Saving For Web

[vapour]

After finishing your master retouch and you want to showcase the image on the web, what is the best/correct process to save it out as a JPG to make sure that it looks consistent across platforms?

[domididom]

It's all about monitor a proper calibration.
But considering everyone has good, calibrated screen all you need to do is save for web and check the box "convert to sRGB" plus assign profile. Or you can manually convert to sRGB and save as with "assign profile sRGB..." checked
If you want you can also avoid tweaking your image too bright but this will affect to the quality.

I think that's it.

[vapour]

Uncompensated Color
Standard Windows Color
Standard Mac Color
Use Document Color Profile

?

[dvbear]

Save for Web -
Settings: JPEG High
Optimized Check
Quality 100
Progressive Unchecked

[flexmanta]

quality 100????

[dvbear]

That's what I put. Is that wrong? It turns out pretty well for me on facebook hahaha.

[_jason_]

You will also note, that images which are scaled down heavily still need some sharpening because they are often blured too much with bicubic interpolators while scaling down by the exporters in many cases.

[flexmanta]

Originally Posted by dvbear

That's what I put. Is that wrong? It turns out pretty well for me on facebook hahaha.

Ok, check the size of the photo in facebook after you upload it and compare it to the photo before upload. Facebook resizes photos to 604x604 and compresses in JPEG A LOT locally, and then uploads (preparing photos for upload...).

If you have a 1000x1000 image that needs to be emailed, unless you bring the jpeg quality down to say 60-80, you are not compressing it and will have a file larger than necessary. Jpeg is what it is for, it's a web format and it should produce small files. For example, when attaching images in this website, you need to make them 100k, and in that case, 100% jpeg quality will not get you there.

When you use the save for web command, make sure you have a clear idea of what the image is going to be used for and use the setting accordingly.

[dvbear]

For Facebook, I'll resize so that the width is 604 or height is 604 depending on whichever is longer, but I keep the JPEG quality 100. I can understand if I'm uploading on this forum, or when sending email attachment when there's a 100kb limit, but for Facebook they don't give you one. The only limit they place is the 604 maximum length, in which if you pass they will resize it themselves (and since their resizing algorithim is pretty shitty, it ends up looking pretty bad).

So I understand if you want smaller file sizes, but I've never had to go through that.

[flexmanta]

No man, facebook will compress the photo, change its name, delete all exif....it will compress no matter what file you give it. It's a good thing to resize it yourself so that you can use bicubic sharper and all that, but nothing will prevent them from compressing more, you can give them a 604x604 1000Kb image, but after upload it will not weigh more than 60Kb or so.

[dvbear]

I am having a hard time understanding the math. If Facebook resizes it anyway then even if I resize my picture to 60kb will it not resize it even more?

[flexmanta]

That is a matter of understanding how Jpeg compression works. If i have a 60kb image and open it in photoshop, it will not be 60Kb anymore, because photoshop took a picture of it and took the artifacts as part of the original photo. Jpeg compression is only applied during saving. It's lossy permanent compression. Jpegs are not containers. An image processor doesn't know how far a JPEG has been compressed at the moment it reads it, it just reads it, and that's what facebook does.

I don't know the exact number, but let's put it this way. Whatever you upload to facebook, the upload applet will read and compress. Try yourself: upload a fully compressed 6kb jpeg. Later, if you download it from facebook it will be larger.

[dvbear]

Ahh I'm still a little confused but I THINK I get what you're saying. But to cut to the chase, you're saying to upload to Facebook, it's better to upload an already compressed Jpeg?

[flexmanta]

No i was saying that facebook is the last example to use as a reason why not to use 100% quality in JPEG when saving for web.

JPEG is a web format. That's all it is, period. When you are compressing for web: 1. Dimensions matter. 2.Size matters.

[ME_wwwing]

the best you can do with PS.
Image>ImageSize>leave all the boxes checked>in a Top Box set your the longest size you want to post>bottom Menu>select Bicubic Sharpen
this way you keep the Resolution and fly away hair.
file size is seen at the top of the open window.
Save AS>Jpeg 12
if your starting with a low resolution photo - add some sharpening

there are other programs one can use on the web to get a better image.

[flexmanta]

Me_wwwing, that is not totally correct. If you retouched a photo that was a RAW file and converted through lightroom, chances are it's profile is set to prophotoRGB. If you converted with acr, it might be adobeRGB. When you "save as", you are not changing the profile of the image to sRGB and it will not show properly on browsers and most of the image viewers that most people will use.

That's why we use the save for web command, wich allows to compress (visually checking for artifacts) and convert to sRGB all in one step... for web. I know it also resizes, but for some reason the resampler doesn't work.

Also, saving a JPEG at 12 quality value makes the whole JPEG usage pointless, as JPEGs are supposed to be small. When you need a big file with lossless compression, you use TIFF. When you use Jpeg it's because you need a small file that is easy to send, upload or post. A 21Mp image saved at full size and full jpeg quality will stay at about 8Mb, not good for web at all. And by compressing it to say 50% jpeg, it's filesize will change to around 2Mb ish, which is a more acceptable websize.

[ME_wwwing]

Ok - got it

never used LR.

thanks