The Team Suck Clubhouse - DPChallenge Forums

02/12/2007 09:10:22 AM · #401

Originally posted by Kelli:

I tried to add a comment to mine (just now) but got a weird error. The problem I seem to have (I think) with the sharpness on this (or funky focus) is when I saved to web, in order to get it under the 150 file size, I had to reduce the quality to something like 60%. I never used to have this problem when I had a 3mp camera, lol. I didn't use any NI or any type of noise reduction on it and this happens a lot. What's the lowest quality you can go and still get a decent shot in? It was shot in macro mode, with very little cropping.

Okay......since I'm the resident computer/processing retard, what do you mean by reducing the quality to get it under the file size?

I don't have any degradation of quality, at least relative to what happens when converting from RAW to jpeg, but even that's minimal when you consider I'm going from a 5 Meg file to a 500 Kb file. And that really doesn't even seem to notably degrade......only if I try to print it does it become apparent.

On that note.....I just discovered this morning that my computer will print from a TIFF file!

The one I printed was from an 8Mb file and boy did it look nice printed out!!!!!

I'm *SUCH* a maroon!!!!

Who knew you could do that????

Yeah, yeah, probably all of ya but me......8>)

02/12/2007 09:11:25 AM · #402

Originally posted by mist:

Originally posted by Kelli:
I tried to add a comment to mine (just now) but got a weird error. The problem I seem to have (I think) with the sharpness on this (or funky focus) is when I saved to web, in order to get it under the 150 file size, I had to reduce the quality to something like 60%. I never used to have this problem when I had a 3mp camera, lol. I didn't use any NI or any type of noise reduction on it and this happens a lot. What's the lowest quality you can go and still get a decent shot in? It was shot in macro mode, with very little cropping.

Personally I'd try to keep quality in the high 80s or 90s. I think you could probably go down to about 70 though before seeing any degradation.

Of course you sometimes have to re-size smaller.

How does one figure this out and do it?

HELP!?!?!?!?!?!?

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

02/12/2007 09:28:50 AM · #403

Originally posted by NikonJeb:

Originally posted by mist:

Originally posted by Kelli:
I tried to add a comment to mine (just now) but got a weird error. The problem I seem to have (I think) with the sharpness on this (or funky focus) is when I saved to web, in order to get it under the 150 file size, I had to reduce the quality to something like 60%. I never used to have this problem when I had a 3mp camera, lol. I didn't use any NI or any type of noise reduction on it and this happens a lot. What's the lowest quality you can go and still get a decent shot in? It was shot in macro mode, with very little cropping.

Personally I'd try to keep quality in the high 80s or 90s. I think you could probably go down to about 70 though before seeing any degradation.

Of course you sometimes have to re-size smaller.

How does one figure this out and do it?

HELP!?!?!?!?!?!?

I have a 9mp camera. My original file size is 3488 x 2616 pixels, file size is usually somewhere around 26M. What I do is resize the image in PS (Image - Image size) to the right size for the challenge (usually 640 on one side). When I'm done my editing, I "Save for web". I use the "Optimize" tab for this. If I've done no cropping the file size is usually around 230 to 250k at 100% quality. Too big for the challenge, so in the quality box you type a number and watch at the bottom for how big the image is. When it's under the 150k, you save. There are other ways, of course, but this is typically how I do it.

quiet_observation

Canon EOS-7D

02/12/2007 09:34:45 AM · #404

From the DPC tutorial:

Choose File > Save for Web...
The (resizable) Save for Web interface will appear. At the top are four tabs that allow you to view: 1) your uncompressed original photo, 2) an "optimized" (compressed) preview (based on the current settings), 3) your original on the left and the compressed version on the right ("2-Up"), and 3) your original and three other previews based on user-settable compression levels ("4-Up"). This tutorial will assume the "2-Up" tab is selected.

On the right side are the settings that control how your photo will be saved. It is important that these are all set correctly. Make sure the "Optimized file format" drop-down is set to "JPEG", and that the the "Progressive" and "ICC Profile" checkboxes are disabled. Make sure "Blur" is set to 0. The other settings (such as Quality) don't matter; they will be set automatically next.

Next, click on the small right arrow to the right of the "Preset" menu and choose "Optimize to File Size..." from the menu.

In the "Optimize To File Size" dialog, enter "150" in the "Desired File Size" and click OK.

