Compressing photos

**aidz1** · 13/03/2006, 9:40 AM

does anyone know how i can compress photos
i used to be able to do it on my last jobs pc with photo editor
however i only have windows viewer and finepixviewer on this pc

**Block G Raptor** · 13/03/2006, 10:08 AM

Originally Posted by aidz1

does anyone know how i can compress photos
i used to be able to do it on my last jobs pc with photo editor
however i only have windows viewer and finepixviewer on this pc

Right Click on the Icon and send to Zip file

**Plastic Paddy** · 13/03/2006, 10:12 AM

I think adiz might be talking about TIF or GIF compression from JPEG format rather than actual file compression a la WinZip. Not that I know how to do TIF or GIF compression or anything...

PP

**finlma** · 13/03/2006, 10:27 AM

Aidz, I presume you want to reduce the size of photos for emailing or putting on the web? There are plenty of free applications out there for doing that - just google it.

**A face** · 13/03/2006, 4:18 PM

Originally Posted by aidz1

does anyone know how i can compress photos
i used to be able to do it on my last jobs pc with photo editor
however i only have windows viewer and finepixviewer on this pc

I know its not free but Photoshop is the job !!

Google or go to www.download.com and search under software, look for freeware.

**dahamsta** · 13/03/2006, 5:20 PM

Bloated piece of crap, pardon my Klatchian.

**$Leon$** · 13/03/2006, 9:20 PM

just try changing them to jpeg files. just click edit then save as jpeg

**A face** · 14/03/2006, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by dahamsta

Bloated piece of crap, pardon my Klatchian.

What, Photoshop?

**Dodge** · 14/03/2006, 10:52 AM

If they're not too big, you might wanna upload them to www.imageshack.us or www.photonucket.com and let them resize/compress the photos for you...

**dahamsta** · 14/03/2006, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by A face

What, Photoshop?

Yup. Hate it. Course my chosen app, PSP, is bloated too, and can only get more bloated now that those muppets in Corel have taken over it. However that doesn't stop PS being a bloated piece of crap.

$Leon$, your suggestion makes no sense. Either post usable instructions or don't post at all please.

adam

**A face** · 14/03/2006, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by dahamsta

$Leon$, your suggestion makes no sense. Either post usable instructions or don't post at all please.

I'd say he means from within MS Paint, File and Save As

Originally Posted by dahamsta

Yup. Hate it. Course my chosen app, PSP, is bloated too, and can only get more bloated now that those muppets in Corel have taken over it. However that doesn't stop PS being a bloated piece of crap.

Paint Shop Pro has some handy features but Photoshop is definitely the most preferred of the two. I always thought that PSP was the one to use for beginners, and when you understand layers and what can be done then its PS.

**dahamsta** · 14/03/2006, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by A face

I'd say he means from within MS Paint, File and Save As

I haven't had Paint installed on a rig in years, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't changed in years either, and last I looked it only handled bitmapped images.

Paint Shop Pro has some handy features but Photoshop is definitely the most preferred of the two.

...by professional designers, on the Mac platform. Obviously I don't like it, so in my case it's specifically not "preferred", n'est ce pas?

I always thought that PSP was the one to use for beginners

It's just another editor, not "the one" for anything. Ditto Photoshop.

It's a case of each to his own, and each program to it's own. Personally, I find Photoshop a bloated, resource-greedy, unuable piece of crap. Other people think the same (or different) about Paint Shop Pro.

adam

**John83** · 14/03/2006, 12:24 PM

Originally Posted by dahamsta

I haven't had Paint installed on a rig in years, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't changed in years either, and last I looked it only handled bitmapped images.

It handles bitmaps, jpegs, png, gif, tiff and png these days.

I'd tend to agree with $Leon$, MS Paint will convert between those file types and will crop or resize the images too.

aidz1, for the love of Om don't save any photo as a gif. Ever. It has a limited number of colours and will screw it up. If you want lossless compression, png is probably the format to save to. Otherwise, jpg is about the smallest reasonable one. Experiment and see what suits you.

There's a decent article on file formats on Wikipedia.

**dahamsta** · 14/03/2006, 1:08 PM

Originally Posted by John83

It handles bitmaps, jpegs, png, gif, tiff and png these days.

I'd tend to agree with $Leon$, MS Paint will convert between those file types and will crop or resize the images too.

Fair enough, but will it compress the image, like the OP requested?

aidz1, for the love of Om don't save any photo as a gif. Ever. It has a limited number of colours and will screw it up.

It won't screw up an image that doesn't need more than a limited number of colours, which is often what you need for, for example, logos on the Internet. PNG is a pretty good format, but it can increase file size, particularly if not used correctly. It also isn't fully backward-compatible, in that although it'll load in most browsers, it'll look ugly as hell in many older - yet relatively recent - ones, because of that horrendous default black background. Again, it's not a format for amateurs.

If you want lossless compression, png is probably the format to save to. Otherwise, jpg is about the smallest reasonable one.

JPG and GIF shouldn't even be used in the same post, they're completely different formats for completely different applications.

adam

**A face** · 14/03/2006, 2:21 PM

Originally Posted by dahamsta

It also isn't fully backward-compatible, in that although it'll load in most browsers, it'll look ugly as hell in many older - yet relatively recent - ones, because of that horrendous default black background. Again, it's not a format for amateurs.

Do you mean colour wise? I always go with Netscape safe colours anyway (where possible) so it avoids all that hassle, or are you referring to something else?

Edit:

Originally Posted by dahamsta

because of that horrendous default black background.

I should stop this speed reading lark to be honest.

**dahamsta** · 14/03/2006, 3:32 PM

Originally Posted by A face

Do you mean colour wise? I always go with Netscape safe colours anyway (where possible) so it avoids all that hassle, or are you referring to something else?

Originally Posted by dahamsta

because of that horrendous default black background

?????

**John83** · 14/03/2006, 3:48 PM

Originally Posted by dahamsta

Fair enough, but will it compress the image, like the OP requested?

Depends on what he meant. A jpg coming out of it is considerably smaller than a bmp, yes. It's not gzip though.

It won't screw up an image that doesn't need more than a limited number of colours, which is often what you need for, for example, logos on the Internet.

It's not often (I'd go so far as never) what you need for photos, which is what the OP asked about.

PNG ... not a format for amateurs.

Fair enough. I've never had a problem with it, but I suppose that would fall under the "experiment" advice I gave.

JPG and GIF shouldn't even be used in the same post, they're completely different formats for completely different applications.

Agreed, but someone mentioned gif above, and anyone coming to the subject cold needs to be warned off it for photos.

**aidz1** · 15/03/2006, 1:52 PM

ta for the advice lads
managed to get hold of photo sotware (finepixviewer) that compressed the photos
i was looking to compress photos so i could put up on the web
i ended up reducing jpegs of 600k to about 55k each.
thx again

**ThatGuy** · 15/03/2006, 3:42 PM

I'm amazed at the slating of Adobe Photoshop. The programming behind that software is simply astonishing and it is held in such esteem for a reason. It is a magnificent piece of software.

Also I would recommend macromedia Fireworks, though what the future holds for that particular program after Adobe's buy out is anyone's guess.-