Graphics Zone - Compressing JPG's in Photoshop

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Compressing JPG's in Photoshop and how to Modify Image Resolution

by BarryHilton, Adult NetSurprise

In this tutorial we'll be showing how to compress jpg images in Photoshop and how to correctly reduce the image resolution correctly (you don't need this for compressing images as the original resolution of the image makes NO difference for displaying on the web, it's included for completeness only... and if you're interested in printing images in Photoshop!) Start by saving the large girl image to your harddrive (right click > save as) and open it in Photoshop... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions

Find where the image resolution is displayed in the Image Size menu... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

Try typing in 72 (normal screen resolution) and you'll see that the image size also reduces as it's 'locked' to the height and width of the image... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

To correctly reduce the resolution of the image, untick the Resample Image box BEFORE entering 72 pixels per inch. this removes the link between resolution and image pixel size... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

Tick the Resample Image box again, to make the Pixel Dimentions area 'live' again... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

Now, we can start compressing our image... first to make the image size more suitable for a free site, we'll reduce it to 412 width by 640 height... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

Select the magnify tool and zoom up to to 100%, so you can see any changes properly... (if the image is too blurry, use the Sharpen filter to 'sharpen' up the image. Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen) Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

Select Save for Web and change to the Optimized Tab to see how our image will look compressed... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

Alter the Quality to 60, which is the maximum you should usually use in Photoshop... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

Switch to the 2-Up view so you can check the difference between your original image and your compresses image. You'll notice the file size is now 53k a big saving! Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

To see if we can lower our final file size more, switch to the 4-Up view, this displays your original image, the 60 quality image and two more at half and quarter of your first quality value (i.e. 60, 30, 15)... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

We need something between 60 and 30 to give a good quality to file size ratio. Select the 30 image, then change it's Quality to 40... You'll see right away the effect any changes you make, the image will preview and the quality and file size will automatically update at the bottom of your selected image... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

If you need all your images below a certain size, Photoshop includes an 'Optimize to File Size' feature... Enter yourd esired maximum file size and Photoshop will automatically adjust the quality of the image so it's file size is as close to your maximum as possible! This is especially useful for free hosts that have a maximum filesize requirement... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

Here's our final compressed image example... Click Here to view our final example page.