Photo shrink without loss of quality

MadDoctor · Post by **MadDoctor** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 4:22 pm

I have a photo that is 2.0 MB and I want to shrink it down without loosing any resolution/quality. Example: If I take the picture into Paint, shrink it down by 75% it fits on the screen, the size of the file drops to 200 KB. Now I can't blow it up again and see the 2.0 MB quality because it is a one way bridge.

Software suggestions?

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 4:51 pm

once it is compressed, it loses detail IMO

do you want to resize it to a smaller dimension, or smaller file size ?

MadDoctor · Post by **MadDoctor** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 4:57 pm

Mark wrote:once it is compressed, it loses detail IMO

do you want to resize it to a smaller dimension, or smaller file size ?

File size is secondary. I assume that the bigger the files size, the better the picture. I take a bunch of pictures with my 12MP camera and everyone complains about not being able to see the picture because it is too big. I re-size the picture and poof... looks like it was shot with a 2.2MP camera. Bummer.

Maybe not all photo reduction software's are created equal. Some compress pixels and others preserve the quality?

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 5:01 pm

for free, try IrfanView

photoshop has options when resizing pics of bicubic sharpening for size reduction, i can't really explain it to ya, as i don't really know this stuff too well, but look into DPI as well, for printing ya usually want a DPI of say 300, monitors display 96 DPI if i remember correctly.

you can set the level of compression ya need as well.

MadDoctor · Post by **MadDoctor** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 5:50 pm

Thanks! I'll give it a try!!!

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:46 pm

Ever tried XP Tools Image Resizer?

Works great, I've never noticed a quality drop (but this is me talking), and it's a pretty clutter-free right mouse option.

Randy · Post by **Randy** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 12:31 pm

MadDoctor wrote: everyone complains

thats the problem (" everyone") I've experienced this several times. Have tried telling everyone to piss up a stick? use a PA system for best results.