Easy way to adjust photos to same size?

[Hotfeet]

Hi - I'm think I'm missing some basic knowledge about digital photography and would appreciate some help!

I'm uploading photos into iPhoto and then transfering them to Smugmug. Some of my photos fill the screen in iPhoto - the ones with larger file size e.g. 235 KB are perfect. But the photo with with smaller file such as 75 KB appear smaller on the screen, and then likewise appear small in the same ratio when I upload them to Smugmug.

I can use the zoom function in iPhoto to fill the screen and they look fine. Is there a way to make them stay that size? What would be nice is to make them all appear to fill the screen without having to individually adjust each one, if that is possible. I'm not trying to crop anything -- I want to keep the content of the entire photo but just make it appear larger for viewing.

What am I missing (besides some brains)? Should I be using a different program? Or is there a setting on my camera (Canon SD890) that could be changed?

Thanks for any insights!

 

[davidinva]

Photos you take should all be the same size unless you are using different size settings on your camera. (e.g, Fine, Extra Fine, etc.). There will be a small variation in size depending on light, use of flash, but not much. If you crop before uploading, that will reduce the size also. I always use the highest photo setting on my cameras. You can always reduce in editing, but you can't enlarge without losing quality. Hope this helps some.

 

[Hotfeet]

Photos you take should all be the same size unless you are using different size settings on your camera. (e.g, Fine, Extra Fine, etc.). There will be a small variation in size depending on light, use of flash, but not much. If you crop before uploading, that will reduce the size also. I always use the highest photo setting on my cameras. You can always reduce in editing, but you can't enlarge without losing quality. Hope this helps some.

Thanks for your reply. In the example I mentioned above, my camera was set at ISO 3200 when the file size was 235 KB and ISO 80 when the file size was 75 KB -- I'm assuming this would account for the difference in dimensions on the screen? That kind of makes sense but I was thinking it would be best to adjust my ISO settings for taking photos in dark light situations. Also I upload photos my my wife's camera and her camera and settings are probably different too. Am I forever stuck with this problem unless I keep the same settings?

 

[Bear]

Thanks for your reply. In the example I mentioned above, my camera was set at ISO 3200 when the file size was 235 KB and ISO 80 when the file size was 75 KB -- I'm assuming this would account for the difference in dimensions on the screen? That kind of makes sense but I was thinking it would be best to adjust my ISO settings for taking photos in dark light situations. Also I upload photos my my wife's camera and her camera and settings are probably different too. Am I forever stuck with this problem unless I keep the same settings?

This sounds like more than just the ISO is being adjusted. If there a different size on screen it could be you changed the resolution in the camera. As for file sizes, a different resolution or a different image quality would account for that.

So by what you're saying, it sounds like you possibly adjust the image resolution at the same time you were adjusting the ISO.

 

[spacedcadet]

confusion

Sounds like you may be confusing file size (kb) with image size (pixel dimensions) which are two completely different things.

 

[Hotfeet]

Sounds like you may be confusing file size (kb) with image size (pixel dimensions) which are two completely different things.

I think you are right -- thanks! The smaller photo has a dimension of 640X480 while the larger photo has a dimension of 1600x1200. Just now I exported the smaller photo to my desktop, opened it in Preview and changed the size. Then I copied the photo back into my iPhoto album and yes, both photos now appear the same -- just as I wanted.

My next question is -- is there a way to do this quickly to an entire album -- i.e. make all of the photos in an iPhoto album the same dimensions -without having to individually change the size of each photo? Is there some other photo software that I need to buy that can do this automatically for a group of photos?

Appreciate any and all comments! I've been confused about this issue for a long time and just returned from a long vacation with way too many new photos to sort through.

 

[spacedcadet]

automation

You could write an automator action or apple script to do this, but it's beyond me I'm afraid.

I would do it in Photoshop via a batch process/automate action, but I'm assuming you don't have PS.

Good luck.

 

[snberk103]

There is something else happening here - if you are using the same camera, then changing ISO should have no effect on the file size. There is also another setting that is being changed.

- You may have changed the "quality" of the file saved in the camera. Depending on your camera you may have ability to save very large files in a RAW or TIFF format or very small files as a compressed JPG. Many cameras let you change this setting so you can choose to save very high quality images (RAW or TIFF) - but your memory card fills up faster. Or you can save as compressed JPGs - lower quality (perhaps much lower) but you get many more images on the memory card. This is my best guess, but I don't know enough about what you are doing to say with a lot of confidence. My suggestion is to find someone who knows iPhoto to sit with you.... being there and seeing what you are doing will save you lots and lots of forum time.

- Just from my memory, I don't think you can change the "quality" of the images during import using iPhoto... but double check that.

- The low quality images (small files) may have been imported via some other software instead of iPhoto, perhaps? If so - maybe that SW compressed the files?

As a general rule.... but your circumstances may dictate something else ... it is best to shoot a full quality (RAW or TIFF, generally) and import those full sized images into iPhoto. You will likely need to invest in another memory card or two, and eventually some storage (hard-drives). This is assuming that you are keeping your photos and plan on doing things with them in the future.

iPhoto can resize the images on "export" to whatever size you want. Check out the options. Settle on an optimal size for Smugmug and then just export to that size.

There is also a small application called Easy Batch Photo (I am not affiliated with them, but I am a customer). You can export a batch of photos and then use EasyBatch to resize them. The advantage of EB is that you can set up presets.... so if you are exporting for several different uses, you can set a preset for each use instead of fiddling with the settings each time. EB can also put a watermark on the images, sharpen, etc. The interface is a bit non-intuitive, so don't plan on mastering it 15 minutes before the big deadline. Take the time to learn it before you put it into production use.

Luck.

 

[Hotfeet]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. Much appreciated!

 

[mofunk]

Not sure where you see the small size. .. Make sure when you upload your photos to Smugmug that you are uploading the large size. iPhoto creates a thumbnail that is smaller.