Help me edit JPEGs!

cg1349 · 08-24-2006, 12:21 AM

Whenever I take a picture with my digital camera I uploaded to my computer. Then I use MS paint brush and open the picture and it looks all nice and sharp. I edit the picture (make it smaller, at some words) and then when I save it, the quality of the picture diminishes. Why does it do that? The only way the quality of the picture stays sharp is if I save it as a bitmap file but I don't want to do that since it takes up more space. So how can I modify JPEGs without affecting the quality of the picture??? Thanks.

Crypto · 08-24-2006, 12:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cg1349

Whenever I take a picture with my digital camera I uploaded to my computer. Then I use MS paint brush and open the picture and it looks all nice and sharp. I edit the picture (make it smaller, at some words) and then when I save it, the quality of the picture diminishes. Why does it do that? The only way the quality of the picture stays sharp is if I save it as a bitmap file but I don't want to do that since it takes up more space. So how can I modify JPEGs without affecting the quality of the picture??? Thanks.

I've never used MSPaint, but see if there is an adjument on the JPEG compression ratio. A bitmap looks better because its uncompressed. BTW- Whenever you resize, you should always apply a little sharpness before saving. It's all part of processing digital images.

**The_Other_One** · 08-24-2006, 12:57 AM

If you really want to alter your image(with a paint brush and what not) I'd look into downloading GIMP. It's basically a free version of Photoshop. If you just want minor mods, such as resizing and red eye reduction, look into Google's Picasa.

Starman* · 08-24-2006, 01:03 AM

Paint is not ideal for editing - it's a really basic program. I don't use Paint but I just tried it and the default jpeg quality is 75% - not particularly good. There does not seem to be any means of adjusting that.

For general image handling there are better apps. Try IrfanView (the best freeware image browser). It will do all the basic resizing and tone correction. For high quality resizing use bicubic (not in IrfanView) and lanczos algorithims.

For jpeg, typical save quality:
for internet graphics such as logos 75%
for average pics 88%
for high quality originals 95% (visually lossless)

For truly lossless, stick to lossless formats such as bmp, psd, psp, cpt, tif etc. Zipping a bmp halves the size. Zipping a jpeg makes little difference since it is already highly compressed. You could also use jp2000 "lossless" format - the plugin has to be registered.

Starman*

08-24-2006, 12:21 AM	#1 (permalink)
cg1349 banned Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 31	Help me edit JPEGs! Whenever I take a picture with my digital camera I uploaded to my computer. Then I use MS paint brush and open the picture and it looks all nice and sharp. I edit the picture (make it smaller, at some words) and then when I save it, the quality of the picture diminishes. Why does it do that? The only way the quality of the picture stays sharp is if I save it as a bitmap file but I don't want to do that since it takes up more space. So how can I modify JPEGs without affecting the quality of the picture??? Thanks.

08-24-2006, 12:57 AM	#3 (permalink)
The_Other_One Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Lexington, NC Age: 23 Posts: 12,368	If you really want to alter your image(with a paint brush and what not) I'd look into downloading GIMP. It's basically a free version of Photoshop. If you just want minor mods, such as resizing and red eye reduction, look into Google's Picasa. __________________ Desktop * Athlon X2 4200 \| 2G RAM \| 160G HD \| 7600GT Laptop1 * C2D T5550 \| 3G RAM \| 120G HD \| Intel x3100 Laptop2 * C2D T5250 \| 2G RAM \| 160G HD \| Intel x3100

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08-24-2006, 01:03 AM	#4 (permalink)
Starman* Gold Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 441	Paint is not ideal for editing - it's a really basic program. I don't use Paint but I just tried it and the default jpeg quality is 75% - not particularly good. There does not seem to be any means of adjusting that. For general image handling there are better apps. Try IrfanView (the best freeware image browser). It will do all the basic resizing and tone correction. For high quality resizing use bicubic (not in IrfanView) and lanczos algorithims. For jpeg, typical save quality: for internet graphics such as logos 75% for average pics 88% for high quality originals 95% (visually lossless) For truly lossless, stick to lossless formats such as bmp, psd, psp, cpt, tif etc. Zipping a bmp halves the size. Zipping a jpeg makes little difference since it is already highly compressed. You could also use jp2000 "lossless" format - the plugin has to be registered. Starman*