 David A. Dawson |
Best Image Size & PPI I have done a bit of searching, but I can't find definitive answers to what should be a couple simple questions. 1. What are the size limits for images? 2. What is the best size and PPI for images to be entered into a BP contest? I noticed on the upload page it says: "We recommend that you upload photos in the JPEG format, no smaller than 1600 pixels on the long dimension."
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David A. Dawson |
I found some more information about this subject on BP's help page, but it doesn't clear things up to much.The recommendations are conflicting. 1800, 1600, 800, 750 & 480 (short side) pixels are all recommended. PPI is suggested at 72 in one or two places. Each of the following lines was copied from the help page. "...Web versions of your image automatically reduces larger images to be 1800 pixels on the longer dimension, and it is good to have these two numbers as close as possible before uploading. So a landscape might be something like 1200 (wide) x 1800 (high) and a portrait might be around 1800 (wide) x 1200 (high)" "Many BetterPhoto members have had success in sizing the long end to 1600 pixels in JPEGs." "I would recommend sizing your images before you upload to 800 pixels "We recommend 1600 pixels on the long side for best results. If the long side is at least 800 pixels your images will appear as large as possible on the BP site." "Your goal is to get your image to be about 500 pixels in the short dimension. An ideal size would be something like 500 x 750 at 72 ppi." "- Regarding size, some BetterPhoto members have had success in resizing the shortest side to 480 instead."
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- Bojan Bencic Contact Bojan Bencic Bojan Bencic's Gallery |
David, You are right about the confusing instructions from BP. Here are my conclusions (I could be wrong...). 1. max. 800 pixels on the long side (or max 800x800 px) 2. PPI does not play the role here because image will be displayed at actual 800 pixels on your screen (or less if the image is smaller). How many inches you will see depends on the size and resolution of your monitor, not PPI value. As for posting full size images, I would suggest that you resize your image to 800 px max, perform final sharpening and then upload. If you upload bigger images they will be converted to 800 px (by BP) and you will notice a certain softening of the image. Hope this helps, regards Bojan
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
David, there's been much discussion on this in the forums. I do the the same as Bojan; resize the long size to 800 pixels. True, you can upload at any pixel width but the BP process will crunch it to 800 max and sometimes the resulting image is a little fuzzy. You can easily verify this by uploading sample photos at different sizes. I also convert to TIF after I sharpen. That was something BP mentioned several years ago and I'm not convinced it makes a difference. Again, you can upload one version in JPG and another in TIF and compare. I just got into the habit of converting to TIF.
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David A. Dawson |
Thanks for the help guys. I had been sizing to 800 pixels, sharpening and then saving and uploading as a JPG with pretty good results. I find that if I only save to JPG one time, and I save in the highest quality, the image displays better than a TIF. I uploaded my last picture as a JPG at 1600 pixels wide, 72 PPI, what seems to be BP's recommendation. Other than the upload taking twice as long, I didn't notice much difference in quality.
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Steve M. Harrington |
If you resize to 800 pixels and sharpen as Bojan and Ken suggest, then use the Alternate Image Uploader, your images will be fine, David. You should see no difference if you compare your upload with an image in Preview on a Mac. Steve
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Frank E. Trinkle |
Can't comment on the width issue, but the reason for 72 PPI is that is the maximum PPI that computer monitors can display. You would only use a higher PPI if you are planning to PRINT your images. The other advantage is that saving your images for use on a website or computer at 72 PPI significantly reduces the size of the file vs. a higher PPI. Increasing the PPI to say... 300 for use only on a website or for computer viewing will NOT produce a better image on those platforms. It's just a waste of bandwidth. That being said, however, if you plan to PRINT your images, save a TIFF or JPEG at a higher PPI as a copy, but use a lower PPI copy to send upstream on the web.
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- Bojan Bencic Contact Bojan Bencic Bojan Bencic's Gallery |
No, Frank. Computer monitors (CRT and LCD) can in fact have more (even much more like 2272 PPI on the extreme side) than 72 PPI. The size of the file will also be the same - only the number of pixels count. 800x800 pixel with 70 PPI image will be the same size as 800x800 pixel image at 300 PPI. Hope this helps,
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Frank E. Trinkle |
Oops! You're right... I got confused with PPI vs. DPI. Feel like an idiot now! Cheers
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- Bojan Bencic Contact Bojan Bencic Bojan Bencic's Gallery |
Don't worry about it, Frank. The confusion comes from different definitions of image size. You can define the size in pixels (primarily used for monitors) or in inches (on paper). Those two are related by PPI as: pixels = PPI x inches Cheers, Bojan
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- Elida Gutierrez Contact Elida Gutierrez Elida Gutierrez's Gallery |
Here is my technique, hope this helps. Open image in IrfanView Save it on a different folder and then upload it here.
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