Reducing image file size?

susie r · 05-01-2004, 13:03

Can anyone help me on this one please, have just put all our xmas pics on the puter from the digital camera and want to e-mail some to friends, but some of the file sizes are very big and would take ages for them to send...........is there some way of reducing the file size for this purpose? I use hotmail mainly ,so need to be able to save in a smaller size then send ................is some special software needed for this, or am I just being dumb?

Nemesis · 05-01-2004, 13:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by susie r

Can anyone help me on this one please, have just put all our xmas pics on the puter from the digital camera and want to e-mail some to friends, but some of the file sizes are very big and would take ages for them to send...........is there some way of reducing the file size for this purpose? I use hotmail mainly ,so need to be able to save in a smaller size then send ................is some special software needed for this, or am I just being dumb?

Generally once the piccy is opened, you can save it in a different format reducing the files size ... alternatively reduce the actual size of the image (resize) and save.

What Graphics software have you got ?

susie r · 05-01-2004, 13:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemesis

Generally once the piccy is opened, you can save it in a different format reducing the files size ... alternatively reduce the actual size of the image (resize) and save.

What Graphics software have you got ?

Have got MGI photosuite and a trial version of ACDsee v.6..........but am not sure how to use em!!!!!

Nemesis · 05-01-2004, 13:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by susie r

Have got MGI photosuite and a trial version of ACDsee v.6..........but am not sure how to use em!!!!!

In the absence of anyone with any specific knowledge ..... play with the Image options or Edit options to reduce the pixel size of the image. Initially drop it by half and see what it looks like and what the file size is.

.... or you could put them on cd and send them

susie r · 05-01-2004, 13:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemesis

In the absence of anyone with any specific knowledge ..... play with the Image options or Edit options to reduce the pixel size of the image. Initially drop it by half and see what it looks like and what the file size is.

.... or you could put them on cd and send them

thanks, I will have a play arund and see what happens

glentoran · 05-01-2004, 13:40

in mgi photosuite just open the file and select file and save as and change the file typ i think jpeg is the best but don't quote me on that

Sociable · 05-01-2004, 13:51

Saving in jpg or gif format should give you good results susie and also look at using the resize options too as has been suggested this will also help reduce file size.

As always if you have any further problems with this just post back and I'm sure we will be able to take you through the process step by step.

It may also be worthwhile looking at any "compress and send as e-mail" options in either MGI or ACDsee as I think at least one of those has that option built in.

EDIT: One extra tip if you are sending via hotmail make sure not to keep a copy of the mails on the server as this will eat up your account space in no time.

Also don't forget that sending via your ntl email account wont restrict you as much when adding attachments so this may be a better option for the times you have a collection of images to send to one location.

susie r · 05-01-2004, 14:00

[QUOTE=Sociable]Saving in jpg or gif format should give you good results susie and also look at using the resize options too as has been suggested this will also help reduce file size.

.

It may also be worthwhile looking at any "compress and send as e-mail" options in either MGI or ACDsee as I think at least one of those has that option built in.

.

They are already in jpg format, but I will try and re size them first...........the compress and send as e-mail option is there, but having tried that it looks as though you have to have outlook (I have o/express) thanks for the advice all...........will have a good play with them and let you know how it goes

Sociable · 05-01-2004, 14:03

Good luck susie.

You may find the ref to Outlook is just the program anticipating that to be the default email client which it will be if you have installed office but not reset outlook express as the default.

Easy to sort that by opening outlook express and telling it to make itself the default if this is the case and you don't want to use Outlook.

Jon M · 05-01-2004, 14:05

if you get desperate.. send them to me theoptimizer@s1lv3r.com and i'll sort them out for you

Sociable: this thread has reminded me about the FAQ suggestion i made a while back... i wrote an image optimisation guide for another forum i used to visit.. do you think it would be useful to do the same here?

Sociable · 05-01-2004, 14:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by s1lv3r

if you get desperate.. send them to me theoptimizer@s1lv3r.com and i'll sort them out for you

Sociable: this thread has reminded me about the FAQ suggestion i made a while back... i wrote an image optimisation guide for another forum i used to visit.. do you think it would be useful to do the same here?

It certainly would s1lv3r in fact a "Graphics" section would be usefull for many I think.

Nemesis · 05-01-2004, 14:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sociable

It certainly would s1lv3r in fact a "Graphics" section would be usefull for many I think.

I'd support that ...... this is one area a lot of people struggle with .....

We should also include App's tho'

Bifta · 05-01-2004, 14:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sociable

Saving in jpg or gif format should give you good results susie

You shouldn't save digital photo's as a gif file, being as they're a maximum 256 colours. On top of which the compression routines for jpg's are far superior.

Sociable · 05-01-2004, 14:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bifta

You shouldn't save digital photo's as a gif file, being as they're a maximum 256 colours. On top of which the compression routines for jpg's are far superior.

True if you need to preserve very high quality for future printing etc but can be ideal for sending a copy of the latest snaps of "Junior" to auntie flow in OZ.

glentoran · 05-01-2004, 15:05

if you have jpegs to big to email they must be huge i would go with the resizing option, or how about winzip? would that reduce them?