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Hi All

I hope someone can point me in the right direction of a PSCS2 compatible plugin that might help with my 'problem'.

I normally when PPing my images for the web keep them below 100kb (730px x 550px max) and as such the highest JPEG "save as" quality in PSCS2 to get that size. Doing this, for me, means that I keep the image as good as possible with minimal compression artifacting.

However, I have been asked to reduce the file size to less than 40kb (400px x 300px) of some images for a colleagues website but no matter what I do the loss of quality IMHO at that compression is bad to an extent that I am unhappy about the 'integrity' of the image as the photographer.

So, is there an advised workflow that others use that will maintain the quality look but still allow such hard compression?

TIA

I wouldn't be too strict with the 40K limit. It always depends on the image content if you manage to get an JPG image file as small as 40K without compression artifacts. Images with little content, e.g. a lot of sky or a blurred background, produce a much smaller file size at the same compression level than image that have a lot of details or were sharpened.

I would set a file size limit to a a range of 20K to 60K, and use the same JPG compression level for all images. If you have images with various degrees of details, the average file size will be around 40K.

I think it makes more sense to use an average file size limit and apply the same compression level to all images.

If the image still look too "compressed" I would go for a higher average file size limit.

Sounds good, but the question is if it is really practical. I can imagine that it takes a lot of time to select the area which will be compressed stronger. Did anyone try it and made some experiences with it?

HaraldHeim wrote:Did anyone try it and made some experiences with it?

I didn't try this one but I have old Ulead SmartSaver for that. With it, I can load sevective processing map from a file. Since I often create masks anyway, it's relatively easy for me to transfer such a mask into USS via external file, just remeber about JPEG blocks and expand\contract selection. Yes, it takes some extra time to work, but often it provided quite noticeable savings on sites.