TGP Tutorials & Articles
Creating High-Quality Thumbnails
by TGPFactory Staff, June 29 2006
Some sample thumbnails:
http://www.tgpfactory.com/high-quality-thumbnails/
Photoshop CS2/CS3
Filter > Blur > Surface Blur
Radius: 3, Threshold: 10
Older Versions of Photoshop
Filter > Blur > Smart Blur
Radius: 2-3, Threshold: 10
Quality: Low, Mode: Normal
Remaining notes compatible with all versions of Photoshop:
Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast
Brightness: ~15, Contrast: ~25
Duplicate the original layer and set the new layer's blending mode to Soft Light. Apply a gaussian blur (Filter > Blur Gaussian Blur) with a radius of ~3px Adjust the layer's opacity as needed.
Flatten everything (Layer > Flatten Layers).
Using the marquee tool, adjust top toolbar options: Style Fixed Aspect Ratio, Width 110, Height 150.
Make your selection, and crop it. Image>Crop.
Tweak brightness/contrast again if needed.
Change image size to that of your thumb (Image>Image Size)
