I'm not happy with the results of compressing my photos in the MS Office Picture Manager. My digital camera takes photos in the 3-4 MB range, with an overall size in the neighborhood of 3800 x 2500 pixels. Naturally, that won't work for uploading to a forum like this one. So more or less by default, I've been using the Compress Pictures for Web Page setting in MS Office Picture Manager, which results in pictures maybe 100K in size (fine, about the way we want it), but dimensionally they're smaller than what most guys post here, around 450 x 300 pixels. I notice the typical size of other photos posted here is more like 700 x 400 pixels. What should I do differently to get photos more like the common size?
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I use a free downloadable picture editing software "PhotoImpact 10" of ULEAD, now a subdivision of Corel. I think both are Swiss software developer. And so I did not found an English version of PhotoImpact.
However I can resize my picures and can reduce the picture resolution and I have 100 ore more functions for editing my pictures. I think that is not abad sw however you should try to get an English version or an other free picture edition software. Sorry, I do not work with MS picture manager and so I can not give you an direct answer for your question.
Cheers, Bernd
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I've experimented with simply resizing in MS Picture Manager, but that doesn't compress. I can certainly resize to 750 x 400 or whatever, but that does still leave the overall image at 3 or 4 MB. Somehow there's an easy way to compress and resize at the same time that I'm missing.
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I've been using IrfanView which is a free download.
David
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jwb Wrote:I've experimented with simply resizing in MS Picture Manager, but that doesn't compress.
Resizing will make the file smaller. Fewer pixels - smaller file.
If you want further compression that what you get from plain resizing, you need to use less data per pixel, i.e. adjust data quality.
For a jpeg, you adjust the compression ratio for the jpeg when you saving file.
File | Save As, click on More, select a higher JPEG compression ratio
Can't remember if you express compression ration in MSPM as percent (select e.g. 91 for 91%), or in scale factor (select e.g. 2). Experiment.
Give the file a new name, so you keep the original, in case you are not happy with result.
Smile,
Stein
I have used IrfanView earlier, it's an easy to use and completely free program that also does batch conversion. However, when working with JPG files one must remember that the allready compressed JPG image will loose additional info every time it's saved, thus reducing the image quality if altered and saved repeatedly.
That's why I like to edit my pics uncompressed, where quality loss isn't an issue. I allways shoot in RAW mode, and use the Canon software that came with my camera to edit and crop the pics. Finally, when everything is done, I export the finished uncompressed pic to Adobe Photoshop Elements, reduce the pic size (number of pixels) and save it as a JPG file. I could also do this in the Canon software, but I just like the options in Photoshop better, where I can adjust the compression, compare the compressed pic with the original, and instantly see the file size -before- the file is saved.
Compression is a matter of compromise, you can't reduce the file size without also reducing something else, whether it be the image size in pixels or the image quality.
Svein
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If you don't mind investing $29 - go to <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.accusoft.com/jpegwizard.htm">http://www.accusoft.com/jpegwizard.htm</a><!-- m --> - probably the best image compression software tool going
It lets you trade file size against quality, and you can reduce files by half without any real apparent loss of detail and quality
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JWB,
If you want to stick with MS Picture Manager, look at the other options - there are two ways you can go. Resize and Compress. Resize will eventually get you a file size change as well, but if you use Compress you get both Resize (dimensions) and reduced file size (kb). Instead of choosing Web, try Documents or other options to see the result.
As noted above, make sure that you only work with a copy, as jpgs degrade in quality with every save. That way you'll always have your large, high quality original to work from.
Andrew
Well, I experimented with simply resizing in Picture Manager, resized this one to 15% of the original and got something not much better than what I had before, but at 187K I think it's a little too big. How are other guys getting something larger overall but half as many KB?
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Okay this is 800 x 323 and 74894 bytes ( reduced to those dimensions in PaintShopPro X2)
and this has been thru JpegWizard and is 39104 bytes and the same pixel dimensions
and yours put thru it now 92141 bytes, - but could be made considerably smaller than that!
Thanks for the idea -- it looks like the two programs you used are pay, but I googled for a free jpeg compressor and found something called Ken Ward's Makeup, which is shareware. Same photo 700 x 469, 119K
It looks like for this forum, MS Office Picture Manager isn't a good way to go.
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jwb Wrote:Well, I experimented with simply resizing in Picture Manager, resized this one to 15% of the original and got something not much better than what I had before, but at 187K I think it's a little too big. How are other guys getting something larger overall but half as many KB?
Never used Microsoft Office Picture Manager before, but let's make a quick test.
First etst, using freeware program GIMP (GNU Image Processor)
Opens copy of original file (1.44 MB, 2560x1920)
Image | Scale image - select size 800 x 600
File | Save As JPG
GIMP suggests a default 92% compression ratio, okays that
Picture is now 800x600 pixels, 225kB - looks okay visually.
I make a new copy of the original jpg image (1.44 MB, 2560x1920)
Now Microsoft Office Picture Manager
Start Microsoft Office Picture Manager
Adds a shortcut to the directory the file is in
Finds file, right click and choose edit
In the frame on the right, I click on the icon "Home" (small house)
Choose export picture
Click on "JPEG options", choose a compression ratio of 92%, back
Has a section for "Export using this size" where I can choose size 800 x 600 pixels
Clicks OK to export
Okays overwriting the old file (I am working on a copy of the original)
Checking file size now - 800x600 pixels, 234 kb - visually looks okay.
Seems easy enough.
Not much difference in size here. No visual difference between the files when viewed on my screen.
If I want a smaller file, I select either a smaller file size or harder jpeg compression
Tries reducing original to size 640 x 480, saves with jpeg compression ratio 92% - file size 175 KB
Tries reducing original to size 640 x 480, saves with jpeg compression ratio 80% - file size 127 KB
Tries reducing original to size 800 x 600, saves with jpeg compression ratio 85% - file size 185 KB
Looks to me like compression works just fine in Microsoft Office Picture Manager, and that both resizing an image and compressing it will reduce file size.
Smile,
Stein
jwb Wrote:(...)It looks like for this forum, MS Office Picture Manager isn't a good way to go.
I just had a look at the MS Office Picture Manager, and with its fixed options it's very limited. I would try out IrfanView as mentioned earlier in this thread, you can find it at http://www.irfanview.com.
When editing your pics, make sure you adjust light, contrast and such before resizing the picture. and when you save the finished pic, use the Save as... option. Then you'll find a slider to adjust the compression, experiment with that and save several files with different names to find the compression that best suits you. BTW, the desired compression setting may vary for each file.
Svein
Edit: Oops, I didn't notice the Export function that Stein used, I just used the commands on the Image menu.
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MS Office Picture Manager Options:
Original: 3.75 MB, 3872x2592
- Can't post - too big in dimensions and file size
Using Resize option to size to constrain to Document - small (800x600): 288kB, 800x536 (due to aspect ratio)
Using Compress to compress for Web Pages (448x336): 77.8kB, 448x300
Looks like Stein has covered the "manual" control afforded via the Export options while I was typing this up....  The only thing I would add is that you can tweak the settings more in export - you do not have to use the same compression ratio as the "shortcuts". You can also automatically open the picture in MSOPM by right clicking, and choosing "Open In..."
Andrew
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