Advice on sizing images for sharing and prints?

[weepete]

rthday. A few of the guys liked some of my shots and asked for a copy which I don't mind providing after I tweek them a bit in pp. What I'd like to do is put printable quality files on disk for my mate who's birthday it was should he want to get any printed and provide a copy to be shared via the web for the other guys that were there.

So I've three questions:

1. What's a nice print size and what size should I make the files to get a decent print?

2. What size/resolution should I make the ones to be shared on the internet?

3. Anyone know good way to share photos over the web for this kind of thing?

 

[Big Mike]

1. What's a nice print size and what size should I make the files to get a decent print?

Unless you want to get into custom framing or mats, it's usually good to stick to standard frame sizes. Around here, that means 4"x6", 5"x7", 8"x10" etc.

A typical rule of thumb for photo prints, is that you want 300 pixels per linear inch of print. So for an 8x10 print, you would want 2400x3000 pixels.

Also note that the aspect ratio (shape) of those sizes do not match. So if you are going to crop the images, you may want to leave some room around the subject so that the other person has an option when they want to make different prints.

What size/resolution should I make the ones to be shared on the internet?

A typical computer screen is around 1000 pixels high...so it's not much use having an image that is larger than that. And typically, people don't view images right to the edge of the screen...so something like 700-800 pixels high is probably as big as you would want.

There is also a resolution setting...the PPI (pixels per inch). For printing, it may be set to 300 and for internet, it might be set to 72 or 96 etc. But really, this number isn't as important as the actual size of the image (in pixels).

So if you want to put images on the internet, for other people to see....you should decide if you want them to just view the images...or if you want them to be able to download the files and print them (and how large you want them to be able to print).
If it's just for viewing, then you can use smaller sized images...but if you want to allow them to download and print...then you'll want to upload larger files.

There are plenty of image hosing websites that will allow you to do this.

 

[weepete]

Thanks Mike, just the kind of info I was looking for

 

[cgipson1]

There are plenty of image hosing websites that will allow you to do this.

lol! I love that typo! Because yes.. it is true....

 

[KmH]

There are 2 resolution settings, 1 for electronic display, 1 for prints.

The resolution for electronic display is the image pixel dimensions.
The resolution for prints is the pixels-per-inch (ppi) and the pixel dimensions.

In other words, for electronic display ppi is meaningless.