Making image smaller for the web

[chaosphotography]

Hey this is killing me, I recently shot a wedding in a low lit church. I was very happy with that photos and so were the customers. But when I resized them to post on here for friends and family of theirs to see them the pictures all got really really grainy.. etc.. My camera is the canon 30d and usually each image is around 30 to 40 inches but when I take them down to 8x10 they get horrible. Please help, I try and sharpen them in photoshop but that looks even worse.... please help! The gallery is here if you want to look.
http://www.pbase.com/dssphotography

[moffetb]

When you reduce them make sure that you use the "Resample Image" set and change the Pixel Dimensionts, rather than just changing the document size. If you just change the document size, then the browser or viewer will do the resize. Most likely this will be really terrible looking, grainy etc...

I hope this is the correct term for whatever version of Photoshop you are using. I currently have access to Photoshop 7.

[prinothcat]

For pbase purposes, I've always just sent up the full sized original, and let the pbase software handle the sizing. I then delete or recompress the originals to hold my usage quota down.. I agree with the other posting that what you may be seeing is your browser doing a resize of the smaller images thus the poor quality.

[chaosphotography]

Thank you I will try both of these out!

[moffetb]

For pbase purposes, I've always just sent up the full sized original, and let the pbase software handle the sizing. I then delete or recompress the originals to hold my usage quota down..

You must have a faster internet connection than I do.... But since I shoot in Raw almost all the time, any image I have will have at least gone through Photoshop or Lightroom for simple tweaks to color or something.

Brian

[dougj]

I use PhotoShop to resize the image for PBase - crop, resize to no more than 800 pixels on the longest side, then the rest of post processing. One of the last steps is sharpening, I use different settings depending on the shot, its final size and if it's for the web or printing.

[chaosphotography]

Ok First to Doug, thank you. I was told that once before, try and do the longest side of the image 800 pixels max. Now Should I resize it all in one shot or a little at a time? Since the original is so huge? I heard that could really rough the image up? Thank you! And to moffet, Thank you as well. I always shoot in the largest format but I hear so much on shooting in raw. Is it really that important or big of a difference to use raw? Thank you!

[prinothcat]

Is it really that important or big of a difference to use raw? Thank you!

As I read it this is one of the biggest hot button topics in digital photography. I had not heard anything regarding a max size of 800 pixels... anyone want to share a link or two so I can read further? And yes my connection hauls donkey.

[dougj]

Concerning 800 pixel max - I should add this is specifically for PBase, but is also reasonable as a max for web posting in general. Uploading a larger, or even full size image on PBase results in the viewer needing to select a smaller size in order to see the photo without scrolling. This means the photo is resized by PBase, and in my experience the optimal algorithms are not used. This is not a slam against PBase, I just find the results are better if I resize it myself in PhotoShop, and I can optimize the rest of the post processing steps just for that photo & size - one size does not necessarily fit all situations & conditions.

Following RAW conversion, noise reduction (if needed) and cropping, I reduce the image size using either Bicubic or Bicubic sharper in one step (make sure that the constrain proportions box is checked). Downsizing is a lot easier than increasing the size of a photo. This works OK, I'm sure there are other techniques as well. After downsizing the image, I do the rest of the post processing - shadows & highlights, levels, sharpening, etc.

I encourage folks to try it for themselves, as it's pretty fast and easy to download PBase's resized images and compare versus your own. You may be OK with the way that PBase does it for your photos. If you come up with or have a different approach, please post it!

My $.02 on RAW - I use RAW as I sometimes need more dynamic range, also it's easy to correct white balance if needed. I'm sure other folks have their likes & dislikes about RAW, based on their own needs & experiences.

[moffetb]

Is it really that important or big of a difference to use raw?

Raw will allow you more options post-shot. All of the information you shot with (white balance, etc...) is already in the image, and the raw conversion program should bee able to read it and make the same (or very similar) corrections. Since there is more dynamic range in raw, I shoot using raw.

Having said that, I should also point out my exceptions. I shoot jpeg when I need to fire off a bunch of frames in a row. With raw I can get 6 in a row or so before I have to write to the CF. With jpeg, it's much more like 20 or so. I shoot with a Digital Rebel Xt. So when I shoot airshows, where I am panning with the airplanes going by at better than 150 mph, I shoot jpg. When I am shooting from an airplane, I shoot raw for the dynamic range. I never shoot raw+jpeg, that just seems to be a waste of space on the CF card.
This would be in Jpeg. I would need to take 10 shots in quick succession to get this shot
This would be in raw. I only take 2 or 3 in succession to get this shot.

[dougj]

you can use BatchStamper to batch reduce image resolution.
It's a tool for add date/text on photos, but also have the function to reduce output image.
You can remove the text template for nothing will be printed on your photos, and just use the resize function.

I noticed a new user with the same ID has posted the same message on numerous forums. Are you affiliated with this company? Joining PBase for the sole purpose of posting a commercial message in the forums is considered bad form - spam.

[chaosphotography]

This is really great, First to Moffet. Once again thank you, You are a book of knowledge! I will try using raw for a few weeks and see what I can get from it. Worst that could come of it I prefer jpeg, so thank you! I totally get what you are saying about burst shots as well, that makes plenty of sense"jpeg for speed bursts and raw for the slower more timely shots". Second to doug, Thank you again as well. I have tried before just posting the original and yes, holy wow is that a pain to keep scrolling. So I will definitely try and keep my max to 800 pixels and I will try the shadows, levels and curves as well. Its the sharpening that I am still really practicing with, Some images it really brings to life and others it makes a mess.. but with all your guys help I am starting to understand so thank you! Third to ddeef, if you are just being a nice person and helping me with that software, great if you are just trying to benefit by making money please don't. Thank you to all who helped!