Ainsworth
I use PhotoShop. Select Save to Web and reduce the longest dimension
to 640 (and let the other go wherever it wants to stay proportional).
Hans-Bernhard Broeker
In comp.graphics.algorithms Eunice Santorini <unixa...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I do NOT know how best to 'shrink' photographs for sending in the mail.
Neither does anybody else. There hardly ever is a single, universally
agreeable "best" way to do anything, and image compression is
definitely not an exception from that rule.
Reducing the resolution to something that actually fits on a computer
screen (i.e. less than about 1 MegaPixels) is a necessity anyway, so
there's nothing to be lost in doing that as a first step. The
trade-off between further resolution reduction and JPEG quality
reduction is not something that can be judged automatically --- it
depends on the content of the images, too.
--
Hans-Bernhard Broeker (bro...@physik.rwth-aachen.de)
Even if all the snow were burnt, ashes would remain.
SND
news:wlH4b.17280$Om1....@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net:
> This is a quick and easy method using Windows XP. (not sure if it
> works with Win 9.x)
>
> While viewing your picture files in Window Explorer, right click the
> picture file name, select "send to" then "mail recipient" Another
> window will open which asks if you want to reduce the size of the
> picture file suitable for emailing.
>
>
> "Eunice Santorini" <unixa...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:558bba75.03090...@posting.google.com...
>> I do NOT know how best to 'shrink' photographs for sending in the
>> mail.
Using the above XP suggestion works for me. I used to use Irfanview's
batch conversion feature after creating a new folder with the photos in
it to convert (settings: jpeg, 80% quality, 72 dpi, preserve aspect
ratio, width set at 640, let Irfanview calculate height). But that's just
not worth the aggravation. Simply, right click on the photos you want to
e-mail in XP, choose a size, and the jpegs are in your e-mail and ready
to send. I wish that I had known of this feature earlier.
--
SND
Patrick L.
"JPEG Sizer", just do a search for it.
Or try www.nonags.com and download any one of their free "compression
utilities", which, I believe, is what they are called.
Patrick L.
"Eunice Santorini" <unixa...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:558bba75.03090...@posting.google.com...
Peter Gordon
lets you specify the width & height in
pixels and set the file size. It then
works out the JPEG compression factor requred
to achieve this.
It's a greay little utility
carl
is an amazing photo editing program for the price. A must have.
After all, you spent $500+ on your camera, another $99 to make your
pictures look great is cheap.
Step 2 - Open photo in Elements.
Step 3 - Go to Image Size menu, change dpi to 72 or 90 (depending on
whether you want to cater to Mac-heads or PC-ers), then change
height/width to around 500 pixels.
Step 4 - Save as a JPG at quality 4.
This should give you a file fine for viewing on a screen (4x6 inches
or so) with a size of about 50k.
unixa...@yahoo.com (Eunice Santorini) wrote in message news:<558bba75.03090...@posting.google.com>...
Frank ess
"Eunice Santorini" <unixa...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:558bba75.03090...@posting.google.com...
>
I may have understood wrong, but it seems to me if the purpose for ALL your
pictures is casual viewing by friends at the other end of an email link, you
should control file- and image-size at the earliest point in the process. If
you expect to print and exhibit some, I'd guess you'll know which before you
make the exposures, and can adjust the camera accordingly.
I'm kind of a street-shooter and a slave to recipes, rather than menus, so I
treat all exposures pretty much the same: take them at an acceptably high
resolution ('fine-full' in my Nikon CP5700) and mess with the other
variables later.
A while back (time flies, eh?) I made a bunch of shots at a colorful,
activity-filled venue, Laguna Seca raceway during the Monterey Historics
annual extravaganza. Overwhelmed by the opportunities, brought home 800+
photos on CF cards. Still post-processing them, maybe a little more than
halfway through.
If I had taken them for posting on FotoTime (that's where they are going, so
far) I'd have done the quality-size thing in the camera, and be done by now.
Romantic that I am, I hope some of the originals will be of enough
attraction and use that some 8x10s and even 11x14s might eventually be
desirable. That's why I'm still in the midst of a month's drudgery (OK,
there is *some* pleasure to be had during the post-processing. Really).
So, here's the Photoshop recipe for what I do before uploading images that
are 760x??? (big enough to reward something more than a cursory view) and
30-70K in size (depending on content):
Minimal crop.
Image - Adjustments - Curves: usually not much need; when there is, very
minor s-curve
Image - Mode - Lab Color - LIghtness: one dose of Unsharp Mask at 50% -
1.3 - 4 for ordinary photos, two doses for phots that are a little
out-of-focus
Image - Mode - RGB Color
Actions: I have recorded an action that reduces the image long-dimension
size (Image - Image size) by 5%, five times (95% - 95% - 95% - 95% - 95%),
and another that plays the first action five times. From the original
2560x1920 image, hitting the [(95%x5) x 5] action once and the 95%x5 action
once, the photo is usually a little smaller than the 760x I am looking for.
I choose a version in the History list that is one step larger than the
760x. Depending on the photo, I might put one more dose of the USM filter on
it, then
Image - Image Size - (Long Dimension) enter the final size, usually 760, and
OK
Save for Web - JPEG - 30 Quality - Save. Choose a directory as the target,
and a name for the file - Save.
And Done. I have looked at a lot of JPEG Quality settings, and 30 seems to
be the one that is a good compromise between quality of image viewed, and
size of file required.
My process is one compromise after another. If I never cropped, it could
almost all be performed by recorded actions. If I always used the same
values in Curves, same. The USM and shrink steps are each a compromise that
has required little adjustment.
Of course I'm not an expert in either photography or Photoshop. I realize my
physical and aesthetic eyes are inferior to many, and I'd expect and hope
for the constructive criticism and help of genuine experts in making all
this easier and quicker for me.
