image compression

[arrbez]

hey all, i was just wondering how you guys get such large colourful images into such small file sizes? i've been giving it a go in photoshop, but my file sizes always end up too big. and programs you would recomend?

thanks

[smackthefirst]

The only advice I can give is play around with the size of the pic and the clarity. JPEG's work best for me and I usually save them as 5 line progressive scans.

[Franchise Fan]

when you go to save your file in photoshop click the save for web option, this then allows you to change things like the number of colors which helps decrease file size

[Guttpuppy]

Mess around with the save for web function in Photoshop,it's a tough beast to master with the Cafe's restrictions but you will get it...remember less is best.The more stuff you have going on the bigger the filesize gets.

[arrbez]

never tried that option before. thanks a lot guys, i'll go give that a shot

[Guttpuppy]

Also,I learned that by starting smaller,the better chance you have of making the sig fit.

468x100(I Think) is the Cafe's dimension restrictions...start out smaller...like 350x100 or something.

[Flockers]

I usually try to keep mine simple. Get a pic or two and text, maybe a wicked looking background...

[Cupertino_11]

A couple quick tips to keeping an image looking good...

When you Save for Web, you're going to lose some color saturation and some sharpness so before you save your image, do two things to it. First increase the contrast by about 10-20 to brighten the image up and second sharpen it using Unsharp Mask in the filters menu. For a small image like these sigs, don't overdo it though. 100% with a 1-1.5 pixel radius works well.

Just by doing those two things, your image will look sharper and clearer with a little added pop.

[Mercer Boy]

Thanks a ton for that tip Cupe! It always seems like my sigs are a little darker than everyone else's...and on all the burnt-in screens that I use I can barely see the pics.

I will remember to add a little bit more contrast and do the sharpening filter next time!

[jumpman8828]

A couple quick tips to keeping an image looking good...

When you Save for Web, you're going to lose some color saturation and some sharpness so before you save your image, do two things to it. First increase the contrast by about 10-20 to brighten the image up and second sharpen it using Unsharp Mask in the filters menu. For a small image like these sigs, don't overdo it though. 100% with a 1-1.5 pixel radius works well.

Just by doing those two things, your image will look sharper and clearer with a little added pop.

Good to know, thanks alot