Saving images for the web using Photoshop

Alongside Photoshop, Adobe also includes a piece of software called ImageReady, which exists specifically to prepare images for the web. It’s a fully-featured package that would need a book to describe completely, however a small part of its functionality is available through the main Photoshop application in the guise of the Save for Web command. This tool is the a great way to save images for display on web pages or for sending by e-mail. Here’s how it works.

RESIZE

It’s best to resize the image to the size you want it on your web page (or in your email) before you save it out. Save for Web can resize images itself, but it’s not designed to take on that 20Mb TIFF you’ve just produced from a Raw file. Select Image > Resize Image and make sure the Resample Image box is ticked. Enter a new size value, in pixels, in either the width or height boxes at the top of the dialogue box.

SAVE FOR WEB

Select File > Save for Web and wait while Photoshop displays your image. On the right of the screen are various options that dictate how the file is saved. You can select which file format is to be used (though you’ll want to steer clear of GIF as this format can only display 256 colours) and how much compression is applied to JPEG files. You can see the size of the file our are about to save, in Kb, at the bottom of each pane.

COMPARE

By default, the display is split into two portions, the left-hand pane showing the original image; the right-hand pane showing how the image will look after JPEG compression, etc. To compare the effects of different settings against each other, click the 4-Up tab to increase the number of panes from two to four. When you’re happy, click the pane corresponding to the settings you want to use and click OK. You’ll be prompted for a location and a file name as usual.

SAVE

It’s possible to save settings for use again later. Do this by clicking on the small arrow symbol to the right of the drop down preset menu. Images saved for the web are also perfect for sending by email, so follow this procedure when you’re wanting to share photographs this way.

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