resize images

[videovillageidiot]

i recently finished a project with a large number of photos. i tried to size them at 1000 x 750 as recommended but i'm not sure i used the correct method. can someone lay out the steps i need to take, please?

i worry that, depending on the photo's original size, won't i lose a great deal of detail if i downsize the photo to these much smaller dimensions? there's so much that i don't "get" about this process.

please make any explanation very specific. Thanks so much!!

[Steve Grisetti]

Well, yes, you will lose resolution and detail. But, if you're planning to use the photos in a video, that's inevitable. Photos used in a video are essentially 640x480 pixels in size. In fact, ALL standard-def video on your TV is essentially 640x480 pixels in size! When you resize your images to 1000x750, you're just giving Premiere Elements a head start so that it doesn't choke trying to resample an image a dozen or more times this size.

The easiest way to batch resize is to, first, make sure all of the photos are in the same folder on your computer. Then:
1) In Photo Elements, go to File/Process Multiple Files.
2) Browse to select your Source folder, then browse to select your Destination folder (so that you don't overwrite your original photos).
3)Under Image Size, check Resize Images, set Width to 1000 pixels and leave Constrain Proportions checked. (No need to fill in Height.) Set resolution to 72 dpi.
4) Click OK and let the program do it's job!

[Chuck Engels]

I recommend putting all portrait images in one folder and landscape images in another folder

[Bobby]

Oh, and one rule of mine: Never, ever modify the original images. You may want to go back some day to print or otherwise use the full resolution image, change crop. etc. Storage is cheap...

[JohnnyO]

If you use the Organizer, you can just selecct the photos there. Then file->export to a new directory. You can resize as you do this.

[videovillageidiot]

my goodness - one method i tried came from Chuck's page turn tutorial...he created a new file that was 720 by 480 pixels. Then he dragged the photo album onto the new pse file and kept resizing it with the handle until it somewhat fit in the new file. When I tried this method, using 1000 x 750 pixels, I invariably lost some of the photo as i tried to fit the original into the smaller dimensions.

also, i was confused and thought that i would only get 1000 x 750 pixels - i'd get just an area of the photo that fit those dimensions...but what actually happens is that the photo gets degraded in resolution but the content remains (is this correct?)

within the pse editor i also tried image/resize/image size...but i couldn't change the pixel dimensions. i tried that just now after seeing Steve's post about how to resize multiple files and noticed a place to resample the image - i was then able to change the pixel dimensions. i don't think you have to tell pse to resample when doing the multiple files. when resizing one image at a time do i select resample and constrain proportions?

am i on the right track? thanks all!

[Steve Grisetti]

When resizing images one at a time, you use one resampling setting for enlarging and the other for reducing size. (Newer versions of Photoshop Elements indicate this -- as do my books.)

When reducing your image's size, select Bicubic Sharper.
When increasing your image's size, select Bicubic Smoother.

[George Tyndall]

...please make any explanation very specific. Thanks so much!!

vvi, as Bobby says, and as Steve states when he says not to overwrite your images, never make changes to your original images.

Now, if you have 2000 x 1500 images and you "throw away" pixels on their copies to get to 1000 x 750, then you have in fact thrown away half the pixels, however, IT DOES NOT MATTER because you only need 72ppi of resolution for an image to look good on a monitor.

But if you want to make a print, you will need 200-300ppi, and in such as case you would likely need all the pixels in your original image (depending on the size of print you wish to make -- the bigger the print, the more pixels you will need).