how do you get your images web/print ready?

[Alyssa15267]

Just wondering how to get images ready for print and web... How

 

[Derrel]

What software one has makes a huge difference. Before Lightroom, I was using Photoshop's "batch" command, or a Mac OS application called Automator, in conjunction with Photoshop CS2, to resize images and to apply sharpening and assign color profiles for the two types of images. Lightroom has since taken the place of those apps for me.

You want to make sure web-destined stuff is sRGB.

The pixel area of images has become a big deal now that the web has become so popular a display medium. Smaller images, like 900 pixels on the long axis, at 72ppi, and sharpened moderately, look pretty good. What you do NOT want are "web" images that are huge in size....no 24-megapixel JPEG files that are 10.2 megabytes in size...no...you want a SMALLISH file, maybe 800k or so at most, and no bigger than about 1200 pixels wide.

Where a web image is hosted, and how that host handles down-rezzing images is something you need to check into on your own; what will be the DEFAULT image display size? Some hosts let you choose the default size, and so shoot for that as being the optimal size. Facebook for example, can and will allow high-qualirty uploads, so if people hit "Download", they get a big, decent-looking file, but the default display size might not look so great if the uploaded image is HUGE, and FB uses its own down-rezzing algorithm to serve the default image size. Other hosting sites perform a similar mangling of large uploads, so there's some variation.

You can go even smaller for the web, like my old favorite, one I picked so I could "spot" web-optimized images, 704 pixels wide. Why 704? So I could scan folders and spot web-optimized images by the image data information. With a very small image like this, the typical web image is only 200 to 300k, and it is never mangled by the hosting sites. It is not however "high-rez", nor all that impressive when seen on a big, high-resolution monitor. But on a smartphone....it looks great.

 

[Alyssa15267]

Right now I am using photoshop elements 12. For the Web I would use 72 ppi? what about for print?

 

[Derrel]

I have been setting my inkjet print images to 360 ppi, and sharpening them pretty aggressively. I keep the sizes BIG for print, meaning I do not down-size the picture, but leave them at their native size. I shoot for about an 8 to 10 megabyte, 10-quality, standard .JPG format print file image size from a 24-megapixel camera.

 

[Alyssa15267]

So when wanting to print I should have my ppi at around 300 or 360. Do I do any thing else? This is new for me... also when printing if I don't have a certain size I want to print it what do I do? If the width and hight are at 8by 10 then can I only print that size or can I only print up to that size?

 

[Derrel]

The images can be printed at many different printer output sizes...smaller, or larger. Sharpening for print is part art,part science, and depends somewhat on the printing machine. Normally, I would say that an image for printing needs to have some unsharp masking applied, like say at least 85% at a radius of 1.0 pixel, which will make the on-screen image look almost "crunchy"...as in not very pretty to look at. But this is not 100% set in stone; as I understand it, some of the Fuji printing machines apply their own, pre-printing sharpening routine, based on software analysis of the image. Also, the black point should be set too, so that the blacks and lowest tonal values do not "plug up" or "get crushed", two common slang terms for what can happen to an image when it is printed.

This subject is really too complicated to explain in this setting here on TPF. I'd suggest some on-line research that will help get you familiar and comfortable with the terms and the steps people use. For example, the idea of preparing an image "to print" is itself not complete enough; inkjet or machine? Frontier or Noritsu? Glossy paper or matte? Portrait with lots of soft, low-frequncy detail, or photos of pine forests and ferns with lots of fine, high-frequency detail.

 

[Alyssa15267]

Ok I will do some research... Thanks for trying to help I appreciate it

 

[KmH]

Just wondering how to get images ready for print and web... How

The Digital Negative: Raw Image Processing in Lightroom, Camera Raw, and Photoshop (2nd Edition)
The Digital Print: Preparing Images in Lightroom and Photoshop for Printing
Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom (2nd Edition)

For the web and electronic display ppi is meaningless and has no effect on image size.
For the web, the only numbers that matter is the image resolution (pixel dimensions) .

Ppi only applies to print resolution.
Image resolution (pixel dimensions) and print resolution (pixels per inch) together determine print size.

As print size gets bigger the distance people view the print at increases.
As viewing distance increase, the need for print resolution (ppi) decreases.

Many print labs stake their reputations on having a minimum print resolution limit of about 100 ppi.
Above about 340 ppi the human eye cannot see any improvement in image quality
So at some point using large ppi values accords zero gain in image quality.

Use these 3 basic math equations for prints:
pixels / ppi = inches (3000 px / 3oo ppi = 10 inches)
inches x ppi = pixels (10 inches / 3000 px)
pixels / inches = ppi (3000 px / 10 inches = 300 ppi)

A Nikon D5100 makes full size photos that have image resolution of 4928 px by 3264 px.
At 300 ppi a print from a 4928 x 3264 photo would be: 16.43 inches by 10.88 inches
4928 px / 300 ppi = 16.43 inches and 3284 px / 300 ppi = 10.88 inches
At 360 ppi a print made from the same 4928 x 3264 photo would be 13.7 inches by 9.12 inches.

You will also have to consider the photo's aspect ratio and the aspect ration of the print you want to make.
Full frame and APS-C size image sensors have a 3:2 aspect ratio.
An 8x10 print has a 5:4 aspect ratio. an aspect ratio closer to being square than the 3:2 aspect ratio is.
In other words to make a 5:4 aspect ratio print from a 3:2 photograph some portion of the 32 photo will have to be cropped away and discarded.

If you wanted to make an 8x10 print from that 4928 x 3264 photo you can calculate what image resolution (pixel dimensions) and print resolution you would need for different print resolutions and the difference in aspect ratio between the original photo and print aspect ratio you want to make.

First to get from a 3:2 aspect ratio original to a 5:4 aspect ratio to be printed as an 8x10 (or other size also having a 5:4 aspect ratio).
Note that 5:4 can also be stated as 5/4 =1.25. By the same token 3:2 is 3/2 = 1.5

So. 3284 x 1.25 = 4080 pixels.
4080 px by 3264 px is a 5:4 (4 x 5, 8 x 10, 10 x 12.5, 12 x 15, 16 x 20, 20 x 25, 24 x 30, 28 x 35, etc.) aspect ratio.
4928 - 4080 = 848 pixels that would have to be cropped from the long side of the 3:2 aspect ratio photo to make a 5:4 aspect ratio print.

Now that we have the aspect ratio and image resolution taken care of we can determine the ppi:
4080 px / 10 inches = 408 ppi. 3264 px / 8 inches = 408 ppi.

 

[orljustin]

Just wondering how to get images ready for print and web... How

You output your final files in sRGB color space in .jpg format at the size you want, remembering of course, that PPI/DPI has no bearing on anything for web display. It only matters for printing. I find that 200ppi is plenty for normal 4x6 or whatever size prints. So, pick your ppi (sure, 300 is fine) and figure out what pixel size your image needs to be. For a 4x6, 300ppi x 4 = 1200, 300 x 6= 1800. So your image needs to be output at 1200x1800 minimum.

This should be basic knowledge if you're already selling image sessions to people.