# How do I reduce photo size?



## Ilovemycam (Nov 18, 2012)

I got Lightroom. Befroe I got it, I used Paint to reduce my photos. I also got a scanner. I used a 560mb scan of a MF neg in LR and saved it as a 12mb jpeg. But Paint would not open it, said it could not read it. I tried it with the tiff and was same thing. I tried saving the jpeg with LR on the low jpeg setting and it would not go below 6mb. I need somehting about 300k, how can I do it?


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## 480sparky (Nov 18, 2012)

Sounds more like a filename issue than file size problems.


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## dbvirago (Nov 18, 2012)

Not sure of the problem with your scan, but to answer the original question, there are several options in the Export dialog to resize. If you want to do anything in LR and save it as a different file, you use Export. If you need 300K, there is an option under File Settings that says Limit File Size to: for exactly that. I'm not familiar with the "low jpeg setting." Where is that?


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## Ilovemycam (Nov 18, 2012)

I put it down to 10% quality from 100% for jpeg option. That reduced it from 12mb to 6 mb. Didn't try any lower, maybe I need it at 1%?


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## Derrel (Nov 18, 2012)

When I wanted tiny photos, I bought one of these!!!! It's a digital.

rolleiflex-mini.jpg


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## Bitter Jeweler (Nov 18, 2012)

Are you only trying to reduce file size? Or image size and file size?


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## 480sparky (Nov 18, 2012)

Ilovemycam said:


> I put it down to 10% quality from 100% for jpeg option. That reduced it from 12mb to 6 mb. Didn't try any lower, maybe I need it at 1%?



1% quality will look really crappy.  REEEEEAAAAAL crappy!


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## KmH (Nov 18, 2012)

Photo size, and file size are totally different things.


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## dbvirago (Nov 18, 2012)

What version of Lightroom and exactly what steps are you taking to try and get the file size to 300k? In mine, I would click export, make any naming changes I needed, then under File settings, (right under that quality slider) click the checbox that says "Limit File Size to" and put 300 in the text box. But as others have said, if you are trying to change the image size, that's in the section just below.


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## Ilovemycam (Nov 18, 2012)

Bitter Jeweler said:


> Are you only trying to reduce file size? Or image size and file size?



Just reducing file size for internet use.


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## Ilovemycam (Nov 18, 2012)

dbvirago said:


> What version of Lightroom and exactly what steps are you taking to try and get the file size to 300k? In mine, I would click export, make any naming changes I needed, then under File settings, (right under that quality slider) click the checbox that says "Limit File Size to" and put 300 in the text box. But as others have said, if you are trying to change the image size, that's in the section just below.




OK, will try that.

Paint used to be real easy. Wonder why it wont work with LR?


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## dbvirago (Nov 18, 2012)

Hope that helped. Still not sure what you were doing different. To save a file as 300K it's two mouse clicks, type 300 and one more click. Easy. No File Save As in LR, you have to use the export dialog


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## Ilovemycam (Nov 18, 2012)

dbvirago said:


> Hope that helped. Still not sure what you were doing different. To save a file as 300K it's two mouse clicks, type 300 and one more click. Easy. No File Save As in LR, you have to use the export dialog



This is what I get

"Could not create a JPEG that met your limit of 300K bytes."


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## Bitter Jeweler (Nov 18, 2012)

Sounds like you are just trying to reduce file size.

For Internet use, dpi72, image dimensions 800 X 600 (or thereabouts).

Sounds like you are maintaining  dpi of 300 and original image pixel dimensions.

Dpi of 72 is all you really need for web use.


Is there a "help" file in LR that explains exporting?
Or YouTube video?


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## dbvirago (Nov 18, 2012)

The picture below shows the only setting you need to get a 300K image. Can you post step by step what you are doing? I've never had a problem with this.

Bitter, LR help sucks IMO. It takes you to adobe site and a difficult knowledgebase.


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## McNugget801 (Nov 18, 2012)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH-WUjT0zdg


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## Ilovemycam (Nov 19, 2012)

ok, got it to work. 

Thanks


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## KmH (Nov 19, 2012)

DPI, or more correctly *PPI,* is *meaningless* for online use or electronic display, and has no effect on image file size - unless the image is re-sampled.



> Basics of Digital Camera Pixels
> *"Pixels per inch" (PPI)* is the more straightforward of the two terms. It describes just that: how many pixels an image contains per inch of distance (horizontally or vertically). PPI is also universal because it describes resolution in a way that doesn't vary from device to device.
> 
> *"Dots per inch" (DPI)* may seem deceptively simple at first, but the complication arises because multiple dots are often needed to create a single pixel &#8212; and this varies from device to device. In other words, a given DPI does not always lead to the same resolution. Using multiple dots to create each pixel is a process called "dithering".


ng."


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## The_Traveler (Nov 19, 2012)

what you need to do first is to specify the output dimensions on the export page in pixels.

that will resample your huge file so it will display.


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