Resizing Your Photos

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Morning,
I've been receiving several inquiries recently about resizing photos for the forum.  It's really simple, as long as you have the right tool for the job.

Along with many members here, I am a strong supporter of Irfanview (and open-source in general).  This is a free program that makes it really easy to crop and/or resize your photos to fit in the forum's size limitations.  To download Irfanview, visit its Web site: Irfanview.

There are two basic things you need to do to produce great photos for forum viewing:
1. Resize the photo
2. Reduce the photo quality (for viewing on the Web, it's simply no good saving your photos at full quality, or 100%).

I've seen photos posted that are small (dimensions) and yet still hit the maximum allowable size, because people did not reduce the quality level.
I've seen photos that are large (dimensions), and yet are well below the maximum, because people reduced the quality level.

Here are easy Irfanview steps to resize and resample your photos so they are smaller and look great:
1. Open your photo, then go to the Image menu.  Then choose Resize/Resample.

2. Change the width of your photo to 1000 or less.  Then set the "Resize Method" option to "Resize (faster)."  Then click "OK."
[attachimg=2]

3. Click "Save"

4. On the right side of the screen, you will see the "Save quality" slider:
[attachimg=1]

5. Set the slider to 80 maximum.

6. Click "Save."

That's it.  Your photos will now be smaller and fit better in the file size limits of the FOG.

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Morning,
Of all questions I receive about photos, resizing is probably the most common.  I want to make it simple for people to be able to take their original photos and get them to the right size for the forum.  In the first post of this discussion, I put together instructions on resizing photos using Irfanview, my favorite application for simple photo tasks.

But Irfanview is not the only application out there for this task.

If you like using other applications, please post your own tutorial.  Over time, perhaps we can have a collection of tutorials on photo resizing all in one discussion -- a kind of super reference for everyone needing to get their photos into the FOG size requirements.

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[nickao]

Matthew I use irvanveiw and just use the "save as" and move the slider to the left. This way the picture stays as large as possible while reducing the file size.

It is the file size and not the actual physical size of the picture that matters, your method is reducing the physical size of the picture which really is not nec and sometimes will not work at all unless you want a little 3 " x 3" pic.

You do not need mess with the length or width of the picture at all. That's why people wonder how some people get such HUGE pictures and they have to resize their own to a smaller pic. You do not have to make the picture a smaller size, you need just make the file a smaller size .

I attached a picture using iranview that initially was a 1.78 MB size! I hit " save as" and slid the slider to the left until it hit 22%, than hit save. Now I get a huge 2100 x 1968 picture that is still clear enough that is only a 112K file size. That picture was out of focus to begin with, an in focus picture would look darn near as good on most monitors as the original file size.

 

[Bill in seattle]

Matthew
I have wondered how some people are able to put huge pictures in and yet I seem to only be able to put small ones.
If I understand these last posts The 2 important items are pixel size under 1000 and resolution or jpg quality under 80 has the most to do with the total size of the picture file.
Many times I rework a picture to post but they always seem to come back to large even reducing them to like 600x480. I'm stuck right at the moment using windows photo program but will try to down load the other program you show.
Thanks

 

[nickao]

Go here:

http://www.irfanview.com/

For me the best way to keep large pictures is to just use the "save as"  and use the slider to take away information from the JPEGS or in other words reduce the quality of the picture.

The number of pixels in width and height are secondary and you can actually reduce the size of the picture a lot but still not make the file small enough for the 125K limit. If you start with a 3 MB file you would need to reduce the pixels to a super small image as opposed to just taking info away and keeping the picture the same large size.

The trick is to get the best of both worlds, large picture but clear(more info). I find I never use the pixel adjustment anymore at all becasue sometimes I would have to use it like three times until I found the right size to reduce the file where I wanted it and that would make the picture so small since I start with huge file in the first place.

With broadband speeds getting so high and people getting hi def monitors this 125K file size is fast becoming obsolete. My other forum I can upload 20 - 2 MB pictures at a time already.

We have 50 M speeds here around my area and I would never switch back. Watching HD video streaming off the web and running three or four  programs while downloading the matrix trilogy in the background all without missing a beat will be the norm soon, I do it now. I foresee this 125K going to 1 MB within a year or two for most forums maybe sooner. I guess this forum is limited on funds, but as the speeds get faster the costs will get cheaper also for the same bandwidth usage meaning it should not cost the forum more to move up to a bigger file size in the near future, hopefully.

 

[bruegf]

You're lucky Nick,  I'm barely able to get 70K/s transfer speeds w/ my DSL and only one ISP has even been willing to sell me DSL because I'm too far from the CO.

Fred

 

[nickao]

Yeah when they built up this sub division about 20 years ago the builders were forward thinking and we got all the top of the line at the time and then they brought in the fiber optic. They also laid down the best cable for the cable companies long ago, much better than the cable systems at that time required and way ahead of when other locals followed. We usually are the first to get all the fast speeds from the cable company. Luckily cable is not limited as much in distance as the phone lines are. You may be stuck in having to get satellite internet if your cable company does not offer broadband.

