 Michele King |
High resolution files What do wedding photographers mean when they say included in their package you get all the images at high resolution? I have been saving all my images as 8 x 12 at 300 dpi and burning that to disk for my clients.
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Christopher A. Vedros |
I would interpret that to mean the images would be high enough resolution to make good prints, as opposed to low resolution that is only good for viewing on screen. The next question, of course, is how big a print can you make? The files you have been giving your clients are big enough to print at least an 8x12, and larger if done correctly. Chris A. Vedros
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anonymous |
Michele I have easily printed an image to a huge 34inch from an 8x12 @ 300dpi using the 110% upscale rule by Scott Kelby, even without using this rule, your clients will easily be able to print 16x20 prints and maybe even larger. My camera takes photos at 8x12 @ 300dpi so I do it all the time.
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Michele King |
Thank you so much for your replies.
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Jerry Frazier |
What most wedding photographers mean by high res files are the highest possible resolution at 300 dpi. If you are resizing to 8x12, that's not high resolution, is it? That's a specific size of file. I provide that native size, whatever that happens to be for my cameras (8.2 and 12.8 MP). I know some photographers that charge different rates for different sizes...like, a 4x6 file would be one price, an 8x12 another, and then a full res would be a higher rate. Depends on how you want to do it. But, I wouldn't say you provide high-res files and then give them an 8x12. That's not being completely honest. Cheers,
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Michele King |
Thanks Jerry, I have a 30D which is the 8.2 megapixel size. So are you saying I save the file the same size as it comes out of my camera as a high res file?
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John P. Sandstedt |
Once. again, the Heretic speaks: Michele, your 30D, with its 8.2 MP sensor, saves its hi-res JPEGs as nominal 3.5 MB files and as nominal 8.5 MB RAW files. That's the data you need to make a sharp print, and you can do it with as little as 3 MP. National G published great pictures, taken with 3 MP equipped digital cameras, before larger chips were available. Sharp. The key is data. The method Natalie mentions [from Scott Kelby] is just a means to enlarge file size by resampling. It works! But, if you shoot in RAW, upload your images to your computer and then open your 8.5 MB RAW images with DPP 2.1, you'll be able to Transfer to Photoshop and get nominal 45MB files - enough data to do anything you want to [print size wise.] Don't forget, too, that your RAW files will be at 16-bits; those pesky JPEGs will be at 8-bits. This means you'll have more colors to work with once you transfer the RAW images to Photoshop. Of course, there are those folks who say one should never shoot in RAW - but, to each his/her own. As to the photographer who gives a hi-res image on CD/DVDs - well, that's just cutting a nose to spite a face. The money's in the printing and, while I know there are scanners out there, I just can't believe a pro wedding photographer will give away the bases of making a buck for his prints.
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Michele King |
Hi John, I do shoot raw but I guess I need it spelled out for me. I open my raw files in Photoshop and adjust them in Camera Raw then do a save as a 300 dpi jpeg. Is this a high resolution file?
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Jerry Frazier |
Oh John, the money's in the service. Printing is just stupid anymore. If you rely on that, just forget about it. I get my money up front, and if I get print sales, then cool. Myth #1: If you give high-res files, you will not get print sales. I give high res files, and I get pretty big print sales too. When I didn't give files/neg's, the bride and groom never order. They get their album and maybe a couple of prints and that's it. The sales are in the relatives and friends who don't get albums or anything. At least that's my experience.
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Michele King |
Hi Jerry, so how do you save your files, also when you shoot how do you sell to your clinets, do you show them so many photos and they choose what they want in the album? do you give them prints at all?
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Jerry Frazier |
so how do you save your files? 300 DPI in Photoshop. I don't make any adjustments at all to the file size, unless I crop. If I crop, I maintain the 2:3 ratio of my native files. Essentially, I give my clients the EXACT same files I use to make prints, album prints, and anything else in a JPEG format. The images go online and they see the proofs there. I also provide the high-res files. I do not paper proof anymore. However, it depends on where you are in your career. If you are starting out, I would defintely provide paper proofs. At the lower range of the scale, those clients want something to walk away with, and since most photographers are proofless, it's a competitive advantage to provide paper proofs. As you move up in price and such, you will find that clients have a better understanding that the product they are getting is the album. They also understand a little better that the files are really for archiving. Although they can print all they want, they usually find it a daunting task, and wind up using me for their prints. Clients can choose album images, or, I'll just make one for them. Either way is fine.
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Michele King |
When I open my photos in Camera Raw I will adjust the photo then do a save as at 300 dpi. If I crop I do a custom 8x12 crop at 300 dpi. I guess I shouldn't be changing the file size but using the 2:3 ratio instead.
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