 Sandra Wortmann |
uploading pictures to web sight What size in "dpi" should a person upload to a web sight so they look good, but no one can print them?
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Christopher A. Vedros |
If you set your dpi to 72, and resize your image to about 750 pixels on the long edge, it will look fine on your screen, but will not make a good print larger than wallet-sized.
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David A. Bliss |
This was recently discussed on another forum. Interestingly, it doesn't matter what the dpi is set to. Pixels are pixels. You can test this yourself. Open an image file, resize to 750 (or whatever size you wish). Set the dpi to 300. Save the file. Then set the dpi to 72, and save the file under a different name. Compare the file size. They will be the same. For web jpegs, set the dpi to 6000. If the person who downloads the image doesn't know a lot about dpi settings, when they print the image, it will be about the size of a postage stamp.
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David A. Bliss |
Just as a further example that dpi will not effect display, save another file (with the same pixel dimensions) with a dpi of 1. Then open it in a image viewer (or IE). It will look exactly the same as the 72 dpi or the 300 dpi image.
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Richard Lynch |
David, interesting idea about setting the ppi to 6000. Of course it is thwarted by anyone who knows about ppi, but an interesting idea. Sandra, people can print anything they can see on screen -- they just may have to do it with low resolution. The pixel dimension is what matters most, as you monitor will just use what it needs in the browser (there are exceptions with some plugings if you have them installed for viewing large images and other formats). All that aside, if you post an image that is, say, 750x500, that will print on a home inkjet at about 3x2 inches at optimal resolution (this can vary). This is as Chris said. You can watermark your images and/or add copyright information to deter people from using them. This has limited utility. There is always some risk, and may be sheltered, but I have never actually heard of someone having their images stolen and used for other purposes online.
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David A. Bliss |
I don't want to be an alarmist, because that is really not who I am, but I know a number of people online (not personal friends, just people I have met online) who have had their images stolen. For the most part it is people displaying them as their own. I never really understood this, though. The people who do this must really be starved for attention. How much does this affect the person who actually shot the pictures? Quite possibly no more than an annoyance. The more serious case involved a woman who was taking web size pictures and using them on mugs and greeting cards. In this case, she was making money off of someone else’s copyright. This would make me mad. Not much can be done other than a cease and desist letter, since a lawsuit would be expensive, and probably not result in the copyright holder getting any actual monetary damages in their pocket. Again, this is not to scare anyone, it is simply pointing out that theft can and does happen. If you put your images on the web, they can be stolen. While size is important (the smaller the image, the less usable it becomes), even a fairly small image can be used for some purposes. And, as pointed out above, dpi is irrelevant. Of course, as far as I know, none of my images have been stolen. That actually makes me a little sad…. Is my work not good enough? ;-) A watermark is the best option. While it can be distracting, it is the best way to keep people from easily being able to use the image. This is a link to a tutorial. Richard, as I pointed out earlier, dpi is irrelevant, and if somebody knows about dpi, then any dpi setting can be thwarted. I like the idea of someone trying to print one of my images and it comes out really small!! ;-) Setting the dpi to 72 actually gives someone a better chance of being able to print the image, since the smaller dpi will actually allow for a larger print, albeit not at a great quality. I have seen some usable prints at 72 dpi though.
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