Working with digital images

[romeok]

I was searching for "taking photos for the web" and found your site.  I was wondering if you would be kind enough to answer some questions for me.

I have a web store with photos of imported Cambodian goods and my photos are not only horrible, but too big (in size).  I am using Prestobiz, which has a UI and backend for my store.

I am using a digital camera (HP photosmart 945). It gives you a choice of taking photos at 5 MP or 1 MP.  I have been using 5 MP.  The files are JPEGs. I download the photos from my camera into my computer and use Jasc Jasc Photo Shop Pro 8 to crop them, then go to Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8 to resize and compress them using their web compression wizard.

The photo sizes are about 36" x 27" when I download them and when I resize them to thumbnails (2" wide) or the Prestobiz allowed size of 4" for the zoomed in view they resize looking very grainy and all the beautiful detail is lost.

Am I better off getting the photos developed and then scanning them in?

Many, many, many many thanks if you can help me with this,

Karen Brousseau
www.starofcambodia.com

[admin]

Hi Karen,

Welcome to the Q&A Board. Your website is lovely and I think you've done a fine job at capturing detail in the photos. The images I looked at are well-exposed and look well on my monitor.

Someone may come along and have a different opinion but I personally don't think taking photos and scanning them will produce better results. What I would suggest is that you shoot the images at one megapixel, highest (best) quality when you know the images will only be
used on a web page. This way, you won't have to reduce the images so much.

Taking large images and reducing them to a much smaller size can be a challenge.  When I reduce images, such as when I create the header graphic for a contributing writer, before I reduce an image, I sharpen it slightly. Then I resize the image and do any additional
retouching that may be needed (eg. adjust brightness, contrast).  My final step before "saving" is to sharpen once again. I use Unsharp Mask so I can control the degree of sharpness applied.

Here are some examples:

http://digicamhelp.com/about/deb-tappan.htm

http://digicamhelp.com/about/mike-farslow.htm


As I'm sure you know, compressing an image too much can degrade the visual quality. Your images are small so, in order to get even more detail, you may not have to compress them as much as you have been.

While not specifically related to small sized images, you may find some of the information useful in this article about resizing images for web presentation.

http://digicamhelp.com/learn/image-editing/image-resizing-for-web.htm

[Karen Brousseau]

Dear Admin,

Thank you so much for answering my questions and pointing me to articles.

Thank you also for saying my website is lovely; I've been feeling downhearted about it so I really appreciate the moral support.

Gratefully,
Karen

[ShutterbugGail]

Hi Karen,

There is nothing to feel down about it as the site is really lovely. But I do know how you feel because being a web designer, I know how some days this stuff can really get to you.

If you have any further questions, let me know. I ask for patience in my being able to reply as I am leaving unexpectedly out of town tomorrow due to a family emergency.

Also, if you ever need web site help, I highly recommend you visit Outfront Forums. They are more than willing to help, give site critiques, etc. Great place. I use them often. In fact, that's where I "met" the other Q&A Board moderators, Deb and Mike.

http://www.frontpagewebmaster.com/