Saving images to specific size

Apologies for this long post, but is anyone able to give me some guidance on how to achieve the best possible image quality whilst conforming to the agent’s requirements?

Thanks in advance,
Jo

Hi guys, an agent has requested images that measure 300 x 230 pixels and are no larger that 100k. My starting images are all around 3 megs and are CMYK tiffs measuring 1000 x 666 pixels at 300 ppi.
Before I go any further, I should mention that I am totally confused by image size between PS and Windows. When opening an image, let’s call it Mountain, Windows XP Explorer tells me it is 3.169 mb. When I open that same image in Photoshop CS2, the info bar beneath the image says it is 2.54 mb. Why the difference?

I’ve tried the following methods to meet the agent’s request, none of which achieve the desired result:

1) Set image size within Photshop:
Set image size to 300 x 200, leaving PPI at 300. Within this dialog box I am told the new size will be 234.1 k. Click OK. PS then says the image is 234.4 k.
Save it as a .jpg: sliding the quality bar from right to left, the dialog box tells me it measures 556.3 k at minimum quality or 619.32k at maximum quality. Choose maximum and then looking in Win Explorer, see that it now measures 640k.

other method:

2) Use Save for web feature: bar beneath image says it’s 138.1k. Set image size at specified pixels: 300 x 200. Quality at 100. Click "apply". Bar beneath image says it’s now 35.54k. Click OK and check in Explorer where I am told the image is now 36 k.

So, my problem is that no matter which method I have tried, the resultant .jpg image either comes out too large or too small.
Apologies for this long post, but is anyone able to give me some guidance on how to achieve the best possible image quality whilst conforming to the agent’s requirements?

Thanks in advance,
Jo

So, my problem is that no matter which method I have tried, the resultant .jpg image either comes out too large or too small.

Hi guys, an agent has requested images that measure 300 x 230 pixels and are no larger that 100k. My starting images are all around 3 megs and are CMYK tiffs measuring 1000 x 666 pixels at 300 ppi.
Before I go any further, I should mention that I am totally confused by image size between PS and Windows. When opening an image, let’s call it Mountain, Windows XP Explorer tells me it is 3.169 mb. When I open that same image in Photoshop CS2, the info bar beneath the image says it is 2.54 mb. Why the difference?

I’ve tried the following methods to meet the agent’s request, none of which achieve the desired result:

1) Set image size within Photshop:
Set image size to 300 x 200, leaving PPI at 300. Within this dialog box I am told the new size will be 234.1 k. Click OK. PS then says the image is 234.4 k.
Save it as a .jpg: sliding the quality bar from right to left, the dialog box tells me it measures 556.3 k at minimum quality or 619.32k at maximum quality. Choose maximum and then looking in Win Explorer, see that it now measures 640k.

other method:

2) Use Save for web feature: bar beneath image says it’s 138.1k. Set image size at specified pixels: 300 x 200. Quality at 100. Click "apply". Bar beneath image says it’s now 35.54k. Click OK and check in Explorer where I am told the image is now 36 k.

So, my problem is that no matter which method I have tried, the resultant .jpg image either comes out too large or too small.
Apologies for this long post, but is anyone able to give me some guidance on how to achieve the best possible image quality whilst conforming to the agent’s requirements?

Thanks everyone for the responses.
Cheers,
Jo

"Boppy" wrote:

Thanks everyone for the responses.
Cheers,
Jo

And do any of those help? especially which one cuz I don’t think there is any, but I may be wrong.

On Apr 16, 4:43 am, Joe wrote:

"Boppy" wrote:

Thanks everyone for the responses.
Cheers,
Jo

And do any of those help? especially which one cuz I don’t think there is any, but I may be wrong.

To be honest, I was grateful for the clarification of how PS saves, which was the most helpful aspect of these responses. I ended up going with Save to Web at 100% quality. I’m a bit nervous that the agent has requested 100k files and mine come out at only 40k though.

Me, I haven’t created image for web for almost a decade now, but before I just reduce the pixel to around 95ppi (before it used DPI) and whatever resolution’s I don’t remember. If I don’t care much about the quality then I may set to 75-80 PPI.

Joe wrote:

Me, I haven’t created image for web for almost a decade now, but before I just reduce the pixel to around 95ppi (before it used DPI) and whatever resolution’s I don’t remember. If I don’t care much about the quality then I may set to 75-80 PPI.

ppi (DPI) is a term which only has relevance to printing, and then very likely only if you’re using Photoshop to do the printing. Effectively it tells Photoshop what size you want the image to be printed. It has no meaning whatsoever for a web picture. For that you should decide how big you want the picture to look on the screen, and then rescale it to that size. For example if
you want to roughly fill the screen on a monitor which is 1024 by 768 you might scale it to be 900 by 600 pixels (but never change the aspect ratio!).
And if you are only going to use the picture on the Web, use the ‘Save for Web’ option, and adjust the quality setting to get the best compromise between file size and acceptable quality of image. As a general rule I use a setting of 45.
James McNangle

Joe wrote:

Me, I haven’t created image for web for almost a decade now, but before I just reduce the pixel to around 95ppi (before it used DPI) and whatever resolution’s I don’t remember. If I don’t care much about the quality then I may set to 75-80 PPI.

ppi (DPI) is a term which only has relevance to printing, and then very likely only if you’re using Photoshop to do the printing. Effectively it tells Photoshop what size you want the image to be printed. It has no meaning whatsoever for a web picture. For that you should decide how big you want the picture to look on the screen, and then rescale it to that size. For example if you want to roughly fill the screen on a monitor which is 1024 by 768 you might scale it to be 900 by 600 pixels (but never change the aspect ratio!).
And if you are only going to use the picture on the Web, use the ‘Save for Web’ option, and adjust the quality setting to get the best compromise between file size and acceptable quality of image. As a general rule I use a setting of 45.
James McNangle

A lot of you are confused with these terms:

SPI – samples per inch. (when you scan, you scan analog samples and convert them to digital pixel, thus until the scanner converts it is scanning at a sample rate of dots)

PPI – Pixel per inch. you’re monitor.

DPI ( monitor software) for pixels per inch on your monitor ( really should be called PPI)

DPI ( Halftone resolution) for printed images on commercial presses, really should be called LPI – lines per inch.

DPI ( dots per inch of laser output devices – (1200dpi to 2500dpi) The number of laser dots per inch on film, plates, and web rollers that make text, halftone dots to create a composite of one of the four color plates.