I'm wondering how others are preparing images for the web. I started by using this technique
http://www.tashian.com/htmlguide/photo.html
In the above tutorial it's suggested to decrease size in 50% steps using unsharp mask after each resize. But I've found I get images of equal size and quality by resizing in 1 step then using "Save for Web" in PhotoShop.
Do you have a technique that differs from the above? If it helps, I'm scanning film with an HP PhotoSmart S20 at its highest optical resolution and use PhotoShop 5.5
Photoshop resizes pretty well. I'd experiment with despeckle, blur and so on if it looks a bit sharp. Duplicating layers and changing blend modes or adding a filter to one then blending can produce good results too in terms of fine tuning.
Thanks mouse, I'll play around with that.
It's always better to scan a bit too bright, and then adjust Levels in Photoshop. Why? Depending on the quality of your scanner, some colors may come through too dark or not at all (many shades of green are notorious for this). By scanning too bright, you'll pick up all those dark colors and at least have the color information in PS. Without any color information, you have to add it yourself which can be troublesome.
It's always best to do all your cleanup at a higher resolution than your delivery resolution. Anything that's difficult to fix will be less noticeable once you size-down.
If you are working with a really large photo, using the rubber stamp alot and having problems with Photoshop's speed, you may want to decrease the number of history states (in the preferences) or purge the history every so often (Edit >> Purge >> History). Many times when I'm using the rubber stamp, it's easy to build up 50-100 history states in no time, and most of those you just don't need to hang on to. (note: purging the history will purge it for ALL open documents, so make sure you have those saved or closed before proceeding!)
Of course, despeckle, unsharp mask, and the good ol' rubber stamp are indespensible when photo-retouching. Don't forget the "Dust & Scratches" filter.
Thanks for all the tips beetle.
Just a point of interest. I have a large amount of wedding images to scan. I got blue/white dresses and red/green faces in my first attempts. I fiddled with them in PS and got them looking not bad, then I found this program.
http://www.hamrick.com/
What a difference, it allows complete control of colours in the initial scan and automatically adjusts to a given film. Set on auto, Fuji Reala is bang on.
The only issue I've found is it doesn't as yet support Fuji NPH. I use it alot and can set it manually. It's probably not an easy film for the program to support because it's also a hard film for conventional lab techs. I live in a town of 100,000 and know of only 1 lab tech that can succesfully work with NPH.
Other than that, the program is a must for anyone scanning lots of film.
When you say you are scanning film, do you mean you are scanning negatives?
Ya, some specialized sofware helps, and HP makes a scanner just for positive/negative transparencies...
Yes, it scans 35mm transparencies at 2400 dpi optical resolution. Prints up to 5x7. I'm not sure of the print optical resolution but I only scan medium format prints. At proof size they're already compareable in image quality (if not better) than a 35mm neg.
The scanner has its size limitations but for the price it does me well for what I need it to do. I couldn't even hazard a guess of what a medium format film scanner would be worth :eek:
Originally posted by beetle
It's always better to scan a bit too bright, and then adjust Levels in Photoshop
hummm.... but then, don't you lose brighter colors information? think in a sunny beach, a summer sky, a white house....
Originally posted by Borgtex
hummm.... but then, don't you lose brighter colors information? think in a sunny beach, a summer sky, a white house.... Maybe. It depends on what you are scanning. It's a balance act. Most of the time, however, brighter is better.