What image quality / size settings to use?

D

davemk

Messages
60
Name
Dave
Edit My Images
Yes
I took my new Canon 550D for its first outing today and I'm a bit disappointed with my results (user error, I'm sure).

Basically, the pics seemed to be in focus using the camera and when viewing them full size on the laptop. However, when I compress them using MS Office (to upload to photobucket) they appear to be very blurred. I assumed I'd lose some clarity in the compression but they really do look pretty poor. Admittedly, the full size pic isn't perfect but still.....

So, would I be better served in reducing the size of the image in the settings on the camera in the first place? What do others have their camera set at?

This camera lark is harder than it looks ;) . On the positive side of it, I did have a lovely walk with my dog and my 4 yr old daughter, who took better pics on our old point-and-click camera :lol:.
 
Always use the biggest size and best quality you can in camera. You cant add it back once its gone, but you can reduce it.


Firstly, I wouldnt use something like office to do any photo editing.
Secondly, why resize before photobucket? I always upload full size images there and allow photobucket to resize them
 
Why compress them? Good old BT provide me a woeful internet connection speed and I was uploading around 100Mb, which would have taken an age. I'll just be more patient in future!

I've got Photoshop on my old laptop, I'll use that in future. I must admit, I didn't realise using another program would make any difference. Thanks for the advice.
 
When you say compress, do you mean resize?

You could resize to say 800px on the long side, which will reduce the file size.
Keep a copy of the original though for future use.
Each of my full size jpgs are about 15MB, I can get that down to about 2 or 3MB by making the image smaller if I have too.
 
No, I mean compress them :) I suspect that simply resizing them would keep the quality of the image, whereas compressing will reduce the quality.

I always keep the full size pics, anything that's compressed just gets uploaded to PB and then deleted off the laptop.

My full size jpgs were around 12Mb so, using your figures, I'd guess I should be able to reduce them to around 2Mb, which shouldn't take too long to upload.

I learned a big lesson today - I need a lot more practice!
 
I also found that colours were a little "washed out" (even on the original, uncompressed file). Any suggestions on what I've done wrong with that?
 
Reducing images to around 750-800 pixels on the longest side, and saving them around quality 8 (from a scale of 1-12 in Photoshop) I can end up with a file that is only 125k-150k in size, depending on the exact contents of the image. And that's from an image that starts at around 20mb.

You can tell me if the quality at that size and setting is acceptable or not.

orig.jpg
 
davemk said:
I also found that colours were a little "washed out" (even on the original, uncompressed file). Any suggestions on what I've done wrong with that?
Click to expand...

Are you shooting RAW or JPG? If RAW, you need to edit your files a bit to get the colours back, add contrast etc. If JPG, then you can edit your picture styles.
Of course the photo needs to be correctly exposed in the first place.An over exposed photo will look quite flat and washed out.
 
Derek, I'm not sure "acceptable" is the right word - I'd be ecstatic if my photos ended up like that!

Tom, I'm shooting jpeg as I'd read that was probably best for a novice. I've taken some nice shots of my daughter using full auto so whatever the issue is, it's definitely user error - maybe it is just over exposure.
 
Dave, I think your mistake is using MS Office. If you have bought a reasonable DSLR and lens, it makes no sense to use a non-image program. Get yourself a copy of Photoshop Elements or Lightroom at the very least and do it properly.
 
I wouldnt compress anything - shoot jpeg large/fine in camera (assuming you arent shooting raw), then resize them with a photo editor like photoshop, elements, or one of the free ones like Gimp or irfanview (or even paint if you dont have anything else)

resizing to about 800x600 pix at quality 7 will get a file small enough to upload easily - just make sure you save as a duplicate so you still have the full size file as well
 
Hi Dave, I would agree about using a dedicated prog for editing, you should have DPP which came with the camera which will get you off to a good start if funds are limited, it is then just a case of using a free Resize programme before uploading. Do you have any examples you can post up here for us to look at?
 
Photodiva said:
Dave, I think your mistake is using MS Office. If you have bought a reasonable DSLR and lens, it makes no sense to use a non-image program. Get yourself a copy of Photoshop Elements or Lightroom at the very least and do it properly.
Click to expand...

True. I have an old (very old) Photoshop on an old laptop so should have used that really but, at the time, I didn't think it'd make any difference. I just assumed that Office Picture Manager would do as good a job at basic colour editing as dedicated SW.

big soft moose said:
I wouldnt compress anything - shoot jpeg large/fine in camera (assuming you arent shooting raw), then resize them with a photo editor like photoshop, elements, or one of the free ones like Gimp or irfanview (or even paint if you dont have anything else)

resizing to about 800x600 pix at quality 7 will get a file small enough to upload easily - just make sure you save as a duplicate so you still have the full size file as well
Click to expand...

Yep, resizing (rather than compressing) seems to have been quite a major downfall in my process. Thanks for the advice.

u8myufo said:
Hi Dave, I would agree about using a dedicated prog for editing, you should have DPP which came with the camera which will get you off to a good start if funds are limited, it is then just a case of using a free Resize programme before uploading. Do you have any examples you can post up here for us to look at?
Click to expand...

To be perfectly honest, I didn't even look at the CDs that it came with. I'll have a look shortly. This might sound odd but I tend not to use any CDs that are supplied with items I've bought - they often have lots of un-needed programs that hog resources. I'd be too ashamed to post the pics :lol:



Thanks for all the advice folks. Really appreciate it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top