Image size

Chili · Jan 16, 2007

Hello, I have a question on what image size I should be on and the pros and cons of them. I have a D50 that I have had for a month, this is my first SLR and I'm learning as I go. I have been on large not knowing the difference I thought the bigger the better but that's not the case as I found you cant e-mail a lot of pics. in that format. I am also in JPEG fine.

The sizes are L (3008X2000) M (2256X1496) S (1504X1000) I don't know what these numbers mean. I guess what I am asking is does it compromise image quality if I am in (M) or (S)? And will it effect editing on the size I am shooting it? I plan to get Photoshop elements 5.0 soon and will be doing all my editing through that. A first as well I have never edited my photos before. I am mostly shooting Architecture and landscapes.

Thanks in advance I have learned a lot here in a short amount of time everyone is very helpful this is a great site.

Big Mike · Jan 16, 2007

My advice is to always shoot at the biggest and best quality you can. To that end, I don't even shoot JPEG much any more...as I prefer to shoot in RAW mode.

You can always, resize and compress an image for e-mail and displaying on the web. You can't, however, easily make a large print from a smaller image.

As you are new to photo editing...I suggest you do some reading about digital workflow. It's best to start with the best file you can...and then save copies of it, for your various uses like printing or E-mail.

Wolff · Jan 16, 2007

The size you choose to use depends on what you plan on using the photos for. Usually for family snapshots I use large and for photos that I will want to print I will use RAW or the highest quality you can (since you never know which image you will want to print poster size)

If you are emailing pictures, I would recomend shooting at large or RAW and shrinking the file later in your editing program. You may also check your camera's manual since many cameras have a setting where the camera saves both a high res version and a lower res jpg version for easy viewing and emailing.

bryanwhite · Jan 16, 2007

When you start doing your editing, I would use the RAW for that as well. That way, you can fine-tune the image in ways you simply can't with JPEG, which doesn't have as much information as the RAW file. But for snapshots, JPEG should be fine.

outlier · Jan 16, 2007

The RAW files do eat up a lot of space. But space gets cheaper every day as storage prices fall. I would always err on the side of more information in the larger file.