 

[Brice Burrell]

I tend to reduce the pixel size of an image because I don't want people to have to scroll to see the whole picture. I first set my camera to take smaller (pixel size or resolution) pictures, that way I have smaller file sizes to start off with. Irfan is a very easy program to and it's free so give it try. 

 

[bruegf]

Yeah when they built up this sub division about 20 years ago the builders were forward thinking and we got all the top of the line at the time and then they brought in the fiber optic. They also laid down the best cable for the cable companies long ago, much better than the cable systems at that time required and way ahead of when other locals followed. We usually are the first to get all the fast speeds from the cable company. Luckily cable is not limited as much in distance as the phone lines are. You may be stuck in having to get satellite internet if your cable company does not offer broadband.

Don't have cable either.  So DSL is my only reasonable cost option at this point.

Fred

 

[nickao]

I tend to reduce the pixel size of an image because I don't want people to have to scroll to see the whole picture. I first set my camera to take smaller (pixel size or resolution) pictures, that way I have smaller file sizes to start off with. Irfan is a very easy program to and it's free so give it try. 

I absolutely agree it is a combination of both things. Usually clicking this forums pictures opens up a new window with the picture scaled to fit the screen, then you click again for the original huge size. SO really it should not matter unless you are putting the pics "in line", in the message.

 

[Matthew Schenker]

With broadband speeds getting so high and people getting hi def monitors this 125K file size is fast becoming obsolete. My other forum I can upload 20 - 2 MB pictures at a time already.

I'm not sure that file size has much to do with becoming obsolete.  It's the reality of server space.

What is this "other forum" that allows you to upload 20 files at 2 MB each?  That's way higher than any other forum I have ever seen!

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[nickao]

Routerforums.com

I just uploaded 20 pic all in the same post every pic over 1 MB

 

[nickao]

With broadband speeds getting so high and people getting hi def monitors this 125K file size is fast becoming obsolete. My other forum I can upload 20 - 2 MB pictures at a time already.

I'm not sure that file size has much to do with becoming obsolete.  It's the reality of server space.

What is this "other forum" that allows you to upload 20 files at 2 MB each?  That's way higher than any other forum I have ever seen!

Thanks,
Matthew

Sure it does, as faster connection allow bigger files the servers HAVE to be upgraded at a current acceptable cost to keep up with capacity. I mean my new HP home server has 4 - 1.5TB  drives separate from the 1.5 Tb of my computer, when I get it delivered and hooked up I will post a pic.

Thats 6 TB of data storage for 1050.00 I imagine in 18 months it will be about 1000.00 for 10 TB of storage. Those are dirt cheap prices! Its only another 115.00 for every new 1.5 TB hard drive. The little home server with 2 Gb Ram and 2.2 MhZ speed CPU is 799.99 with 3 TB included. Good enough for my home and web site for sure. I through in another 2 hard drives for good measure.

I have no idea how much storage one needs for a forum, but the prices of the servers are taking a nose dive as their capacities go up. If they do not all this new HD technology is a waste could not be used. It is all tied together.

 

[nickao]

It seems the big files I just uploaded to the other forum are stored there at 287 - 387 KB so maybe they reduce the file size internally. I will test uploading more to check it. It looks like the max is actually 1 MB I am mistaken I will try some other sizes.

Yes it definitely resizes the pictures on their end as I just tried uploading a 1 MB file and it reads there as 287 kb. That's cool they do most of the work for me. On my end I never noticed the reduction.

 

[mastercabman]

Matthew,i try to resize like you describe,but it keep saying the file is too large.
I downloaded Irfawview and did what you show,  i enter 1000 and made sure to slide to 80 on the other page,but it's still too big?????? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

 

[Brice Burrell]

Matthew,i try to resize like you describe,but it keep saying the file is too large.
I downloaded Irfawview and did what you show,   i enter 1000 and made sure to slide to 80 on the other page,but it's still too big?????? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

You can try a smaller pixel size, 800 or so. Just play with the resizing until you get your image under 125 K.

 

[nickao]

Just slide to 50% or even 25% and see if it is clear enough. That is exactly why I stopped playing with that pixel adjustment you just have to fiddle with it way to much when the quality slider usually works 1 st time on 50%.

What is the initial file size if its like 1 - 2 MB or more putting Qulaity on 80 is not going to be enough and neither is shrinking the pixel size to that number either.

 

[mastercabman]

I WILL TRY!!!  IT WOULD BE NICE IF IT RESIZE THE FILE FOR YOU AUTOMATICLY

 

[nickao]

I guess some forums do because I upload big files on other sites and they seem to be shrunken down when I check the file size in the gallery. Still once you learn it, it will be no problem and you can do it in batches or entire folders at a time I believe in irfanview.

 

[mastercabman]

OK i got one in!  but what a PITA    I just don't get it,with today's technology you would think it would be as easy as to push one button.