I have a website with about 32 photos displayed over 4 different pages using CosCulture’s image slider stack. I need to know what a reasonable file size for each photo is. If I have each photo between 100 and 200 kb, will that be too much for fast loading of the website on cable connections?
I have looked into both ImageOptim and BatchPhoto and neither app reduces the file size very much. What I’ve been doing is using the export function of Photos and that seems to work great but some of the photos need better resolution and the only way to get it is to increase file size of photo.
I’ve used ImageOptim (a tiny bit, not a lot) but just recently tried out JPEGMini on the recommendation of a few others. There’s a demo/trial version that lets you do a certain number of images per day (20, I think).
(Sorry, I don’t know what a good recommendation for file size is, though).
Thanks for suggestion of JPEGMini. I gave it a try and it reduced my file from 1.8mB to 776 kb. I took the 776 file and reduced again to 770 kb. Not enough size reduction to get me below 200 kb as @robbeattie suggests. I also tried the tinyjpg site and it only reduced my 1.8 mB photo to 900 kb.
So my conclusion is that
I want my photos to be less than 200 kb and
I get the best results just going with Apple Photos export mode where I can choose the resolution (high, med, low) and size (large, medium, and small) or use the custom size feature to set the height or width.
I like the simplicity of using Photos Export function as I can do it quickly and not have to enlist another application.
Thank you both for your suggestions. Much appreciated that you took the time to answer.
@zeebe, I know about the 72 dpi but I didn’t see anywhere in either JPEGmini or tinyjpg to set the desired resolution. I will go back and check.
I had also tried opening the files in PS and using the save for web and devices and didn’t get anything better or as good as what I got just doing the Export from Photos. I’ll have to go back and look at the exported files in PS to see what DPI they are. I just assumed they were 72 but it’s almost always bad to assume things.
@teefers, Yes I found in Prefs in JPEGMini where I could set the width to 500 so I did that and resized again. Did a test by taking the original 2 mB file and using JPEGMini to reduce it to a 500 px width and got a 144 kb file that looks pretty good. However, I also did the Photos Export: Medium Resolution, Custom width of 500 px and got an equally good looking file of only 108 kb. Therefore, I think I’ll stick with Apple Photos Export as it is the easiest.
BUT, there is one thing I just can’t seem to wrap my head around.
If I open the files I just made in JPEGMine and Photos Export in PhotoShop, PhotoShop says that they are 977 kb in size instead of the 144 kb and 108 kb respectively. How can that be? Under the Image -> Size menu in PS, all the images are 72 dpi. Can anyone explain this or direct me to an article that does, PLEASE.
Thank you Mary. I’m just starting a brand new web site - after a number of years away from web work and as an ongoing novice to this day - and one of the first decisions is picture selection and size. I’m going with: Photos “export” - medium - Custom (500 pix width). If there is a better overall option please let me know. Thank you all!
If you are getting a small enough file size doing it that way, (<200mb) and the resolution is fine, then you should be OK. I continue to use the Photos “export” function because it works well for me.