Reduce physical size of image with minimal quality loss

EL
Posted By
Ed_Lambert
Apr 8, 2008
Views
638
Replies
2
Status
Closed
Hello,

I have to fit high res, high quality, images behind a presentation frame, which is only about 800×600. Everytime i reduce the high res images to fit behind the frame, even with bicubic sharper on, the reduction in quality is really bad. Is there anyway i can maximise quality when reducing the dimensions of the image?

Any help much appreciated…
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Welles_Goodrich
Apr 8, 2008
Hi Ed,

What approximate sizes are you starting from? My hunch is that you are expecting too much detail to remain in an 800 X 600 which is pretty small. As far as I know the bicubic algorithm is the best for reducing images that Photoshop has ever produced.

You might try an experiment. After shrinking your image duplicate the background layer in the layers palette. On the duplicate layer run Filter > Other > High Pass and set the radius to 0.5. Then change the blend mode of the High Pass layer to Overlay. You may find that you like the subtle sharpening without artifacts.
NK
Neil_Keller
Apr 9, 2008
For reductions, generally use "bicubic sharper"; for enlargements, "bicubic smoother".

Neil

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