Here's a tutorial I've been working on (the full one has images, but they're not necesary to follow the directions ;-): Making an attractive thumbnail image One question that I see pop up in forums all the time is "How do I make a good image thumbnail in Photoshop?" I answered that question many times, and finally thought, "Hey, I'll write it all down as a tutorial." So here it is. Thoughts on Thumbnails In a crowded, busy gallery full of images, a thumbnail is probably what will get people to look at your image. Make one that's over-compressed, too small, uninteresting, or, in some cases, too stereotyped, and you'll lose the chance to get the viewer's attention. To make any thumbnail, regardless of size or style, you'll first want to prepare the image by making a duplicate of it (Image: Duplicate), and in the duplicate, flatten any/all layers. Thumbnail styles There are basically three types of thumbnail image, for gallery purposes. Reduction, crop, or select. Reduction Reduction is taking the complete image and simply sizing it down to the appropriate size. This can work if the image isn't too big and thumbnail can be large, but when you need to make a small thumbnail, it can be a disaster. This generally works best for images with minimal complexity and/or distinct areas of color/shapes. To make a thumbnail of this sort, open the image, then resize (Image: Image Size) to the size required. Cropping is taking an area of the image, but not the whole image, and reducing it to the size required. To do this, you need to select the Crop Tool. Set the width and height you need, and set the Resolution to 72 pixels/inch (you don't need anything higher than that for screen viewing). Move the crop tool around the image, playing with the size and location until you find an interesting view, and crop. Voila. Selection To make a thumbnail of this kind, you use the selection tool to choose an interesting area of the image, and then use that, no resizing involved. Choose the Selection Tool, and for Style, choose "Fixed Size" from the dropdown menu. Set the width and height you need, then click on the image. Move the selection around until you find an area you like. You can now copy the selection (Ctrl-C or Edit: Copy) and paste it into a new image (Ctrl-N or File: New, and then Ctrl-v or Edit: Paste), or you can simply crop the existing image (Image: Crop), as you wish. I use the copy and paste method so that if I find I don't like the thumbnail, I can easily copy a different one and paste it in, until I get one that suits me. With the first or second method, you may wish to apply a very light sharpening effect to the thumbnail (Filter: Unsharp Mask, which is adjustable, is a good choice). That, however, is entirely optional. Saving your thumbnail In Photoshop, you definitely want to use the "Save for Web" feature to save your images (not just thumbnails). It allows you to view the image and adjust the file size versus the compression, and the compression engine is excellent. File: Save for Web will open the feature for you. The file size will be at the bottom, the "tweaking" controls on the upper right. You can save as a .jpg, a .gif, or a .png (most of the time, digital art is saved as a .jpg), and you can adjust the level of compression, etc. It's usually fairly simple to get a good quality thumbnail in a filesize below the limit for most digital art galleries. One important note: Make sure that "Save ICC Profile" is NOT ticked! It adds considerable bulk to the file and for all but a few specialized purposes, is useless.

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