Digital Developing what file size for 4x6 prints

[TCav]

Bynx wrote:

If your camera is similar to mine all your file sizes are 72 dpi ...

The dpi value in the EXIF data is meaningless.

And the amount of JPEG compression will affect file size more than any dpi determinations.

I believe the OP should just save the original photos onto a CD or DVD. That's a whole lot simpler, and better,than anything else suggested here.

[BillDrew]

funbug wrote:

....I HAVE TOO MANY PICTURES !!! ...

The curse of digital photography. The solution is to throw out a bunch of them, not to throw out more than half of all of them, i.e., downsize and/or highly compress. Doing that means you have an inferior copy of all the photos you ever took instead of good copies of the good photos that you have taken.

If you don't want to take the time to sort through them with a heavy hand why not just throw out all of them? If you don't have time to look at them, they aren't likely to be worth keeping.

[TCav]

[TCav]

BillDrew wrote:

... why not just throw out all of them? If you don't have time to look at them, they aren't likely to be worth keeping.

Ok, that suggestion is simpler than mine.

[Reanimator]

im also wondering why u wanna downsize?

i just put my best holiday pics in a folder drop em in at lab and get em to print them all, at 5x7 actualy......think they are 300dpi of 8 meg camera........no way would i consider changing anything as they are just a reminder of what we saw

Gary

[slipe]

funbug wrote:

Thaks Ill check into it. now that I know how to get a my pics to a 4x6 heres the problem im running into now....I HAVE TOO MANY PICTURES !!! how can I resize these ? I have to go through them one by one...I have over 300 pics to do!!!!!!

UGH!:?

:|

Any action or script that would automatically crop your photos for you will do the same thing the photofinisher does. It will trim an even amount off the top and bottom of your print to get it to the right ratio for 4 X 6. If you are putting the photos on the CD to have them printed there is no reason to do that since the place you have them printed will do exactly the same thing.

There is also no reason to resize them. You get your best prints giving the photofinisher all the pixels and letting his equipment sort out what is needed. If all of your photos were 2Mb you could put 350 on a CD, so you should be able to fit all of them on a single CD.

I like to crop my pictures because you don't always want an even amount trimmed off the top and bottom. But that requires a decision for each photo and can't be automated.

It is unlikely but possible that your pictures are already 3:2. It isn't important if you don't want to crop them individually. Just put your photos on a CD and take them wherever you want them printed. And if you are moving them to a CD to get them off the computer there isn't any reason to resize them. You might thank yourself one day for saving the full image.

I would guess you aren't printing them yourself. If you are you have to crop to 4 X 6. Once you set Photoshop up to crop 4 X 6 it is simply a matter of moving your mouse to get the crop you want. On newer versions the width and height box should be at the top when you select the crop tool. If it is a very old version of the real Photoshop you have to set that in the Info box.

[Mark1616]

Don't get me started on storage, I'm currently at about 1,000Gb as I have to have every shot backed up twice just in case something goes wrong. I'm so glad it is very cheap now, a few years ago this would have killed me!!!

[VTphotog]

funbug wrote:

Thaks Ill check into it. now that I know how to get a my pics to a 4x6 heres the problem im running into now....I HAVE TOO MANY PICTURES !!! how can I resize these ? I have to go through them one by one...I have over 300 pics to do!!!!!!

300 is not too bad a number. I have seen posts from people with tens of thousands!

I tend to ruthlessly apply Sturgeon's Rule every time I upload pics to my computer. Then, every year, I apply the same rule to what's left. The world is not going to stop or even slow down if I throw out some pictures.

brian

P.S. Sturgeon's Rule: 90% of everything is rubbish.

[no time]

Mark1616 wrote:

Don't get me started on storage, I'm currently at about 1,000Gb as I have to have every shot backed up twice just in case something goes wrong. I'm so glad it is very cheap now, a few years ago this would have killed me!!!

Mark, I'm looking at storage now. Could you share what storage you use and how do these units hold up for you? Thanks

Bob

[romphotog]

Sintares wrote:

Always keep the originals, cd/dvd storage is cheap.

I bought 100 HP CD-Rs for $11. Store originals to 2 backups, then crop away.

Frankly unless you are making massive crops, then for 4x6in prints a 2 or 3mp camera would be just as good as a 4 or 6mp

in fact, instead of reducing the file size, just reduce MPs in the camera to 4MP(but not less), and quality to Economy.