I often resize photos for photo competitions and also any for here on FM......any recommendations on a good resizer? I usually resize in PS and just use trial-and-error in exporting. It would be nice to have a program that actually is accurate in estimated file size (such as the 1.4GB limit on FM).....PS will show something like 2.34MB when it actually sizes to 1.3 or so.
I may just have a misunderstanding of the way a resizer works.....to be able to plug in a WidthXHeight and/or output size would be nice.
If you have Photoshop, and it seems that you do, just use Image Size to set your pixel dimensions - usually in the 1000 to 1500 pixels in the long dimension range and when you save it as a jpeg, the dialog box will give you a very close estimation as to the final compressed size on disc.
Peter Figen wrote:
If you have Photoshop, and it seems that you do, just use Image Size to set your pixel dimensions - usually in the 1000 to 1500 pixels in the long dimension range and when you save it as a jpeg, the dialog box will give you a very close estimation as to the final compressed size on disc.
Thanks Peter.....yes I have the subscription Photoshop 2022 and use Image Size......the jpg dialog box at the end (when you are saving the jpg) is accurate, but when you are in the resize dialog box, it doesn't seem to be....for instance, I just resized a larger JPEG file....it says it is 142MB in PS but the file system says 17MB. When I put 1500X1000 as the size, the estimator shows it at 4.29MB. Then when I save it as a JPG, the JPG Options dialog shows at 677KB which is close to what the final JPG size will be.....
shutterbug40 wrote:
Thanks Peter.....yes I have the subscription Photoshop 2022 and use Image Size......the jpg dialog box at the end (when you are saving the jpg) is accurate, but when you are in the resize dialog box, it doesn't seem to be....for instance, I just resized a larger JPEG file....it says it is 142MB in PS but the file system says 17MB. When I put 1500X1000 as the size, the estimator shows it at 4.29MB. Then when I save it as a JPG, the JPG Options dialog shows at 677KB which is close to what the final JPG size will be.....
The image size dialog always shows you the uncompressed size. It's always been that way. It has no way of knowing what file format you're going to be saving ultimately. Even the estimate in the Jpeg save dialog is just an estimate as the actual on disc size will depend on the disc it's being saved to and how that drive has been formatted. The differences are usually small but they're there.
I regularly use FastStone Image Viewer.
Resizing is a two-step process in FastStone. First step is about deciding the number of pixels. The second is about deciding the image "quality". The product file size is seen in the second step. The predicted size is usually very close to the actual size of the output file.
For resizing, I prefer using TIF files as input. The TIF would naturally originate from your favorite PP program (DxO Photolab in my case).
FastStone is fast, however, the two-step process makes it necessary sometimes to re-decide the number of pixels when the output is still too large.
As far as FM image upload is concerned, files as large as 2.8MB can be used, in practice. This is typically the file size of the images I upload (I am not concerned about theft of my work).
From time to time, I use Gigapixel for downsizing images, but this is a slow process which also involves introducing some changes to the images, e.g. added sharpening and denoising. These changes may or may not be desirable.
Generally the best quality downsizing I've found comes from using Photoshop's Image Size dialog box, but I'm almost always using Bicubic Smoother (never ever use Bicubic Automatic) particularly when there are any diagonal lines in the image. I typically make 1500 pixels images for FM and at that size Bicubic Smoother, which is the opposite of what Adobe recommends, but who can blame them for not knowing, results in less stair stepping and fewer artifacts than any of the other options. Then I selectively sharpen the image with Smart Sharpen, masking out any diagonals or parts of the image that might show a sharpening halo.
I personally wish there was a way for Photoshop to resize to, say, 512MP (one of Lightroom's rather arbitrary limits for file sizes), rather than having to figure it out by trial/error. For as capable a program as it is, there have been some things lacking for decades. I also wish Adobe hadn't gotten rid of the 'Save for Web' menu item, as it was a more fluid way of saving images (for presentation on FM) to a certain size. Perhaps they buried it somewhere new, but I haven't seen it in several versions...
Jeff wrote:
I personally wish there was a way for Photoshop to resize to, say, 512MP (one of Lightroom's rather arbitrary limits for file sizes), rather than having to figure it out by trial/error. For as capable a program as it is, there have been some things lacking for decades. I also wish Adobe hadn't gotten rid of the 'Save for Web' menu item, as it was a more fluid way of saving images (for presentation on FM) to a certain size. Perhaps they buried it somewhere new, but I haven't seen it in several versions...
Adobe still has Save for Web. File - Export - Save for Web (Legacy). I couldn't find away to limit file size either in PS.
shutterbug40 wrote:
I often resize photos for photo competitions and also any for here on FM......any recommendations on a good resizer? I usually resize in PS and just use trial-and-error in exporting. It would be nice to have a program that actually is accurate in estimated file size (such as the 1.4GB limit on FM).....PS will show something like 2.34MB when it actually sizes to 1.3 or so.
I may just have a misunderstanding of the way a resizer works.....to be able to plug in a WidthXHeight and/or output size would be nice.
There are 2 free programs that work well, at least for PC's. Not sure if there is an Apple version. No ads, no signup, no BS.
RIOT is the batch resizer plug-in for Irfanview, it also works all by itself.
Neither have flashy GUI's, but either one will work. You can specify finished size by percent, a linear dimension or pixels; in addition to a maximum file size.
Neither will tell you the exact size before running the program, but if you specify 500kb at 80%, the final size will be at or under the specified file size.
Both have overwrite protection unless you disable it.
IIRC, Lightroom (at least the last stand alone version) has similar features available in the export section. The two above programs will work outside of a catalog, directly from the image file.
You will have to export your edited version to run through Irfanview or RIOT as a stand alone file.
I use gimp and just sharpen + resize to the recommended 1200 pixel maximum dimension most of the time. I haven't really checked seems like I'm generally under 1.4 mb though. Usually pretty easily. Been posting on Flickr im.a little concerned about the intellectual property not sure how much they take lately. IG takes too much probably FB too apparently the same company
I use Photoshop to uprez, using Preserve Details 2.0 algorithm.
Thank you Matt Kozlowski for that tip. I have uprezzed M43 images to 7800 x 5200 with NO artifacts. Adobe is trying to keep up.
ruthenium wrote:
I regularly use FastStone Image Viewer.
Resizing is a two-step process in FastStone. First step is about deciding the number of pixels. The second is about deciding the image "quality". The product file size is seen in the second step. The predicted size is usually very close to the actual size of the output file.
For resizing, I prefer using TIF files as input. The TIF would naturally originate from your favorite PP program (DxO Photolab in my case).
FastStone is fast, however, the two-step process makes it necessary sometimes to re-decide the number of pixels when the output is still too large.
As far as FM image upload is concerned, files as large as 2.8MB can be used, in practice. This is typically the file size of the images I upload (I am not concerned about theft of my work).
From time to time, I use Gigapixel for downsizing images, but this is a slow process which also involves introducing some changes to the images, e.g. added sharpening and denoising. These changes may or may not be desirable. ...Show more →
I have found same with FSIV & also find the predicted size to be fairly accurate. Thanks for mentioning about added sharpening/denoising in Topaz Gigapixel so others can check whether output is acceptable. I just am trying a trial version of this but so far only for 'upsizing'.
Are you attempting to resize the image to a specific dimension ie, 1500px Horizontal or vertical and then save it in JPEG to a quality that is a specific file size?
I use actions to do the heavy lifting in changing the dimensions then simply 'Save for Web' and choose the quality to influence the file size.
