I have been trying for 2 days to get a picture to the correct size (300mb)and having it still be acceptable quality. I have followed the tutorial provided for this, and no matter what I do, the smallest acceptable picture comes out to be about 1.2mb. I am using Capture NX2 and an old version of Elements. The original picture is sharp, so that is not the problem. I am very new to uploading pictures, so I am probably missing something pretty basic. Any help would be appreciated.
Hi, Jim - use the search engine at the top of this page - put in "resizing" and you'll get a nuymber of threads from previous questions that should help. It's likely that you're just not using the "quality/size" slider to bring the kb size down far enough..
Sandy
You will need to optimize your file. EXIF data that is part of the image file will not compress, so it needs to be removed. That's what optimizing does.
Also, if you are using any layers and/or selection (alpha) channels, flatten the image and delete the alpha channels, since both of these make files much larger. Next, convert the image profile to sRGB, resize the image, and sharpen as needed. You are now ready to save the file for the web. You should be able to get the image to 300MB, or smaller, without losing too much detail due to jpeg compression.
Jim, does your version of Elements have the Save For Web option on the file menu? That will do a lot of what Preston just listed. Otherwise, follow his steps.
Oh, you may want to make the image 300KB, not 300MB...
Jim, There is also a slider in Capture NX2 when you save as JEPG that controls the file size. The only problem is that it does not tell you the file size until after the save. It has the file size at the top of the frame after save is completed. What I usually do is save at the highest level and check then just re-save it and move the slider down a time or two until you get below the limit. (Actually I usually just pick the next level down from the drop down box as I do not believe the slider has any impact between the levels anyway, and I usually get there in one jump).
I never remember to remove the EXIF data but should as that may help on close files. It is a good suggestion and can be done by unchecking the box on the save action.
Discussion
5 repliesSandy
You will need to optimize your file. EXIF data that is part of the image file will not compress, so it needs to be removed. That's what optimizing does.
Also, if you are using any layers and/or selection (alpha) channels, flatten the image and delete the alpha channels, since both of these make files much larger. Next, convert the image profile to sRGB, resize the image, and sharpen as needed. You are now ready to save the file for the web. You should be able to get the image to 300MB, or smaller, without losing too much detail due to jpeg compression.
--P
Oh, you may want to make the image 300KB, not 300MB...
I never remember to remove the EXIF data but should as that may help on close files. It is a good suggestion and can be done by unchecking the box on the save action.
Good catch, Paul. Heck, even I typed 300MB!
--P