Good Question: How Do I Downsize a Photo for Email?

Dear Debbie,

Long ago I saved an article from your magazine describing how to e-mail photos, Photos in the Fast Lane, and I have been doing it that way since. However, it is a multi-step process in which you: make a copy, save the copy at the highest image quality (12), lower the resolution to 72dpi, reduce the image dimensions to no more than 6 inches high or wide, sharpen the image, then do another save as at a lower quality setting of 5-6. Finally it is under 100K!

Is there any quick and easy way of doing this, especially if you want to do a lot at once, such as in the Batch processing or something like that? I'm using Photoshop CS2.

Thank you,
Photo Slowpoke

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Dear Slowpoke,

Well, that was our advice in January 2004, and while it was may have been good advice then, there's a quicker way now. First downsize your photo, then take advantage of Photoshop's Save for Web feature to compress it for email. Record your steps as an Action (check out my post on Actions for help), then batch process all the rest.

Step 1: Scale your picture down. Go to Image > Image Size. Make the longest side of your picture 800 pixels, and it will be a good size for most computer screens. Then make sure to select Bicubic Sharper under Resample Image. That will take care of the sharpening you had to do in your old process.

Step 2: Save for Web. Photoshop's Save for Web dialogue will help you compress your imges and keep the detail. You can just go for Optimized and set the Quality for 8, or you can select the 4-Up tab and pick your favorite compression rate for best results.

Hitting Save will automatically create a copy, so you won't overwrite your original file.

Hope that speeds things up for you,
Debbie

Comments

[Steve Von Bokern]

If using Windows, just download the power toy for photo resizing. Go into explorer, highlight the pictures you want to resize, right click, pick resize, choose what size and click OK. There are several options to choose from, but this is really easy.

[lee]

i don't have the bicubic sharper option. what do i do?

[Kristin]

are you using photoshop elements?

[Kristin]

you may be able to find the bicubic sharper option in your preferences under image interpolation... but maybe not

[Kristin]

you may be able to find the bicubic sharper option in your preferences under image interpolation... but maybe not

[Pat Ziegler]

If you use "Save for Web" won't you lose your xif data? If you are only emailing to friends, no problem. In PS just resize and "save as" and put it in a folder for small images. I have never had any trouble doing it this way.

[Kristin]

Are you sending scanned images of documents? Because that's what .xif is for. I don't think photoshop even recognizes the .xif format so I don't understand how this could be a problem. Or maybe you mean EXIF??? If you are actually talking about EXIF and not .xif, you should be saving your original file separately from the file you manipulate in Photoshop anyway, any time you save for web. That way your exif data is backed up. There are also some programs that will help you backup and restore EXIF data and even merge it back into your photoshopped images.

[Pat Ziegler]

Right, right, EXIF.

Seems like allot of extra steps. Just resize and send, Not? Why even bother with "Save for Web"? I have never had any trouble with simply resizing, Leaving the EXIF in tact, (without having to re-attach it) leaves exposure info and photog's credit in tact.

I take it back, I did run across one site that would not let me post a photo because of embedded EXIF, So I don't post there. It's that easy. I assume someday they will come around.

Or course I save the original, Duh... and the hi-res completed work as well. I'm talking about resizing for email or posting to a Web site, leave you EXIF in tact, save time, don't use, "Save for Web" Unless there is some reason I haven't heard of.

PZ
www.imagequest.ifp3.com

[Buddhika]

I'm using Photoshop's "Image Processor" to do a lot at once! It's under File>Scripts>Image Processor. I think this script was introduced for the first time with Photoshop CS2.

[terry]

I second the Resizer from Power Toys for Windows XP. I've been using it for several years. If all you want to do is rezise a photo for emailing this is the easiest.

[Indra Gunawan]

You can use Image Compressor program, which can reduce your image size without compromising the quality. It can also do batch processing. Check this URL for the sample result: http://www.image-compressor.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=gallery.main