Resizing photos AND preserving print quality

[blissbaby]

I'm trying to make a 4x6 photocard in which I'm shrinking images in photoshop cs2 using the transform tool. My finished product has repeatedly come out at around 117 kb. So how can I shrink the images for the card and still have them be print worthy? I've done the Image-----> image size as well, but the picture is still huge on my screen, but if I click "print size" it shrinks it to the dimensions I had set. I need to shrink them and then import them into a new project, so the oly way i've been able to do that is with the transform----> scale option. Thanks for any help you can give.[COLOR="Red"].final photo card!!!!!!!1.jpg<------Card here.

[Geoff F]

I use a cheaper editing programme, but if it is of any use, this is what I do.

Use the Image Size menu and enter the new sizes (some programmes only use pixels for dimensions, in which case you also need a calculator) then check the resolution in ppi. 300 ppi will be best but you can sometimes get away with as low as 200.

Set the resampling option to Bi Cubic Interpolation, or Best Quality, and all should be well.

I suspect that the transform tool is set for nearest pixel or you are losing pixels somewhere along the way.

When I am doing a big jump in size I usually do it in 2 stages.

Finally, and this is very important, after a substantial change in dimensions your image will benefit from a little sharpen. I normally use Unsharp Mask at around 30% and 1 pixel as an average; but this will depend on individual image quality.

With some software you need to check or uncheck a box in the resizing options to retain your full complement of pixels during resizing. I'm not sure about your programme but hopefully someone else will be able to add more details.

[Davey]

or don't resample images when changing sizes that way you make them smaller/bigger print size but lose no info from original what so ever. By sound of it the image res is fine it's the dpi that's out so it's telling the printer it's print size is smaller than the actual pixels size equivalent.

[Colin Southern]

If you want to make a permanently smaller image (best done on a copy) then go to Image -> Image Size then make sure the resample image box is ticked then plug in "6 in" for the width, "4 in" for the height and "180" for the resolution - and make sure Photoshop is set to use "Bicubic Sharper".

Save at JPEG quality of 10 and you should have something that's small, but prints well as a 6x4.

[Geoff F]

Just an extra thought, I wonder if Blissbaby's image is currently at a large size but low resolution, say 72 ppi, so the resized image is ending up also at 72 ppi when the Transform Tool is used for resizing. Setting the resolution to something between 180 and 300 ppi while resizing with the Image Size menu certainly sounds the best option.

[crisscross]

Couple of silly questions

Firstly if you are printing, why not do it from the full size image and just set the print parameters down to intended size? No idea how in CS, but CANON () DPP is free and superb for print sizing and placing on the page to the mm

Secondly in a prog I rarely use now (GraphicConvertor, mac only, but no matter) the reduction options include Lanczos 3 as well as Bi-cubic and a few others. After some fascinating reading on algorithms and a suggestion that Lanczos was often best on sharpness, I did use it in the era I was using that prog more. The question is why isn't it used as much as bi-cubic? BTW the normal size/resolution in NX2 seems to produce perfectly good results in most cases and is bi-cubic

[Colin Southern]

Firstly if you are printing, why not do it from the full size image and just set the print parameters down to intended size? No idea how in CS ...

In Photoshop you'd simply need to click on IMAGE -> IMAGE SIZE and just enter the dimensions you want, ensuring that the resample box isn't ticked.