Scaling Photos

Question

I'm confused on the best practice for handling photos which I might (or not), pan or zoom. I've heard that resizing in Photoshop is better than in Premiere--better interpolation algorithms. Let's say I plan to work with the native 3:2 aspect ratio of the images. If I'm editing at 720x1280, for example, my native RAW DSLR Canon 40 D image is 3888 x 2592, I would have to downsize in PS bringing my image to 25% of its original size (approximately) for it to fit the screen full image. Or I'd have to downsize to about 40-50% size if I want to leave room for zooming, panning etc. Or I can bring in the image at its natural size, scale to fit automatically, and then resize manually. Or do the same without clicking scale to fit. All of these work, but what is the best practice, maintaining optimal IQ of the image?
Thanks
kdoc

Answer 1

Kdoc,
Sorry that I did not state things clearly. Large still images require overhead to handle. I Scale to the Sequence's Frame Size, unless I will be doing Pans/Tiltson a Zoomed out image, and then will calculate how many pixels in which direction I need. That does take calculations, but will yield an image at the optimum size, with the smallest amount of processing overhead. Now, there WAS the benefit of better Scaling in PS, up to PrPro CS5. That benefit has been removed, as Scaling should be just as good, in PrPro CS5. Still, the overhead exists.
In your case, as you have not figured out the amount of Pan/Tilt on Zoomed out images yet, I'd go with a common size, that allows one some room to Pan/Tilt, when the image is Zoomed out. It will eliminate extraneous pixels and their overhead.
When you have animated the Pan/Tilts, if you find that you do not need all the pixels, you can Scale safely in PrPro, and I would use the fixed Effect>Motion>Scale. If you are going to want to Pan/Tilt on Zoomed out images, do not use Scale to Frame Size, as that will Scale your images TO the Sequence Frame Size, and you will then not have the necessary extra pixels to use, as the images will have been Scaled to the Frame Size.
If I had some images, that I knew would NOT involve Pans/Tilts, I would do a separate Scaling with Automation in PS. Often, I will end up with maybe three folders of stills: 1 where there will be zero Pans/Tilts, and these will be Scaled exactly to my Frame Size. Then, there will be another, where I will Scale less, leaving extra pixels for the Pans/Tilts, and possibly another folder, with images with even more pixels for a lot of Panning and/or Tilting.
Note: The term "Tilting" is used as it would be with a camera. In an NLE, the proper term would probably be "Vertical Pan," where the more traditional Pan would be "Horizontal Pan."
Good luck,
Hunt
PS - as for that image overhead, remember that the image has not been actually acted upon, when it's in the Timeline. All pixels are still there. What we have done, when we Scale in PrPro is to have written a set of instructions, telling the program what to do with that image, when we go to Export. What we see is but a representation of that Scaling.
PPS - also remember that all pixels beyond the Frame Size of the Sequence are not seen, as they are effectively cropped by the Frame Size dimensions. It's like having a 16 x 20 photograph, and a 20 x 24 matte, but with an 11 x 14 aperture in it. With Panning, we basically slide that photograph behind the aperture in the matte. We can only see the segments of that photograph through that aperture.