Digital Image Sizing explained in plain english
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Image sizing is a subject that I see come up in photography forums over and over and over and over. And the more interesting thing is the WIDE array of answers and suggestions that are thrown out there about how to properly size images for both web and print.
This is a real life example from the other day. And I didn't even get the whole thread!
I felt like I had a pretty good system for myself, but every time one of these threads would pop up, I would take pause and see what people were saying and then think to myself...
"am I doing this right?"
I didn't feel 100% confident and I wanted to know that what I was doing would have the desired affect on my process. I wanted to know that images I was producing, editing and exporting out of Lightroom would serve my purposes for both print and web.
I took on the task of scouring the web for all the information I could find and let me tell you, the information that it out there is CONFUSING. I totally get why people have such varied impressions of what is correct or assumed or just plain misunderstood. There are quite a few variables that go into properly sizing images for both print and web which adds to the confusion.
After studying numerous sites and doing my own experiments, I believe I have come up with a succinct and easy to understand resource guide for image sizing.
I am now 100% confident and I want you to feel the same if you don't currently.
In this guide I talk about the following:
- Dimensions of an image and why they are important
- PPI
- File size vs. Working Size of an image (that was a new one for me!)
- Compression
- Cropping
I also created a video in which I go through all of the above and show examples in Lightroom and photoshop so you can actually SEE the results and how to get them yourself. Hopefully the video and the resource guide together should answer any questions you might possibly have about digital image sizing.
