Resizing issues in Photoshop

[MarcusM]

I had the hardest time trying to resize my photo for some reason in Photoshop for the Monthly Challenge.

I've been using Photoshop for years and I must admit for some reason resolution, pixel size, etc. has always given me a hard time, but I've never had this much trouble trying to resize a photo. I felt really dumb!

I was trying to get my photo under the maximum 150K for submission. I converted a RAW file to a JPG at 72 ppi using the 2 Compression Rate and in order for me to get it under 150K, I had to resize to a measly 184 x 276 px (and the file size was still at 148.8K - or so Photoshop was telling me). After several attempts at trying to tweak settings in order to get a usable photo that was a viewable size but still under 150K, I finally checked the saved file's properties in Windows Explorer, and the file size was only showing as 41.3K!!! So Photoshop was saying 148.8K and Windows Explorer was telling me 41.3K.

I finally ended up saving the file at 430 x 645 px, 72 px/in, Image Quality 12 and Photoshop said the file was 812.5K, but Explorer said the file was only 146K.

I did notice finally at the last step of saving in PS, in the JPEG Options box on the bottom where it says "Size", that the file said "~142.36K / 25.15s @ 56.6kbps", but I didn't get to this point at first because my Image Size box was telling me it was way too big so I kept trying to resize!

Sorry if this is confusing, it was to me too. Can anyone tell me why such a discrepancy?

 

[Digital Matt]

The file size preview in photoshop is not an accurate depiction of final file size. It factors in many things like history states, cache levels, and layers. It's telling you the size of your file in memory while it is open in photoshop.

When resizing for posting to the web, convert to sRGB, go to image/image size and uncheck resample. Set your DPI to 72, and then recheck resample. Change the pixel dimensions to somewhere around 800 pixels on the long side. (This exact figure is up to you). Use "Save for Web". You'll find that a jpg of 800 pixels by whatever, at a quality of 60-75, should easily be under 150k. You can set this dialogue to show you a 2up (original and compressed jpg side by side) Use this preview to determine how much you will compress your image. You'll see the quality loss right before you eyes.

 

[MarcusM]

Thanks for the good explanation! I'll try this out.

 

[Atropine]

Yup, always use "save for web" or ctrl-alt-shift-s when saving photos that needs to be as light as possible. It is an awkward keyboard shortcut but once learned it is extremely useful.

 

[MarcusM]

Yup, always use "save for web" or ctrl-alt-shift-s when saving photos that needs to be as light as possible. It is an awkward keyboard shortcut but once learned it is extremely useful.

Thanks! I've used it a couple times, but for some reason I usually forget about Save for Web. I'm just used to saving the standard way, habit I guess.