Editing digital photos

ISHUTTER

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I am still new to digital photography so please excuse my ignorance.I have a Canon digital rebel xt.I am currently using Irfranview to edit my pictures.My question is this:Why is my picture so large when I open it up on Irfranview?Even if I shoot my pictures at the smallest pixel size they are HUGE when I open them to crop/sharpen etc.I have to resize them just to be able to fit a picture on my monitor.Is this normal?I primarily just cover some racing events and post pictures on the web.I have a friend that does this as well and he says he shoots his digital pictures at the largest pixel setting on his Nikon and they are normal size when he opens them up in his program(he failed to mention what program he uses).Anyway,am I doing something wrong or not using a good program or what?I just want to be doing this the correct way so I don't lose any more picture quality than I have to.Thanks in advance.
 
while I'm not familiar with that particular program, there should be a zoom somewhere in the menus. Much like the zoom in Word, it should be able to be changed from the "view" menu, then zoom. Sorry I cant give specifics.
 
I think I may know the reason. My camera shoots at 2000+ px wide, I use photoshop so that automaticlly zooms to fit my screen. Ifranview is free and does not have that function. (i have never been partial to ifranview) The reason the pictures are so big is so that you can get large prints with good quality. If you have some extra money go to a photo place and get the same image printed twice. First resize one to 800x600 and print it up to a 8x10in. Then leave the second file alone (at its standard size) and print that a 8x10in and see which has better quality. That should demonstrate why the raw images are so large. Its just a matter of always resizing when you open it in your program, i always have to and I bet your friend does aswell. I usually shrink the image to 800x600px for web posting :D Don't worry your not doing anything wrong and its totally normal.
 
Thanks for the info.I really appreciate it.Irfranview is all I have ever used.I think I am going to try some different programs and see what I like the best.
 
The pictures from your Canon Digital Rebel XT are designed to be printed. Print resolution differs from screen resolution, in terms of how many pixels are printed per inch. Your screen resolution is probably 1024x768, or 1280x1024 at 96 dpi. Your digital rebel is capturing images with a much higher pixel dimension, somewhere around 3500x2300, so that when you go to print them, you can print at 300 dpi (photo quality) and have an image of sufficient dimensions.

When you view a full size picture from your Rebel on screen, the difference is your screen size of 1280, or 1024 pixels wide, and the image itself is 3500 pixels wide. This is why you have to scroll. All you have to do in Irfanview is hit "enter" on the keyboard, and it will size it to fit your screen in full screen mode, or go to view/display options, fit images to window.
 
Digital Matt...thanks so much for that information.This site is awesome!
 
I use Irfanview as my primary Photo Viewing software. Just press "F" once and it'll automatically fit all your images to your screen. Photoshop is nice for editing, but for viewing large batches of pictures, it's painful.
 
It is slightly off topic but I have another question.Is your picture quality always going to be better by shooting in the largest pixel size on your camera?
 
ISHUTTER said:
It is slightly off topic but I have another question.Is your picture quality always going to be better by shooting in the largest pixel size on your camera?

The simple answer is yes.
The complicated answer is, not really :p Pixel resolution does not really determine picture "quality". The lens used has the most effect, and the size and quality of the sensor recording the image also have a lot to do with it, as well as obviously the person taking the photo.

When it comes to printing, the highest pixel count will always give you the best looking print, so keep that in mind, if your final output is print, which it should be!
 

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