APhoto - Image Scaling Problem

[justinpbrown71]

I need to add a photographic image that is 4884x3235 pixels (high res tiff 120mb file size) onto a photographic image that is 4951x3501 pixels (high res tiff), but I need to scale it down to approx 1/8th its original size. However, when I do this it becomes very pixelated. Why is this & how can I preserve its resolution?

Thank you.

[Alfred]

Does it actually become very pixelated, or does it just look very pixelated? The latter is what I would expect if viewing the resized image at eight times the view zoom of the original.

What resizing algorithm did you choose?

[justinpbrown71]

47 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Does it actually become very pixelated, or does it just look very pixelated? The latter is what I would expect if viewing the resized image at eight times the view zoom of the original.

What resizing algorithm did you choose?

Here's what occurred.

I opened my af project file (4951x3501 pixels) & then 'placed' the second image file (high res tiff 120mb file size, 300dpi) onto it. The second image file however, was imported greatly expanded over the the size of the first image. So I used the resize tool to make it smaller, to the size I want it within the first image (approximately 1/8th the size of the first image, but much much smaller than it was when originally 'placed'). I just checked what size the image would as a TIFF export; 288kb!

I have some confusion though. When I select (for the main image) the 'hand' icon tool the figures in the toolbar are: Pan 1425x1007, 1.43MP. Whereas when I select the 'move' icon tool, the figures in the toolbar change to 4951x3501 pixels  @1042 dpi.

[Alfred]

29 minutes ago, eightysevens said:

I have some confusion though. When I select (for the main image) the 'hand' icon tool the figures in the toolbar are: Pan 1425x1007, 1.43MP. Whereas when I select the 'move' icon tool, the figures in the toolbar change to 4951x3501 pixels  @1042 dpi.

1425 × 1007 @ 300 DPI is the same physical size as 4951 × 3501 @ 1042 DPI.

[justinpbrown71]

12 minutes ago, Alfred said:

1425 × 1007 @ 300 DPI is the same physical size as 4951 × 3501 @ 1042 DPI.

Okay. Thank you.

But how to scale the image I need to place onto the main image without it reducing to kbs in file size?

[Alfred]

28 minutes ago, eightysevens said:

But how to scale the image I need to place onto the main image without it reducing to kbs in file size?

Why are you worried about the file size? TIFF compression is non-lossy, so as long as the result has the desired pixel dimensions you should be happy that the file size is smaller than you expected.

[justinpbrown71]

9 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Why are you worried about the file size? TIFF compression is non-lossy, so as long as the result has the desired pixel dimensions you should be happy that the file size is smaller than you expected.

Here is the result, exported as a TIFF.
The facing card, 'La Rueda De La Fortuna', which is the 'Placed' image (the one I reduced using the move tool) has become very pixelated. I cannot use it. It is 6% of its original size.

 

CDO_Cards_H_&_V_Master_WOF__1_TIFF.tiff

[Alfred]

16 minutes ago, eightysevens said:

The facing card, 'La Rueda De La Fortuna', which is the 'Placed' image (the one I reduced using the move tool) has become very pixelated. I cannot use it. It is 6% of its original size.

It looks OK at normal size on my iPad but it deteriorates quite a lot when I zoom in.

2 hours ago, Alfred said:

What resizing algorithm did you choose?

 

[justinpbrown71]

48 minutes ago, Alfred said:

It looks OK at normal size on my iPad but it deteriorates quite a lot when I zoom in.

 

I just used the blue resizing frame with the 'move' icon selected, without changing any settings.

[walt.farrell]

It does not look pixelated to me when viewing at 100% or at Actual Size. What zoom level are you using?

Note that in your final image, the Placed card is only about 300 x 160 px in dimension, as compared with its original size (from your posts) of 4884 x 3235, so it will be much worse than the original if you try to zoom in because it has fewer pixels to show the detail. In terms of number of pixels, it is in fact 48,000 px vs the original's 15,799,740 px, or only .3% of the size of the original, in pixels.

However, rather than Placing it and then reducing it by dragging the handles, you might try making a copy of the original image and resizing it using Document > Resize Document, which will give you additional options for how the resizing is performed. Then Export it, and Place that version to see if it's any better.

[justinpbrown71]

33 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

 ...you might try making a copy of the original image and resizing it using Document > Resize Document, which will give you additional options for how the resizing is performed. Then Export it, and Place that version to see if it's any better.

How can I measure the space on the main image that it needs to fit onto? I would need to know what size to reduce it to.

The finished image will be for online promotional purposes & for print; possibly at flyer & poster size, but definitely at cd size. The image can't be pixelated, for example at A2 size.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, eightysevens said:

How can I measure the space on the main image that it needs to fit onto? I would need to know what size to reduce it to.

Draw some Guides, or make a rectangle, and check its size using the Transform panel.

Note that your card is rotates with respect to the image boundaries, so you need to rotate the document to get the card's space to be horizontal before you can accurately measure it. You can do that using the Straighten mode of the Crop Tool.

1 hour ago, eightysevens said:

The finished image will be for online promotional purposes & for print; possibly at flyer & poster size, but definitely at cd size. The image can't be pixelated, for example at A2 size.

Then you may want to create it at the largest size you'll be using, and resize the complete document smaller for the other sizes.

[justinpbrown71]

21 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Then you may want to create it at the largest size you'll be using, and resize the complete document smaller for the other sizes.

Thanks Walt.

I created an A2 doc, placed & expanded the main image to the doc size, then placed the card, which didn't need to be reduced so much. So now it is not pixelated within the A2 format. But when I merge the two layers & then zoom in to the merged image to say an A5 flyer size, the card is so pixelated it's not possible to tell what it is. However, if I export the merged image, then place it on a new A5 doc & reduce to fit selecting the move icon tool, it looks okay. So there's a two things happening here of which I am unsure of the mechanics.

Well, at least I have learned how to achieve my goal.

Again Walt, many thanks for your time. Have a lovely weekend.

[walt.farrell]

You're welcome.