Making your photo small enough for PhotoPortfolios.net

I am trying to edit my photos, or at least copies of them, so I can upload them onto my PhotoPortfolios.net but the limit is 200KB, I'm down to 225KB and I do not want to take anymore off or crop it anymore than it already is, is there any other way or should I make the file size on CS4 0?

this is the photo I'm trying to crop, it is now at 176KB. How does it look? Be honest, this is the one I've been working on in photoshop and it is a lot smaller than it's original.

Could be better. Starting from the original image, here's a basic workflow (for CS3):

Go to Image - > Image Size
Make sure constrain proportions is selected, and enter 620 px for the longest dimension. Hit ok.

Apply sharpening (under the Filters tab - I use Smart Sharpen).

Go to File - > Save for Web & Devices
Adjust the quality until the file size is under 200kB (usually around the 80% mark). Then click Save.


As I said, those are just the basic steps. There are different methods of sharpening, but until you're more comfortable with Photoshop, I'd just stick with the more basic methods. Using Save for Web & Devices makes a big difference versus just Save or Save As in terms of file size...

On another note, get rid of that horrible copyright notice. I'll grant you that it will deter thieves, but it will also deter anybody from trying to view it. It's far more harmful to the appearance of the photo than compression issues, sharpening or anything like that. Just put a subtle copyright notice in a corner, if anything.

why didn't it come up? I don't think I should have sharpened it any, it looks really weird Now.

I don't know if it is going to show up or not, but I kind of made it a little larger.

Also, seems to me like you have a big dust spot in the cloud in the upper left quadrant that you need to work on. And in my opinion, I would level the horizon of the water line - otherwise everything is "sliding" off to the right. I click and dragged your image (the FIRST image shown) to my desktop and did just that. Looked better to me. BTW, the file size of the document after I dragged it to my desktop was only about 66kB, not 176kB!!!!!!!!!!! That could be a difference between how your system allocates disk space for files. Some allocate a certain minimum block made up of so many bytes. If the file is larger than the one block, it allocates a whole block more even though there may only be a few bytes in it. Or, it could be 3 blocks plus 1 byte, it will allocate 4 blocks.

AN issue with Save for Web is that it usually strips out all extra data like camera info, and any info you had entered that proves your ownership of the document. I don't like that. I agree to make your copyright smaller if you are going to use it. Making it real small and in a corner leaves it open for cropping out. So, you may want it small and in a more critical spot. I just don't use them. You could use one of the methods that places an invisible watermark in the image that most folks would not know is there or how to find it. You can then prove it is your photo that way if you ever see your image somewhere on the net.

Troup

I don't know how to do that kind of invisible watermark but I'll look it up. Yeah I got a lot more to work on I guess, I had seen the, how would I go about getting rid of that dust spot and I can't remember how to level the horizon of the water line.

I can't remember how to level the horizon of the water line.

Right click on the Eyedropper tool in your Toolbar.
There you'll see the Ruler tool. Choose it, and then click and hold on the water line at the left of the image. Drag the line created along the waterline 'til it reaches the boat. Release the mouse key.
Image->Image Rotation->Arbitrary.
Click 'OK'. That will straighten the image out, but you'll need to crop in order to get rid of the new borders created.

The Healing tool will make quick work of that dust spot.

I will definitely try those two things!

I did have a little issue with the arbituary part, how does that work exactly, I go to it after using my ruler, and it has something like .25 or .09 etc, and when I hit ok it barely moves. I will express that I'm a total idiot with this thing still, I just got used to using layers, eraser, healing tool, red eye, cropping and some other stuff, so I'm still an idiot. Can you please explain how the rotation works and what number I should put in. Also, I do have to make sure the ruler line is STRAIGHT, cause I have to zoom in some to make sure it isn't jagged or crooked at all.

When you draw the ruler line along the water line it will look a little jaggedy. That's fine, it's just an artifact of drawing a thin line with pixels. When you bring up the arbitrary rotation, the number you see will be the angle that the line is drawn at. What it will do is rotate the image so that the line is perfectly horizontal. DON'T change the number.

A couple more notes :you shouldn't ever need to crop an image to get it below 200 kB. If you've sized it to the right size in pixel dimensions (720 on the longest side, for instance) you should easily be able to adjust the JPG quality setting to get it below 200 kB. (I have had to go as low as 30% very very occasionally on some very complex images...but 80% or so is pretty typical.)

Some great info has been written here. Assuming you are using Photoshop. Everyone can learn something new! Me, too! Whenever I adjust my horizons, I have basically looked at the image and guessed whether I would use a value of 2, 1, .50. .25. or .15 for arbitrary rotation. I usually get it pretty doggone straight using these figures. I check how straight the horizon or the horizontal line of most interest by moving the window down the page and using the bottom of the window as my straight edge.

I have to learn and use the suggestion above!!!!!!!

Fixing dust particles can be tricky. Really depends on where the dust is. If it is not a critical area (lots of detail), the clone tool works fine. You just select various areas near the dust particle, clone them and enter them on the dust particle. Sometimes, I use places on various sides of the particle to insure I am not making a duplicate of another area that would be obvious under close inspection. The healing tool can work well, too ( or maybe better) - like it was made for this! There are times where we find a way to do something and stick with it even though there may be a better way! We are creatures of habit. Sometimes you need to zoom far in so you can be careful. Sometimes, you may need to blend in the changes. If the area is really super detailed, you may be out of luck as the change will be noticeable. In this case, your image may just be no good.

The next thing you need to learn is how to remove the dust particles from your sensor! I won't go into that!!

Glad we could help!

I like your image, BTW!!

Troup

Thanks all of you for so much help and advice, now I got more trouble. I have duel screens (don't know if that is the issue), but my CS4 has done this twice, I'll click on one of the tools and move over the picture, nothing, just a hand. But like just now I was on this screen typing, I move over to my CS4 screen and chose the first tool (the one you use to move your copy right and any other wording) and it works. Does anyone else have this issue with their CS4? Or is it my computer?

Andrea - I can't answer the screen issue, but you really should post that as a new topic, since it doesn't really have anything to do with this thread.

I totally agree