Notice that the "Quality" setting has been automatically adjusted as high as possible without letting the file size go over 150 KB. The preview on the right side of the Save for Web dialog is now an accurate representation of how your photo will be saved. You can compare your uncompressed original on the left with the preview on the right, looking for compression artifacts, color shifts, etc. (The actual file size of your photo is shown in the status bar under the preview.)

Note that if the auto-computed Quality setting is much below 50, or if you are seeing large differences between the left (original) and right (compressed preview) images, the JPEG algorithm is having a tough time compressing your photo. This can be because of excessive noise, very high detail, etc. In this situation, one thing to do is to use the History palette to revert back to the "Flatten Image" step and resize your image smaller. Use a value of 620 or 600 pixels for the larger dimension instead of 640. This will make your image slightly smaller, but with a very complex image or a square crop, this can result in a higher-quality image that is worth the reduction in image dimensions.

Once you're satisfied with the preview, click the Save button, and give your DPC-prepared JPEG an appropriate name.

02/12/2007 09:50:47 AM · #405

Originally posted by quiet_observation:

From the DPC tutorial:
Notice that the "Quality" setting has been automatically adjusted as high as possible without letting the file size go over 150 KB. The preview on the right side of the Save for Web dialog is now an accurate representation of how your photo will be saved. You can compare your uncompressed original on the left with the preview on the right, looking for compression artifacts, color shifts, etc. (The actual file size of your photo is shown in the status bar under the preview.)

Thank you, Mary.....I just did this to the 8.76 Mb TIFF file just so that I understood it.

It looks okay to my eye and at 640 pixels and 146 KB, and came in at 79%.

My original file was 3008 X 2000, and 5.52 MB.

Did you say that your original file is 26MB?????

Not 2 point 6 MB??

Why does it do that so large?

Doesn't that mean you gotta have a huge memory chip?

Message edited by author 2007-02-12 09:52:53.

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

02/12/2007 09:58:55 AM · #406

Originally posted by NikonJeb:

Did you say that your original file is 26MB?????

Not 2 point 6 MB??

Why does it do that so large?

Doesn't that mean you gotta have a huge memory chip?

Sorry, it's about 5M. I was looking at the pixel dimensions number. If I try to shoot in raw they are about that big though. I can fit over 250 images on my card at 9mp fine, only 40 using raw.

griz210

Nikon D300s

02/12/2007 10:10:47 AM · #407

Cant belive i am still this hi after 30 votes. Hope it holds it maybe and all time hi for me.

Fruits and Vegetables II

Votes: 32
Views: 57
Avg Vote: 5.9688
Comments: 2

levyj413

Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max

Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) for Nikon

02/12/2007 10:14:35 AM · #408

Kelli: I don't usually think about it much; I just go for right around 150K. I've never had a problem.

If you'd like to send me the original, I'd be happy to play with it and see what I can see. jeffrey at cliffclimber.com.

Bob: go get that new personal best! :)

Melethia: I laughed when I looked at my fruits/veggies score this morning:
Votes: 30
Views: 48
Avg Vote: 5.3000
Comments: 2

mist

Canon EOS-60D

02/12/2007 10:33:39 AM · #409

I wish I had an entry in to see how my score was doing, but no such luck. Maybe the next crop of opens will offer something I can do. I don't much fancy taking on street photography just now.

So let's talk about something else. How do you lot save your images? I currently have a disk full of the things, and churning out RAW images isn't making the second disk last very long either.

Do you archive to DVD? Delete files?

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G

02/12/2007 10:44:07 AM · #410

Originally posted by mist:

How do you lot save your images? I currently have a disk full of the things, and churning out RAW images isn't making the second disk last very long either.

Do you archive to DVD? Delete files?

I back up to disc, but keep stuff on my HD. I do sort through and dump periodically.

kashi

Nikon D60

02/12/2007 10:45:46 AM · #411

Fruits and Vegetables II
Votes: 38
Views: 51
Avg Vote: 4.8947
Comments: 0

02/12/2007 10:52:53 AM · #412

Originally posted by mist:

Excellent question and good point of discussion. My "files" bit on the hard drive (which is mirrored after I lost a drive early last year) has hit 60G. Yes, 60G. Which is all I had allocated to it. I keep a backup of everything on an external drive - I need to see how much is left as far as space on that one, but I think it's good for awhile longer. But should my house burn down, well, there goes all of it. I think I should store the external at the office or something... Or am I worrying too much?

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

02/12/2007 11:06:59 AM · #413

Originally posted by Melethia:

... Or am I worrying too much?

