How to reduce database size with BLOB fields

I have a database that's used to store fingerprints. Under my conception this should be a small database but the problem is that the original developer was probably tripping on peyote and decided it would be a great idea to store the fingerprints in BLOB fields.

Thanks to this magic trick the database is now 3 GB in size and the frontend its crashing all the time, no wonder since a simple SELECT TOP(1000) takes about a minute from MSSMS.

So I'm left with a doubt about how to proceed. Is there a way I could reduce the size of the table containing the pictures? Or maybe another alternative to this madness.

Regards.