SHOOT/EDIT/PRINT

[Kimmy1210]

OK... I've beend doing photography on the side, not a whole lot but enough to the point that I need to start figuring more out... I came HERE because I wanted more experience behind the answers that are given vs. the beginners...

I was told by a professional friend to always shoot in RAW, which I do. Then I open in PS Elements & do editing... anyways, when I save these images, HOW exactly should I be saving? Here's the deal...

I am charging a flat fee & just giving them the CD for them to print as they wish for now.. however, I save all the edited pictures as 4 x 6 TIFF files w/ leaving resolution blank... this is taking up 2-3 cd's...

If I save as JPEG, my fear is that when they print, they will lose clarity & quality... but the space is also an issue.

I save any pictures that I use on the web (facebook, blog) as 4 x 6 jpegs @ 150 resolution...

Am I going about this completely wrong?

AND... I am not giving the option to order from me as of yet--but I suggest Mpix as that's who I use for my photos & they are great...

 

[Scuba]

I would give full size JPEG files at 300dpi res for print and for web you could do 72 dpi res

 

[480sparky39 38]

Why not burn to a DVD instead of a CD-R?

As for 'space', memory is cheap cheap cheap these days.

Personally, I would not want to be a photographer who simply shoots an event......... then turns over a CD of my work. That's just giving away money.

 

[Big Mike]

TIFF is technically a 'better' file type that JPEG...but if you (or they) print from TIFF or JPEG, it's extremely unlikely that anyone could tell the difference. So really, there is no need to give your clients TIFF files. JPEGs will give them the images in acceptable quality, but takes up much less (smaller files).

When you save images as JPEG, you have the option of setting the quality/compression. As you lower the quality (more compression) the quality will go down, but the file size goes down as well. You could probably dial it down several notches, and still get great looking images. In Photoshop (I'm not sure about elements), the JPEG quality is on a scale of 1 to 12. If you turn it down from 12 to 10, the size of the files drops dramatically...but it would be exptremly unlikely that anyone could tell the difference by looking at the prints. Heck, you could probably turn it down to 6-8 and nobody would know.

So what currently takes you 2-3 discs, could probably fit on 1/4 of a single disc.

 

[dots]

I'd edit the raw file. Save a JPEG version for sharing/printing. Archive the edited raw file as a TIFF (which can be re-edited/resized later-on, less destructively than re-editing the JPEG version).

 

[dots]

A JPEG created at 95% of the original image quality seems (almost) visually lossless, to me. If you're supplying a JPEG for print, allow 300 pixels for every inch, and you should be good.

 

[Big Mike]

Also:
Try out Adobe Lightroom. It does have a bit of a learning curve, but it's a great tool for a better workflow.

 

[CCericola]

Hi Kimmy,

I suggest giving your customers a DVD with 300dpi 4x6 jpegs and small jpegs for the web. Mpix wants jpegs so if you are telling them to go to Mpix I'm not sure why you are giving them tiffs that they cannot send to Mpix.

 

[Kimmy1210]

Thanks everyone---this has been a huge help & it seems that everyone kind of has the same answer... so if people are going to blow up a picture to 16 x 20 or something, saving all my pictures 4 x 6 @ 300 resolution, the pictures will be fine? My friend who is big big pro said to leave the DPI blank to avoid white/black specs that sometimes appear..

The only reason I'm putting my work on a CD for now is because I'm not set up the way I would need to be quite yet, but I'm super busy for just starting... People see in my work what I'm still very critical on. We are our own worst critics & I will find every flaw... I have a lot to learn, but I've come a long way in a short time....

 

[Kimmy1210]

Oh crap-- really? Well, it's a good thing I've only done a few in TIFF files (since my friend recommended TIFF vs. JPEG for Quality)... and weird that she said that as she is the one who said Mpix is the way to go.... hm... thanks!

Hi Kimmy,

I suggest giving your customers a DVD with 300dpi 4x6 jpegs and small jpegs for the web. Mpix wants jpegs so if you are telling them to go to Mpix I'm not sure why you are giving them tiffs that they cannot send to Mpix.

 

[Kimmy1210]

So another question then... can those people that I provided TIFF files for resave them as JPEG's or am I going to have to go in & resave & put on CDR's again?

 

[dots]

Forget 'dpi' just ignore it. Just make sure you supply 300 pixels per inch "300ppi" to whoever is going to be printing the JPEG. A TIFF is a high quality "master". Whoever has the TIFF can export 100% quality JPEG copies from it...or lower quality copies, as required. The TIFF also has a lot more tolerance to being re-edited, compared to a JPEG copy of it. Resizing, color and tone adjustment, reducing contrast, upsizing etc.

 

[CCericola]

I guess it depends on the computer skills of the customer. As far as the sizes. If you want them to be able to print a 16x20 make sure you give them a jpeg that fits Mpix's specs. Here is the file size minimums and optimum size chart from Mpix.

Optimal resolutions:
Optimum Minimum

Mini	438x625	150x250
Wallets	625x875	250x350
3.5x5"	875x1250	350x500
4x5"	1000x1250	400x500
4x6"	1000x1500	400x600
5x5"	1250x1250	500x500
5x7"	1250x1750	500x700
6x9"	1500x2250	600x900
8x8"	2000x2000	800x800
5x15"	1250x3750	500x1500
8x10"	2000x2500	800x1000
8.5x11"	2125x2750	850x1100
8x12"	2000x3000	800x1200
10x10"	2500x2500	1000x1000
9x12"	2250x3000	900x1200
10x13"	2500x3250	1000x1300
12x12"	3000x3000	1200x1200
10x15"	2500x3750	1000x1500
5x30"	1250x7500	500x3000
11x14"	2750x3500	1100x1400
10x20"	2500x5000	1000x2000
12x18"	3000x4500	1200x1800
12x24"	3000x6000	1200x2400
16x20"	4000x5000	1600x2000
16x24"	4000x6000	1600x2400
20x24"	5000x6000	2000x2400
20x30"	5000x7500	2000x3000

 

[Big Mike]

Anyone can open a TIFF file and re-save it as a JPEG with basic software. It doesn't take special software.

so if people are going to blow up a picture to 16 x 20 or something, saving all my pictures 4 x 6 @ 300 resolution, the pictures will be fine? My friend who is big big pro said to leave the DPI blank to avoid white/black specs that sometimes appear..

Well, if you give them 4x6 photos at 300 PPI...then the images will be 1200 x 1800 pixels.
The usual rule of thumb for best quality prints, is 300 Pixels per inch....so they want to print a 16x20, they would need 4800x6000 pixels. Now, with that said, you don't need that much resolution with larger prints, mainly because we aren't meant to view large prints from up close. You could easily use a resolution of 240 or 150 for a large print. I believe that Mpix will print files with a resolution as low as 100 PPI.

So what size should you give to your clients? I'd suggest just giving them the full size that your camera produces. In other words, don't change the size at all. This may be a problem if you crop your photos a lot, but otherwise, you are giving them the best quality/size that your camera can produce.

And lastly, I've quite often seen that just because someone is a 'big big pro', doesn't really mean that they know what they are doing. :er:

 

[Kimmy1210]

OK.. why do I feel more confused? So-- in elements, I leave the resolution completely blank-- I don't mess w/ the DPI--then again, being fairly new to this, I thought the two were the same, they are not, are they? I feel like a dork, I really do right now.