Picture cropping

[JUAN DOS]

I've no image editing experience.
The original file size, from the camera is 1.15 mb. When I crop it to remove most of the background the file size is reduced to 100kb-200kb. I've tried Irfanview, Corel photo paint etc etc. Shouldn’t the file size be close to 50% if I'm cropping that amount? I did save cropped image as jpg. This doesn’t make sense to me. I want to keep the highest possible resolution of the cropped picture. I think that I'm doing something wrong.

[mjc]

What format is the picture originally in .bmp?

If it is; you are both removing the portions you don't want and compressing it (thereby losing some editing capabilites, resoultion, etc) when saving it as a jpg. If you saved it as the original format you will probalby get a file closer in size to what you would expect...

Also a plain background would make a smaller file than the same subject with a very complicated background...so removing some of the complicated background would reduce the file more than removing some of the plain background would.

[david eaton]

JUAN
The file size will be dependant on the compression allowed when saving as a JPG. You did not state the original file format, but it could well have been an uncompressed format such as TIFF.
Usually, when saving a file, there is a method of selecting the compression factor.

I don't know the two programs you mention, but as an example, in Paint Shop Pro, when the "save as JPG" option is selected, there is an "options" button which gives access to the compression. Look for something like that, or perhaps someone who knows can tell us both.

On picture quality, I have just received a picture file in TIFF format that was 112 MEG! saved as a JPG, it is just over 2 Meg. I cannot see any difference in quality, either on-screen, or in print.


David

[JUAN DOS]

The original picture file is jpg
Thanks for the help.

[Budfred]

When you save it, are you given the option of selecting the level of compression. If you opt to keep it at 100%, then the difference in size is due to the editing and not data loss related to compression. I use PhotoImpact 5 which allows this selection, but not all programs do. You may have to activate a dialog in the Save As item to allow the selection.

Budfred