Image Resizing

DM
Posted By
Derek_McEachern
Nov 4, 2003
Views
289
Replies
4
Status
Closed
Something odd seems to have just happend.

I want to re-size an image to make it smaller then it currently is I’m going from 1704 x 2272 to 300 x 400 pixels. I have no problem doing that but the quality is just horrible. I could swear that I used to be able to adjust the pixel size and then independently adjust the resolution in pixels per inch.

Now whenever I enter something in the resolution box it alters the image size.

How can I adjust these independently or at least make high quality smaller images?
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BH
Beth_Haney
Nov 4, 2003
If this is something that had been working correctly – and you’re sure you’re using the same method that has worked in the past – it might be time to delete the Preference folder.

With Elements closed, click on the start up icon and then make a quick grab for the (Win) Control, Alt, and Shift keys (Mac) Command, Option, and Shift. Hold all three down until you get a screen asking if you want to delete the Settings. Say Yes. The Preference folder will rebuild as Elements continues to launch. You might loose some custom settings you made in the program, but it should also eliminate any corruption that may have crept in.

When you resize, do you do it by changing the width and height of your image or by manipulating the resolution? If you do it by changing the width and height, make sure you have the resolution set (with resample off) to something within the "target" printing range of 150 to 300ppi. It sounds as if your image might be opening at a resolution of 72ppi and that you’re just changing the dimensions while "Resample" is checked. If so, this would give you a low quality image.

Personally, I always resize by changing the resolution until I hit the physical size I want.

If neither of these suggestions clear the problem, repost and let us know what you’ve tried.
MM
Mac_McDougald
Nov 4, 2003
You CAN adjust the pixel size downward (downsample) and then adjust the ppi of that downsampled image.

1704 x 2272 to 300 x 400 pixels

Of course, a 400 pixel wide image is not of much value, except for onscreen use. And for onscreen/web, ppi has no meaning, only the pixel dimensions are used.

Why do you care what ppi your 300×400 pixel image has?

Mac
DM
Derek_McEachern
Nov 5, 2003
So maybe I have no idea what I’m talking about 🙁

I’ve re-built the preferences like you suggested Beth and it still isn’t working the way I remember it. It’s a really good possibility that I just don’t remember it correctly. I might have got it confused with cropping where you can specify the image size and the pixels/inch.

To answer Mac’s question these re-sized images are only for the screen, a web page, so I don’t want them much bigger then 300×400 because they take forever to load.

It just seems like I should be able to take a high quality large image and re size it down and get something that is at least the same quality but they certainly don’t look it.
CS
Chuck_Snyder
Nov 5, 2003
Derek, 300×400 is pretty small; will only take up a quarter of the screen for someone running 800×600. Would be fine for a web page, so long as it’s not expanded to fill the screen of the viewer, especially if the viewer has their screen resolution at 1024×768 or higher. Stretch those pixels back out over those largerdimensions and it can look pretty grainy (pixellated).

There are two tasks you’re trying to accomplish: one is to get the right pixel dimensions for the screen display; and the second is to get a file size small enough to load quickly. The former is pretty easy – go to Image<Resize<Image Size, make sure Resample is checked, and change your pixel dimensions in the top section. That will give you the right dimensions, and, when saved, will likely be a smaller file than the original you downsized. However, when saving that picture, you have the choice of several formats and levels of image compression to influence file size. TIFF files will be the largest, and you don’t want to consider those for web use. JPEG files are your best choice for photos, and this is where compression enters in. The creation of a JPEG results in a compressed image which is much smaller than a TIFF. Elements gives you a wide variety of choices of how much compression will be allowed; the more the image is compressed, the smaller the file BUT the poorer the quality when it’s reopened. The Save for Web dialog will show you how large your resultant file will be for varying degrees of ‘quality’ – the lower the quality, the higher the compression. It may be that you’re pushing for the smallest pixel dimensions AND the smallest file size; that will definitely (I almost said ‘clearly’ but that would be misconstrued as a pun…) give you the poorest quality photo when reopened.

Hope that helps…

Chuck

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