Ok, so I'm pretty deep into learning how to use mobipocket creator to create kindle books, and I created a "cover" using a photograph I took myself, to avoid any IP laws/rules.

Anyway, I downgraded it to 600x800, changed it to greyscale, and it looks ... OK, but only OK. The screensaver/sleep mode images look GREAT, and I'd like my image to look as good.

I haven't used photoshop regularly in years (I've got version 7), but I thought I could define the numbers of colors the image has, and have it look at the image and pick the best 4 levels of grey, but I can't find that option anywhere.

Anway, what are your suggestions for adapting a photo to look good on the Kindle?

Thanks, Cathy Weeks

That's exactly what I want to do also, but don't know how to do. If anybody comes up with real answers, or especially with a "how-to", please let us both know.
Charles Wilkes, San Jose, Calif. cfw123@gmail.com

I suggest posting your original photo to see if anyone is willing to use it as a test.

Did you try the original color version on the Kindle? I don't think making it gray scale should be necessary in general. This does give you maximum control over the result though. Also, a 600x800 image will be reduced in size (because the image display area is not the full screen). HarryT recommends 400x600 for cover images, although this won't use all of the available space.

Also, if you have a SD card Alt-Shift-G will create a screenshot on the Kindle to illustrate the problem, see Igor's Keyboard shortcuts (http://igorsk.blogspot.com/2007/12/hacking-kindle-part-3-root-shell-and.html).

I've done a few photos for screensaver shots and found the following helps...

• High-contrast images look best, due to the Kindle display's limited dynamic range. Boost the contrast on your images.

• Convert your image to black-and-white on your computer; color images don't look so well, again due to low contrast.

• The Kindle screen size is 600W x 800H. Resize/crop your images on your PC.

I've done the same thing for some cover images (for Mobipocket Creator and for Amazon's online book creator), and gotten decent results.

Hope this helps...

I'm also interested in this. I used Photoshop Elements. I cropped the images 600 by 800 pixels and converted them to grayscale. The results were okay. I used photos of my grandson. I'm thinking that the problem is too much contrast so that I might get better results if I adjusted the lighting. I'll post the results if I'm succesful. I'm also interested in any tips anyone else might have.

If you are using the images in a MOBI ebook, the maximum displayed size is 520 by 640 and larger images will be rescaled (maintaining aspect ratio) by the Kindle to that size. See All on the Mac: PDFs with Formatting! (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20361). This seems to be the case for the cover image as well as images within the e-book.

the maximum size for Kindle images is 550px high by 450px wide.
make the images greyscale and save them out as GIF/JPG files.
the images can't be larger than 64kb, so aim for below 60kb.

vector and line graphics should be GIFs and photos should be JPG.

hope that helps,

-karl

http://kineticillusions.com

the maximum size for Kindle images is 550px high by 450px wide.
make the images greyscale and save them out as GIF/JPG files.
the images can't be larger than 64kb, so aim for below 60kb.

vector and line graphics should be GIFs and photos should be JPG.

hope that helps,

-karl

http://kineticillusions.com

and if the image is jpg and too large you can simply resave it at a lower quality setting to get it under the 60KB limit. Gif can often be saved at a reduced number of colors to make it smaller, after all it is a monochrome device.

Dale

the maximum size for Kindle images is 550px high by 450px wide. Do you have an example illustrating this? In my tests, 640px high by 520px wide worked. See All on the Mac: PDFs with Formatting! (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=148226&postcount=15). I originally used mobi2mobi without allowing for its image rescaling (which can now be turned off), but the test with mobigen appear to confirm the 640x520 value.

the maximum size for Kindle images is 550px high by 450px wide.
make the images greyscale and save them out as GIF/JPG files.
the images can't be larger than 64kb, so aim for below 60kb.

vector and line graphics should be GIFs and photos should be JPG.

hope that helps,

-karl

http://kineticillusions.com
Are you saying that Kindle images have to be so small and have to be no larger then 64k? That is totally ridiculous to force such backwards software issues on new technology. That (IMHO) is a major issue that needs to be resolved. And to charge $400 for such a mess is silly.

<sigh>

<sigh>
What I had hoped for is that AZW format was going to be an updated Mobipocket format that took into account that the Kindle is not a PDA or cell phone. The screen is 800x600 and yet it gets saddled with technology that is old.

If I create a text Mobipocket eBook with large images, would someone with a Kindle mind testing it to see if it works?

the maximum size for Kindle images is 550px high by 450px wide.


No, that's not true. I've created a number of books which have images 760 pixels high (the standard size I use for an 800x600 screen) and those images display fine on the Kindle, I am told.

The 64k (actually about 62k, I believe) file size limit for images in Mobi books only affects Palm versions of the Mobi Reader (because the Palm's memory is arranged in 64k pages, I imagine). More modern versions of the Mobi reader will happily display larger images.

