posted on July 16, 2005 07:59:36 PM new
I got a new camera that took some great looking photos but they were sized with the dimensions of 3264 x 2448
I have MS Picture It! for my photo editing and tried to resize the pic for ebay but it came out very grainy. Is there a way to make the picture smaller but still as clear and crisp as the larger image?
posted on July 16, 2005 08:59:36 PM new
Microsoft has never produced a piece of software since DOS 5 that was worth the powder to blow it to hell. Go to downloads.com and download a copy of Irfanview. It's freeware, there are no viruses or spyware imbedded in it, and it's very simple to use. You can resize and keep the same aspect ratio as the original. It's probably one of the most popular programs in use among Ebay sellers who can't afford Adobe. I suspect Tomwiii will be in shortly to post a link to an off site tutorial that will make it even easier to get started with.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on July 17, 2005 07:34:14 AM new
Why are you shooting at high resolution for eBay pictures? Anything above 640 x 480 is wasted on a computer screen. Yea, I know there are some monitors that have higher resolution, but your average user doesn't.
Shoot at that resolution, or perhaps one notch lower. I use Photoshop Elements for my eBay stuff, but I'm sure that Picture It! has the equivalent function to "Save for Web."
You want to create a jpeg at high or medium quality, with a size (depending on what it is) whose largest dimension is between 700 and 400 pixels. It will be 50k is size or less when you're done. It takes a bit of playing around to get it, and in no time you will be able to look at an original photo and know, instinctively, what quality and size are appropriate.
Do not use the resize function, use Save For Web instead.
posted on July 17, 2005 09:46:35 AM new
Thank you everyone!
I'll go check out Irfanview today. I was trying to figure out how to reduce the resolution but I'm really a klutz about cameras. My last one died after two years so hubby ordered me a new one and it's a bit more than I can handle lol
I have 700+ photos to take for my new website and better figure this all out pronto.
posted on July 17, 2005 03:16:53 PM new
if this is a new camera it should have a setting for you phot size. I have mine set at 640 x 480 and have had for 4 years and two different cameras, the photos are taken on normal setting and come out fine. All of the sizeing is done with the camera.
I will respectfully disagree with gasolineguys. While your camera can undoubtedly shoot at any number of sizes, I think the better way to do it is to shoot at relatively large size and resolution, and then crop/adjust in software and then Save-For-Web to make it the size you want.
Just my $0.02; your mileage may vary (as gasolineguys does).
posted on July 17, 2005 05:28:46 PM new
Cash-----
Why? It seems you are doing alot more steps to accompish the same end result. I'm no expert, so please tell me what the advantage is to your method.
No matter how carefully you expose the photo, 99% of the time it needs some adjustment of the highlight areas (especially when you're using a white background). Very often, it needs cropping (not all product photos are best at 4:3 ratio). Sometimes the color balance needs some tweaking. In any case, I would not want to simply take what is on the camera memory card and deposit it in an auction.
Depending on what you sell, it might work fine to edit "in camera." It does add a few steps my way, but with a good PC and experience with the software, I don't think it adds more than 15 seconds per photo (when I'm on a roll), and it allows me to take quicker photos (since I don't have to get it exactly right "in camera".
I think that overall it is time-neutral, maybe even a time saver. And I have no doubt that the photos come out better.
Since I'm going to edit anyway, I might as well photograph at a higher resolution and size, so that there isn't a marked reduction in quality after the edit.
I frequently get more money for comparable items than the next auctioneer. Not always, but often. I think a few extra seconds with photos helps that happen. If nothing else, I have a good basis upon which to refuse returns, because the photos are clear and indicate the condition of the item.
posted on July 17, 2005 08:04:06 PM new
Wendy and Ltray,
Irfan is a great tool, and the price is right
However, since you've already sprung for Picture It!, and you will presumably have the photos in there for editing, you might as well save an extra couple of steps (i.e., saving full size in PictureIt! and then opening in Irfan) by just doing the compression in PictureIt! I don't know PictureIt! that well, but I know Photoshop Essentials lets you see the before and after for different compression levels (which are completely adjustable), the resulting FILE size, and lets you set the IMAGE size. I'm sure PictureIt! has something comparable.
posted on July 17, 2005 09:13:39 PM new
Hi Claude, et al!
I initally was going to go with GG's suggestion about changing my camera setting to a lower resolution but was intrigued by the mention of compression after a big, nice photo is taken.
I found that in PictureIt! there is a resizing option that is called 'Default' and it took the pic from 3264 x 2448 to a new size of 720 x 576. The after pic is just as perfect as the larger before. Thank you for that tip Claude!
I looked for the Save For Web option and it comes as a Save TO Web in PictureIt! Not exactly the same thing. Oh well, I have figured a better way to photograph using the full capabilities of my camera and going in afterwards and reducing the size.
I sell all the same item but with differing colors so it's incredibly important to have an accurate portrayal of the item for my customers to see and the larger resolution captures the colors brilliantly!
I'm glad to hear that it worked well. Take a look at the file size of the image that was created. I try to stay at 50k or smaller, because many people still use dialup. Vendio will reduce the size for the photos in the auction (if you set the option), but if they click on the photo to enlarge it, it becomes slow if the file is too large.
If the resulting file size is too large, you should do a web save (i.e., compress a little bit more).
.
