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editing a pdf in photoshop
Hi all,
I have city map that is in pdf. I want to higlight different areas of the map to show the voting wards. I opened the file in photoshop CS4 and used the rectangle tool with transform to highlight the areas. The problem is that when I save the file, the pdf becomes extremely large (file size). I would like to keep the file size fairly small for easy downloads.Does anyone have suggestions for the best way to accomplish this. I am fairly new to Adobe (and CS4)and didn’t know if a different adobe program would work better.
Thanks in advance
Chris -
4 Replies
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Well, if you want to try another Adobe app, then Acrobat is the one to try!
If you want to do it in Photoshop, here is why your files are big–
Photoshop can’t actually OPEN a PDF, it can just rasterize it at a certain resolution–that’s the dialogue that comes up when you open the PDF. The resolution might be set to 300 dpi, a common default print resolution, but that’s making a file that’s way too big.
Here is what to do:
1. First make sure the image is a reasonable size. For the web, pixel dimensions of around 150 pixels wide or tall (for small images) to let’s say 1000 pixels wide and 800 pixels tall are reasonable. They should be 72 dpi.
2. You can then
a- print to PDF, which you can do if you have the Adobe PDF printer installed (which you should do, it’s very convenient)
b- save as jpeg, and set the compression quality as low as possible without making your map look terrible
c- if you do “save for web” you’ll get even more compression options–you could try a GIF with a very low color count. But really JPEG is a very good choice. -
Emily,
Thanks for your response, I will try your suggestions. I have Acrobat but have not really done much with it. With Acrobat I assume I can add color/outlines to specific parts of the map as well?Thanks Again
Chris -
You know, I too have Acrobat but I don’t think I’ve ever even opened it.
And I just realized something about my last post–you shouldn’t shrink your file if you intend to print to PDF; just pick a print size that’s reasonable (letter or smaller) when you actually go to “print” your file. -
Great solution. Thanks. I’ve had similar problems.
Joanne
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