Mobi Creator warns you if a book contains images which will "break" the Palm reader.

the maximum size for Kindle images is 550px high by 450px wide.
make the images greyscale and save them out as GIF/JPG files.
the images can't be larger than 64kb, so aim for below 60kb.

vector and line graphics should be GIFs and photos should be JPG.

hope that helps,

-karl

http://kineticillusions.com
This has been discussed and the conclusion was that the maximize resolution for kindle to display in full fidelity is 520x640. You can definitely put something larger than that in your prc file, but kindle will dynamically scale when display it on the screen. The 64KB limit is irrelevant to kindle.

Attached are the originals and the associated Kindle screenshots for 3 jpg images. The first is a cover image from FeedBooks, its original size is 595x842 (37KB) and it gets rescaled just like images in the interior of the ebook. The last two are from bob_ninja's version of Potter, Beatrix: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers. v1, 16 May 2008 (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23983), one is 931x1264 (117KB) and the other, in color, is 603x736 (74KB). All three images are relatively tall but this confirms the 520x640 actual size, the rescaling (maintaining aspect ratio) and the support for jpg's > 64KB. There is a noticeable pause before displaying a page containing an image, but illustrated ebooks work well on the Kindle. It is a shame that some professionally produced ebooks have much smaller images than those shown here.

the information regarding the kindle display comes directly from the amazon DTP website and kindle forum administrators.

in my experience, having a computer/device resize an image to fit the viewing area results in reduced image quality, additional processing time and larger than necessary file sizes. (see any large image resized in any IE browser window) if you are going to take the time to size your images, why not size them correctly in the first place instead of forcing them to fit?

it is true that kindle resizes to a certain aspect ratio so using larger graphics will work if image quality is less of a priority than getting the book "published". not every resized image will look bad, but why chance it? (my opinion)

the 520x620 dimensions mentioned above have about the same aspect ratio of the DTP posted limitations of 450x550. the slight delay that the users notice may be the kindle resizing the image to 450x550.

i have no first-hand experience with using larger than 64kb images as grayscale images are very small to begin with and there's no reason to include extra color data that will be lost and muddied by the reader device, i think. in any case, that is the official guideline posted by amazon.

if you are going to take the time to size your images, why not size them correctly in the first place instead of forcing them to fit? I agree, but the right size is 520x640 not 450x550. If you look at my screenshots from the Kindle, all the larger images have been resized (by the Kindle) to be 640 pixels high so 550 pixels high definitely isn't the maximum allowed.

if you are going to take the time to size your images, why not size them correctly in the first place instead of forcing them to fit?


One very good reason is that what is "correct" for the Kindle is not optimal for other devices and, if one is producing a "generic" MobiPocket book, the Kindle may not be one's only "target".

For example, for my own main MobiPocket device - the CyBook Gen3 - images with heights of around 760 pixels are "optimal".

All of this is very interesting. I would have thought an 800 x600 screen would mean 800 x 600 images.

So, if I'm thinking bookplates for the Kindle, then they should properly be 550 x 450??

As for creating 4 shade gray scale images, I've done it with PS, but my favorite tool is really an old version (8.1) of Paint Shop Pro. You can save various four color palattes and load them sequentially to see which one is best for your particular image.

http://www.geocities.com/ricky1750/Graphics/rehersal.gif

This is a comparison of an image I drew for a book that I've been working on (forever ... really ... forever). The four shade grayscale was created in PSP using their "X colors" command after first putting the image in grayscale.

I tend to leave anything with that small of a palette in gif format. I'm not certain that having it be a jpg (which is more lossy) adds much to the equasion, but I could certainly look into that.

All of this is very interesting. I would have thought an 800 x600 screen would mean 800 x 600 images.

So, if I'm thinking bookplates for the Kindle, then they should properly be 550 x 450?? There is a difference between screensaver images, which fill the 600x800 screen, and images in a MOBI/AZW ebook which are limited to 520x640. Also the latter will be resized for you if they are too big, but the screensaver images need to be exactly the right size and format. See Kindle Screensaver (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17234).

Got it .... so when I'm creating bookplate screensavers for the Kindle, those can be 600 x 800, but I should make the images in the book, the smaller size (depending on what size would be the best for the various types of e books.

Not that my book is going to hit the market anytime real soon. It's taking me ever so long to draw each image, and even longer to get the inspiration for each one.

Hey Ricky-

As you can see from these posts, nearly every digital reader device has different settings for the images they can display. As I work with my artists and they begin to get mired in the tech of the end product, I always remind them to create their art at the size and in the medium they are most comfortable with. We can "fix it in post" as it were for almost anything.

Don't get discouraged by all this tech talk when your work is hard enough just coming up with the ideas and putting your craft together! When all of the words and images/paintings/photos are together then decide on the platform(s) you will publish on and size/resize from there. By the time you finish one project many technologies will have changed and most of these posts will be moot anyway.