See a representative sample of the project's images posted at
http://www.fototime.com/inv/50E6FCCB5F70955
In the meantime, it is really fun, even-mostly-the drudgery.
Frank ess
Dan R
little resources. Did I say quick? It is, loads fast, writes fast. I have
used this little utility for years and love it for many tasks. Not to
replace Photoshop or other programs I use however, just as another tool.
Give it a look.. I think you will like it...
Dan R.
"Eunice Santorini" <unixa...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:558bba75.03090...@posting.google.com...
> I do NOT know how best to 'shrink' photographs for sending in the mail.
>
> My digital camera takes shots at 5 Megapixels, which in 'fine' mode,
> typically produces photographs around 3,000 KB in size (which is two
> orders of magnitude too large for proper emailing (i.e., < 100 KB).
>
> Assuming the photo is NOT going to be printed, and assuming the photo
> is simply to be elecrtonically viewed by family members (some of whom
> are on 56K bit/sec modems) ...
>
> WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO SHRINK these large photos for emailing?
>
<snip>
Ric Trexell
"Dan R" > IfranView -- I nave tried many others., this is quick and easy and
uses
> little resources.> **********************************************************
Dan: Irfanview is a great program but I also like XnView. I use Xnview
for reducing photos. I think it is faster than Irfanview, perhaps not in
the actual reducing but in the way you do it. I like Irfanview better for
showing slide shows though. These two programs should be included with
Windows as they are better than the Kodak Imaging that is. Ric in
Wisconsin.
Hans-Georg Michna
>This is a quick and easy method using Windows XP. (not sure if it works
>with Win 9.x)
>
>While viewing your picture files in Window Explorer, right click the picture
>file name, select "send to" then "mail recipient" Another window will open
>which asks if you want to reduce the size of the picture file suitable for
>emailing.
Tim,
thanks a lot for this hint! That's incredibly easy and
convenient! I hadn't found this function without your help.
Just tested it and found that it uses the vertical pixels only.
For example, when I choose 800 x 600 but have a portrait
orientation photo, it becomes 450 x 600. No problem and makes
sense to have them all the same height, but we need to know.
Hans-Georg
--
No mail, please.
Slingblade
wrote:
>I do NOT know how best to 'shrink' photographs for sending in the mail.
I didn't bother to read all that stuff you posted after this line,
because at a glance, it looked like way too much information. Your
software that allows you to "save" photographs should have some kind
of "properties" or "setup" or such that allows you to change the
resolution or file size/types.
But if not, many different kinds of photo viewers/editors allow this.
Some of them, by default will drastically reduce the size of a scanned
image if you "resave" the image (preferably to a new filename, since
you may need the original in it's original format in the future.
In any case...
.JPG format is the way to go...period!
Most scanners and I'm sure cameras may also generally use the .TIF
format for initial savefiles. .TIF's are one of the largest graphic
formats there are...but they're also one of the sharpest.
I would imagine Photoshop or similar photo manipulation programs can
probably change image size.
I used to use an old DOS program called GDS to change the size of my
scans to something more managable (and mailable). I've had other
pieces of DOS and Windows software that would do the job too...but GDS
used to do it the best. I could take a scan that was 1.5mb in size
and reduce it to a couple hundred kilobytes, or sometimes less. I
could event take pictures I'd downloaded from other places and reduce
their sizes as well, simply by resaving the files.
Dan R
seem quick!! Thanks for the suggestion. I have added XnView to my arsenal!
Now only to decide which Digicam to buy ... <<heavy sigh>>
I love when Newsgroups work the way they are supposed to! Thanks again Ric.
Dan R. (in Michigan)
"Ric Trexell" <rtre...@vbe.com> wrote in message
news:vl7uu0k...@corp.supernews.com...
Ron Hunter
I finally deleted XNView from my computer. Seems they want money now.
I liked the interface better, and Irfanview has a few warte, but for a
good all purpose program that's still free, it can't be beat.
Nils Haeck
Just use Irfanview and JPG if you want to have a free tool.
If you are looking for a "oneclick" tool, check out my ABC-View Manager.
Just select a bunch of pictures in the thumbnail overview and hit the
"email" button. It usually resizes each photo to something like 19Kb.
Apart from this function, it has lots of other fun things, like finding
similar images (not just duplicates), and even sorting on similarity.
Kind regards,
Nils Haeck
"Eunice Santorini" <unixa...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:558bba75.03090...@posting.google.com...
danjj
A number of my less technically minded friends (normal people) often
send me images that are too large or inappropriately formatted...So I
knocked together a tiny application to make it really easy to crop,
resize and reformat images and then mail them on. Your welcome to
download it:
http://www.midnightmonkey.co.uk/pics4mail.php
Its not amazingly powerful or complex, but it might take the fuss out
of image resizing (for email) for someone out there.
-Dan
Luis Valenzuela
This is an excellent image viewer/editor, aswell as a very good
multimedia player (audio/video).
It's Extremely fast!
http://www.slowview.at/
Martin Wildam
"Luis Valenzuela" <lef...@yahoo.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:d7b3c0d0.03092...@posting.google.com...
I tried it the last time about a year ago and I was not satisfied with it. I
know ACDSee, IrfanView, Slowview and many other. As working for a software
company as a software developer and our company as well as the software we
are producing deals a lot with documents and images I have seen a lot of
viewers yet. And for private use I go with IrfanView.
Greetings, Martin.
RSD99
"Luis Valenzuela" <lef...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:d7b3c0d0.03092...@posting.google.com...
Terry K.
--
"What is history, but a fable agreed upon."
--- Napoleon Bonaparte
... TAK
"Posie" <Po...@photoartbyposie.com> wrote in message
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