Downsampling - how do you do it?

Zheka · 13 Feb 2006 at 23:54

How do you downsampling images? In one step, or few? Do you sharpen them, how?
I want to resize some photographs for my gallery, and want to get better results if possible.
Thanks

sloth · 13 Feb 2006 at 23:59

I downsize, sharpen, then add border. Simple, and works for me.

Zheka · 14 Feb 2006 at 13:54

Thanks sloth.
Anybody esle?

Mohain · 14 Feb 2006 at 14:51

This is what I do:

1. Resize.
2. Check and adjust brightness and contrast if needed. I find making images smaller can change the apparent brightness.
3. Dupe layer and sharpen (I tend to use smart sharpen in CS2 or USM but there are several methods available). Change opacity on sharpened layer for fine control or use layer mask and paint in the sharp bits (or paint them out). Images will just look soft if resized and not sharpened.
4. Add boarder.

Actually what I tend to do is keep fiddling with the reduced size image until I'm happy with it. Then I completely forget what I did and when I go back to the larger image later to adjust the processing... :rolleyes:

Hope that helps,

Mohain

Ghost in the Shell · 19 Feb 2006 at 21:29

just to resurect this quickly - is downsampling reducing the image size but mantaining the quality? if so how do you do it photoshop? surely just resizing -> through image/image size your just making it smaller? or am i just totally off the ball?

thanks

SDK^ · 19 Feb 2006 at 21:43

undilutedethics said:
just to resurect this quickly - is downsampling reducing the image size but mantaining the quality? if so how do you do it photoshop? surely just resizing -> through image/image size your just making it smaller? or am i just totally off the ball?
thanks

When reducing photo dimensions the image will need to be sharpened to bring back the detail.
In Photoshop there is an option to 'Bicubic sharpen' in the settings box, use this and it should be fine.

Zheka · 19 Feb 2006 at 21:47

thanks guys.

mrgubby · 19 Feb 2006 at 22:22

Mohain said:
Actually what I tend to do is keep fiddling with the reduced size image until I'm happy with it. Then I completely forget what I did and when I go back to the larger image later to adjust the processing...

Hope that helps,

Mohain

Spooky , exactly the same workflow as me

freebooter · 20 Feb 2006 at 23:59

I have seen a couple sites/books that recomend resizing in multiple steps of a few % at a time rather than in one go. Supposed to give better results.

TerraS · 21 Feb 2006 at 01:21

You can also sharpen blurred images to some degree by following the steps:-

Resize 50%, Unsharp Mask, Resize 50%, Unsharp Mask.. etc...

Eventually it will look sharp, but will be smaller obviously! It's mostly down to perception, but it works!