On Reducing Images

Here in ongoing, the images normally are scaled down to a width of 300 pixels (linked to a full-size version). Currently, I’m using the open-source GD image library to do the photoreduction; the usability is excellent but I’m unsatisfied with the quality of the results. Herewith a survey of some approaches, because I’m sure lots of other people have this problem too. [Update: Holy Cow, did people respond. This is now photoreduction comparative research world headquarters.]

First of all, I freely confess that my understanding of graphics programming is very limited and; in this arena, I’m merely someone who wants to write some code to achieve a result.