How to Make Pictures Smaller in Photoshop

Making pictures smaller

Though Internet connections have become faster, and hard drives have grown larger, viewers still prefer to deal with smaller graphics on websites, media players and email, because such images save transmission time and disk space. With Photoshop, you can make pictures smaller by reducing their dimensions and/or reducing their file sizes.

Instructions

Dimensions

1. Choose the “File” menu and the “Open” option to display the file dialog box. Search for the file you need and double-click it. The picture will open up in a new document window.

2. Choose the “View” menu and then the “Fit to Window” option, if only part of the picture is showing. The entire picture is reduced to fit on the screen.

3. 

   Choose the “Image” menu and then “Image Size.” The “Image Size” dialog box appears.

4. Reduce your image proportionately in all dimensions by making sure the “Constrain Proportions” check box is checked. If you do not do this, your image may appear stretched or squashed.

5. Type in a new height or width. The corresponding dimension changes to match the new value.

6. Click the “OK” button. The document window and the picture dimensions become smaller.

7. Choose the “File” menu and the “Save As” option to save the file under a different name. This allows you to return to the original, if needed, to try different dimensions.

Size

1. Open the file so it is entirely visible in one window, as explained in the previous section. You can reduce the file size by itself or after first reducing the file dimensions.

2. 

   Choose the “File” menu and the “Save For Web” option. The “Save for Web” dialog box appears.

3. Click the “2-Up” tab to display the original picture on the left and the changed version on the right. You can track picture quality as you try different options.

4. See more of the picture by clicking the magnifying glass button in the upper left. While holding down the “Alt” key, click on the picture many times to zoom out until the entire picture is visible.

5. In the “Preset” drop-down menu on the far right, choose “JPEG High.” Although other options are available, the JPEG format offers the best combination of file size and picture quality. It is also the most common picture format used on the web.

6. Click the “Quality” arrow to reveal a slider. Moving this slider to the left reduces both picture quality and file size, while moving it to the right increases them.

7. Compare the quality of the changed picture on the right to the original on the left as you adjust the slider. The file size at the bottom of the picture also changes.

8. Reduce the file by the maximum amount by moving the slider as far left as possible, while looking at that the picture to ensure it remains at an acceptable quality. When you reach a satisfactory number, click the “Save” button to display a “Save Optimized As” dialog box.

9. Enter a new name for the changed picture, so you can return to the original, as needed. Click the “OK” button to save the file.

10. Open the changed file to ensure that its quality is adequate, even at full size.

References

• Adobe Photoshop Elements Guide: Rotate, Crop, Resize
• Adobe Studio: Give Photos Their Best Shot on the Web