picture resolution: shrink for logo

I have a rather large logo, 300dpi, about 1200x1100 px's, 23Mb.
When I shrink it to around 100x100 it still loses a great deal of quality, rendering it useless for my needs.

Does anyone know if an image can be shrunken by such a great amount and still be crisp and clear. My last resort is to remake this logo at a smaller size(400x400) then shrink it. But that will add onto my time about 3-5 hours at least.

Thank you.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Ok, here's what you do:

Go to Image > Image Size.

Make sure the button that says Resample Image is turned off.

Now enter your new dimenstions. You will not lose any of the file size, or the quality. Your DPI will increase as your picture size decreases.

Hi, and thank you for the suggestion.
Unfortunately it's not working. (maybe I'm missing a further step)

I guess I should elaborate. This logo that I want to shrink down, is not going to be printed, but instead copied and pasted into another image. But since the dpi increases, so does the logo in size - width and height. If I then try to scale the logo to fit in this other image the logo loses a great deal of quality. While this would be perfect if I wanted to print the logo, it only makes the logo grow in photoshop and if I copy and paste still leaves me with the need to scale the image..which loses the quality. I must be missing something..?

I guess if I did print it then I could scan it and get what I want. But I'm hoping there is a better way.

Thanks again.

Hello,

I was wondering if you are trying this with all layers unflatened? A Photoshop document that is 1100x1200@300dpi under normal circumstances should only be around 3.9 megaytes in size(RGB). If so, save a duplicate with all layers flattened as the "extra" one and try what the first commenter says. Let me know if you still have trouble?

-Don

Hello again...what is the resolution of the image you are attempting to past the reduced logo into? When I'm hot swapping images into different documents I try to get all the resolutions to be the same in each file first then there's no suprises. Sometimes you have to juggle fields in the image size menu to get them all to be predictable for the final result. Let me know what happens with this one.

-Don

hmm.. yes, you're right. None of the layers are flattened.

But just to clarify, the logo isn't exactly reduced. The size is, as in, if I wanted to print the logo it would be the correct size on paper-small. But if I wanted to copy and paste the image is actually larger because of the increase in dpi. Making me have to scale it anyway. And that's the problem, scaling the image. If I could simply resize the logo without losing quality that would be great.

I basically just want to shrink this large logo to 100px by 100px without losing the quality. But if I increase dpi the image grows which I then need to scale. That's were the quality is lost and the logo becomes pixelated, the scaling.

But Thanks for the advice. I'll see if flattening the image works wonders. Let's hope so

No, flattening the image didn't work for me.

Any other ideas?
Thanks.

p.s
I first shrink the image in it's original file to see if I can get a crisp and clear smaller version, it still comes out pixelated. so I guess that answers your 2nd question. thanks again.

Ok. Is the logo that you are placing onto another image going to be printed eventualy with it's new background or will it be used on the web? This is important in that you need to know what resolution you want the logo to be. For print you want at least 300 dpi and for web you want 72dpi. Now when you are talking about 100px x 100px this means an image that is .333" x .333" at 300dpi and 1.389" x 1.389" at 72dpi. DPI is dots per inch so this makes sense. This is where you loose me because I don't know what you are doing with the end product.

As a general rule you can resize any image down or lower it's DPI and maintain the original qulaity but you can not upsize an image or make it have a higher dpi, you will loose detail the bigger in size or resolution you make it.

For print:

1. Determine the size you want it in. (in inches is the easiest for me)
2. Open the original image.
3. Go to image -> image size
4. Make sure "resample image" and "constrain proportions" is checked.
5. Under Document Size Enter the width and height and make sure the drop down boxs say inches.
6. Then hit ok
7. Now you will have your logo sized for printing (300 dpi is optimal for printing an image.

For Web:
1. Determine the size you want it in. (Pixels are what we go by on the web)
2. Open the original image.
3. Go to image -> image size
4. Make sure "resample image" and "constrain proportions" is checked.
5. Enter the 72 dpi for your resolution.
6. Under pixel dimensions enter width and height.
7. Then hit ok
8. Now you will have your logo sized for the web (72 dpi is best for the web.)

I hope that helps you out if you have any other questions just fire away.

Cuda

Thank you for the suggestion and the advice.
Well, this logo will be used for the web only.
I scanned the original hard copy to get an electronic copy; currently this e-copy is 300dpi. The end result or desire is to use the logo on a website.

Here's the problem.
If I resize it by shrinking it it becomes very pixelated. Quality is affected. I don't know why?

I am not upsizing, I am downsizing ..err.not funny. Sorry...
I have done everything suggested, but the image loses quality... everytime.
Try something, take a 1900x1900 pixel image at 300dpi, then shrink it to 100x100. The image should have some writing in it, anything, and some curves. Tell me if you can get it to keep it's clear crisp quality... and how you got this to work for you.

I would really appreciate it
I've tried a dozen ..well, that's a bit much, more like 5 different ways to get this logo to turn out right.. I just can't get it to work for me..

Thanks

what format is the logo in? if its that high-res, im gonna assume its an eps or AI file? is so, you could open it up in illustrator and save a copy @ 72 dpi...

You want the final logo to be 100 pixels by 100 pixels right? Well, you realize that you will never be able to get much detail into that size. After all, that is smaller than most icons on the desktop.

DPI is only a guideline for printing, but otherwise does nothing to a digital image. Changing the DPI on an image will not change the data content of the file, only the size at which it will print.

Without seeing the logo you want to resize, the only advice I can give you is to try some heavy sharpening of the image before resizing and increasing the contrast of the logo. You may even change the colors in the logo a bit, and then use that as the "small version", even if it looks slightly different.

Try different resizing algorithms. Bicubic might not be the best, as it will make the image a little softer. See if you have a program that will do a Lanczos resize, as those are usually sharper. But at the end of the day, 100x100 is pretty small, so you might create a completly different version of the logo for "small" applications.

Can we see the logo?

@Loki
Hmm.. really.
Thank you for the information. I guess it all makes sense now. I was thinking of dpi
in the wrong sense. Yeah, I think my best bet would be to make a new logo at a small size so loss of detail isn't so bad.

@skribe
Sure, if you want a gander at what I finally came up with you can visit this website:
www.waposemedical.ca

You'll see the logo on the splash page. The one that I had trouble with can be found when you enter the website along the header. I think I might try some of Lokis suggestions to see if I can give my client a better graphic.

Thank you to everyone who pitched in and gave a helping hand.
I've learned alot through the various methods employed during this little trial.
It was fun.

It's not neccessary to keep trying to get this thread answered, I'll just try some of the last suggestions. If they don't work I might create a smaller logo.