File Size and Print Potential

DC
Posted By
Dave Cohen
May 14, 2004
Views
101
Replies
3
Status
Closed
I want to minimize file size and still have useful jpg’s for printing 4×6 and 5×7 photos, web page images, and desktop backgrounds.

I really don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, so my questions are very remedial, but I would appreciate a quick lesson. I’m just a point and shoot amateur photographer trying to capture memories to "film."

I’m using a 4 megapixel camera and right now I’m using the HQ 1288×1712 setting for my general purpose photos.

I’m using Photoshop Elements 2.0.

When it comes to cropping, resizing, adjusting color, brightness, contrast, and level, in what order should I proceed.

In the resize image window, the Pixel Dimensions box shows that my width and height values are equal to my camera settings of 1288 pixels x 1712 pixels.

And the document size box shows width and height values of approximately 31 inches x 23 inches with a resolution of 72 pixels/inch.

The constrain proportions and resample image boxes are checked.

What do all these settings mean?

Thanks,

JS
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DC
Dave Cohen
May 16, 2004
John Smith wrote:

I want to minimize file size and still have useful jpg’s for printing 4×6 and 5×7 photos, web page images, and desktop backgrounds.
I really don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, so my questions are very remedial, but I would appreciate a quick lesson. I’m just a point and shoot amateur photographer trying to capture memories to "film."
I’m using a 4 megapixel camera and right now I’m using the HQ 2288×1712 setting for my general purpose photos.

I’m using Photoshop Elements 2.0.

When it comes to cropping, resizing, adjusting color, brightness, contrast, and level, in what order should I proceed.

In the resize image window, the Pixel Dimensions box shows that my width and height values are equal to my camera settings of 1288 pixels x 1712 pixels.

And the document size box shows width and height values of approximately 31 inches x 23 inches with a resolution of 72 pixels/inch.
The constrain proportions and resample image boxes are checked.
What do all these settings mean?

Thanks,

JS
RH
Ronald Hands
May 16, 2004
John Smith wrote:

I want to minimize file size and still have useful jpg’s for printing 4×6 and 5×7 photos, web page images, and desktop backgrounds.

John:

I’ve noticed your message twice, with no replies, which leads me to wonder: are you by chance posting via the newsgroup?

If that’s the case, you’re writing to a limited audience. Most of the people on here are using the adobe forum on the Web. They don’t see the newsgroup postings. If you want your posting to be seen by everyone, you have to go to www.adobe.com and follow the trail to the Photoshop Elements forum, register (it’s free), and do your posting there.

I choose to read the newsgroup, because I find it faster and easier, but if I actually want to post, I go over to the forum.

To answer, to some extent, your queries, I prefer to crop first, then do a levels adjustment, if needed, then do any color adjustments and finally use unsharp mask to improve the final result.

Actually, your technique depends on where you’re going with the picture. If it’s to be printed, then I prefer to use the crop tool, enter the required dimensions in the options bar (in inches) and I just leave the resolution box blank because I have a 2 megapixel camera and I *never* have too much resolution. (The optimum is supposedly 300 pixels per inch but I never have enough pixels to reach that figure so I take whatever I can get.) When you draw out your crop, it will have the desired dimensions. You can move the cropped area around on your image if you want to fine tune it. Then, for printing, I save as a maximum quality .jpeg.

On the other hand, if you’re saving for the Web, then use the Save for Web dialog on the File menu. This will allow you to specify the size you want, in pixels, in an area on the right hand side of the screen. If "constrain proportions" is checked, then you just have to enter one of the dimension — for instance 800 pixels wide is a good size for most screens — and the program will calculate the other dimension to preserve your ratio. Then hit the "Apply" button and your photo will be resampled down to the correct dimensions. Then use the options at top right to save it with whatever compression is appropriate.

I’ve never messed around with background images or wallpaper so can’t help you there.

Don’t worry about the huge size that’s indicated when your photo is at 72 pixels per inch. That’s a meaningless figure. Just use the View menu choices to show the picture at a convenient size on your screen.

Hope this helps,

— Ron
DC
Dave Cohen
May 16, 2004
Ronald Hands wrote:

Hope this helps,

Ron,

Yes I am posting via the ng. I’ll check out the link you suggested. I was wondering why there was a complete absence of response.

I’ll study you’re comments re: my questions.

Thanks,

JS

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