Depends... do you have a smoke detector? LOL!

quiet_observation

Canon EOS-7D

02/12/2007 11:18:57 AM · #414

The portable hard drives are great for backing up.

Standard "business" backup practices include keeping a copy of your hard drive offsite. You might keep a monthly backup version elsewhere as an emergency copy.

skewsme

Canon EOS-6D

Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 L II USM Lens

02/12/2007 11:35:31 AM · #415

We filled up our 60 and 80 gig hard drives over a year of both of us taking lotsa pictures, even though we rarely shoot raw. I found a 250 gig external hard drive on ebay for $100, and we now have that networked so we can both save to it. We've been trying to prune old folders - I find the Canon zoom browser ex to be helpful because you can assign star ratings while you browse and then delete by star rating. For anything really valuable, we can upload it to a webserver, but rarely do this. By the way, for the edit-happy folk like me... saving really massively photoshopped psd's at full resolution can eat up drive space pretty quick.

Message edited by author 2007-02-12 11:35:54.

Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G

02/12/2007 11:37:47 AM · #416

That's one thing I don't do is save the psd files. I know that's a bad thing, but I do have history turned on and can maybe recreate something if I need to. I really need to start pruning folders, though. Get rid of the "I'll try it from this angle, then that angle, then with a different setting" shots that I end up taking and not using for anything. But I do enjoy wandering through old folders now and again. More external hard drives.... :-)

bmartuch

Nikon D7200

02/12/2007 11:48:10 AM · #417

Originally posted by quiet_observation:

In the near future, we will be starting a round of interviews of our beloved suck league teammates. If you want to read some of the previous interviews check this thread.

Our ~~victims~~ interviewees will be picked at random and interviewed by private message.

If you have a suggested question that would help us better understand the suck psyche, let me know.

That is a really cool idea. Then we could figure out why some of these crazy people are the way they are! Ok, maybe that's not possible but it would still be cool.

skewsme

Canon EOS-6D

Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 L II USM Lens

02/12/2007 11:50:49 AM · #418

Originally posted by Melethia:

Yeah, I'm definitely not brutal enough with the pruning. Too much "Well, this isn't OOF or blown out so I'll keep it just in case.." Oy.

02/12/2007 11:55:51 AM · #419

Heck, I keep the blown stuff, too. I don't dislike blown.

Olympus 17.5-45mm f/3.5-5.6

02/12/2007 12:30:44 PM · #420

Originally posted by levyj413:

Kelli: If you'd like to send me the original, I'd be happy to play with it and see what I can see. jeffrey at cliffclimber.com.

I sent it, but your email rejected it as too large a file. LOL.

kirsty_mcn

Olympus E-500 EVOLT

02/12/2007 12:54:47 PM · #421

Originally posted by Kelli:

Originally posted by levyj413:
Kelli: If you'd like to send me the original, I'd be happy to play with it and see what I can see. jeffrey at cliffclimber.com.

I sent it, but your email rejected it as too large a file. LOL.

Send it to him through www.yousendit.com
Gets round any mailbox size issues.

levyj413

Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max

Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) for Nikon

02/12/2007 01:24:47 PM · #422

You can try my gmail account: levyj413 at gmail.com. Or yousendit.com works, too. It's pretty self-explanatory, and free. I used it to send a file to Brad (formerly BradP) a few months ago.

Skewsme: thanks for the tip about star ratings in zoombrowser. That's a great way to do it, and much faster than repeatedly selecting and deleting. I have the same packrat tendencies. :)

Melethia: what do you mean about history? PS can save the editing steps as metadata or as a separate text file?

snaffles

Nikon D7100

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

02/12/2007 04:12:34 PM · #423

Hi everyone

Oops I did it again - finished at 0% in Personification with my little shy tiger hand puppet! Lots of DNMC. Oh well, still gave me a chance to use my new lightbox.

Good sucking nicely at 4.0, maybe I'll make it a hat trick and finish dead last a third time!!!! In this case I was focusing more on technical stuff, lighting etc so I am getting kicked for DNMC. Again, LOL!

Maybe I should have my own team, the Browners!

In for f&v, almost at 5.0...woohoo...I don't think anyone can object to fruit, can they?...and am trying to get both a nice well-lit pic that is interesting in terms of composition and does meet requirements.

OK, now for more kicking around...going to go submit 3 more pix to LuckyO. I'm gonna get in there if it kills me - *thunk of body hitting floor*

Bye for now