Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 5/8/2009

Question
Hello!

Im making an annual report which is mostely vector with some jpgs. The thing is, when I save the file as an PDF, the pictures get imbedded so the file size shoots through the roof.
Take for instance one of the pages. It's A4 size,containing 3 images.
1: 3297x2518 px, 2454 kb
2: 2850x2169 px, 531 kb
3: 3780x2513 px, 4733 kb (300 dpi)

When I save this as an PDF it's 50 mb.

I'm going to send this to print, but I don't want the huge files. Can I bring the resolution down on the images without loosing print quality.
Can I make the images as small as I need them to be in the layout (not scaling them in Illustrator), or will this affect the printing quality.
Thanks for the help!

Answer
HI David,

Scale them in Photoshop using Image Size, but do not reduce the resolution. When you reduce the size, be sure to choose "resample image" with Bicubic Sharper option selected to help keep detail.

Reducing the size while keeping the resolution at least 300 dpi should help.


Thanks

Kevin