How do I retain sharpness when resizing???

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

07/17/2008 10:11:26 PM · #1

I've been trying to resize a photo for an avatar but it's not working right for me. I resize it to 150 pixels wide and the photo is totally blurry. Even after sharpening it's bad. Other people's avatar's are perfectly sharp though. What am I doing wrong? Thanks!!! Here is the pic I'm trying to shrink btw.

//i28.photobucket.com/albums/c233/a4wheelin/IMG_60111.jpg

Message edited by Manic - please keep images under 500px and 30kb, or post links or thumbs instead.

bvy

Sigma DP1x

07/17/2008 10:23:20 PM · #2

You should have some choices when resizing depending on your software. Bicubic (at the sharpest level) is probably the best choice for retaining sharpness.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

07/17/2008 10:24:26 PM · #3

What size do you need it?

If you're using photoshop, either crop it, or just go to Image - Image Size, and make sure constrain proportions is turned on.

If you still can't do it, tell me the size you need it and I'll re-size it for you.

07/17/2008 10:29:02 PM · #4

Originally posted by AC:

I'm using GIMP and I do the Image Size like you said. Not working for me. I need it 150 pixels wide max. Thanks!

07/17/2008 10:31:27 PM · #5

Feel free to crop it as well. Thanks!!!!

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

07/17/2008 10:55:25 PM · #6

does this help??

[thumb]700167[/thumb]

Yo_Spiff

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

07/17/2008 10:59:44 PM · #7

Will this work?

[thumb]700170[/thumb]

She beat me to it.

Message edited by author 2008-07-17 23:01:29.

07/17/2008 11:01:47 PM · #8

its REALLY hard to tell at that size...

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

07/17/2008 11:02:05 PM · #9

and look at that, we cropped it the same way too... :)

Yo_Spiff

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

07/17/2008 11:03:03 PM · #10

Great minds think alike, I suppose. You may have bumped up the reds a touch, all I did was a bicubic resize and some extra sharpening.

LanndonKane

Nikon D800

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35 f/4 ED VR

07/17/2008 11:07:31 PM · #11

Make sure when you resize, the algoritihm is set to "bilinear" and not bicubic sharper like photoshop suggests. I don't know why, but bilinear makes pictures much sharper when they are scaled down.

07/17/2008 11:14:37 PM · #12

Originally posted by yospiff:

Great minds think alike, I suppose. You may have bumped up the reds a touch, all I did was a bicubic resize and some extra sharpening.

nope, just opened it, cropped, then resize and save.

EstimatedEyes

Fujifilm GFX 50R

Fujifilm GF 45mm f/2.8

07/17/2008 11:20:58 PM · #13

Originally posted by A4wheelin:

Just a thought -- Are you viewing it in "actual pixels" in your editing program? If you have it set to "fill the frame" you may be seeing the individual pixels at that size, which will just look like a bunch of blurry squares. Have you tried putting it in your profile yet?

bnilesh

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

07/17/2008 11:26:07 PM · #14

Do you like this?

07/17/2008 11:34:28 PM · #15

That's awesome! Thanks alot you two! Now if only I can figure out what I was doing wrong.

07/17/2008 11:45:13 PM · #16

Originally posted by EstimatedEyes:

Originally posted by A4wheelin:
I've been trying to resize a photo for an avatar but it's not working right for me. I resize it to 150 pixels wide and the photo is totally blurry. Even after sharpening it's bad. Other people's avatar's are perfectly sharp though. What am I doing wrong?

Just a thought -- Are you viewing it in "actual pixels" in your editing program? If you have it set to "fill the frame" you may be seeing the individual pixels at that size, which will just look like a bunch of blurry squares. Have you tried putting it in your profile yet?

Well here's my process. I click on Scale Image, then I can choose my interpolation (whatever this means lol), my choices are None, Linear, Cubic, Sinc. And then of course I can choose what size I want the photo to be.

07/17/2008 11:45:49 PM · #17

Originally posted by bnilesh:

Do you like this?

Yeah that's great! Thanks!

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

07/17/2008 11:49:30 PM · #18

Now strangely when I load it the photo is blurry again. Here's a link using bnilesh's version of the photo.

//www.pnwriders.com/general-discussion/79112-need-new-rear-sprocket.html

Ken

Canon EOS-7D

07/17/2008 11:51:09 PM · #19

I tend to sharpen after resizing and it works well. I'll usually use smart sharpen with a radius around 0.3-0.4 and boost percent until I see halos and then back off a bit.

Edit: Just read the 150 pixels max thing, not sure what setting to use for that small.

Message edited by author 2008-07-17 23:52:28.

07/17/2008 11:55:58 PM · #20

Originally posted by A4wheelin:

Now strangely when I load it the photo is blurry again. Here's a link using bnilesh's version of the photo.

//www.pnwriders.com/general-discussion/79112-need-new-rear-sprocket.html

maybe it is a problem with the website??