Picture size

[jpegonpc]

Ok i'm really new with this digital stuff. I am confused with the size of the final picture, it's huge and i can't post them on some web sites that limit the size, if i crop the picture i lose well over 90% of the picture, that not a picture i like to have posted. Anyway i use jpeg basic, and small image(1936x1296). i get a picture well over 300kb, i like a moremanageral size without losing most of the original photo. help

thanks

dan:?

[granthagen]

dan writes: Ok i'm really new with this digital stuff. I am confused with the size of the final picture, it's huge and i can't post them on some web sites that limit the size, if i crop the picture i lose well over 90% of the picture, that not a picture i like to have posted. Anyway i use jpeg basic, and small image(1936x1296). i get a picture well over 300kb, i like a moremanageral size without losing most of the original photo. help

1936x1296 would make a good 4x6 print if done at 300dpi (dot per inch), but that doesn't mean that it'll show up on a monitor at the same size. I'm still wanking along on an old 17 inch CRT at 1024x786 resolution. Your 1936x1296 wouldn't even fit on my screen at full size! People still using 15 inch monitors will have to start scolling around at 800x600!

What you need to do is use an image editor to downsize the full pictures (as opposed to cropping) to get a pixel border that's more in line with the image borders that are used on the sites where you want to post. The exact method for doing this will vary based on the editor. This is a basic enough function that just about any editor will do -- including the free ones!

Try Picasa or Irfanview to start out with if you don't already have some kind of editing software. They're both free.

One other thing....You say you use jpeg basic and small size. Any particular reason? If you just want to post images online, this will be fine. But, what if someone (or even you) wants an 8x10 -- or larger -- of a particular image? You don't have enough data in the original image to make a good enlargement. It's good general advice to shoot at the largest size and best quality setting your camera offers, especially with the price of digital storage as cheap as it is nowadays. You can never tell when you're going to get that once-in-a-life-time shot. It won't be any more trouble for an editor to reduce a larger file size shot for web posting than a smaller shot.

Grant

[Bob Nichol]

As Grant points out, always shoot at maximum resolution and minimum compession (Large Fine for example) as you can always resize later. The editor will probably do a better job of resizing than the camera anyway.

Copy the files to your computer then back them up before any editing. (CD, DVD, Zip drive, whatever gets a copy off the computer) Always edit a copy so you always have an original to fall back on if you don't like what you've done. Save the working copy in the native editor format or a non-compressed format such as TIFF. When finished editing you can save to JPEG for printing at a photo store, posting on the Internet or emailing.

[jpegonpc]

Thanks, oh i did not realize that the camera was not doing the sizing, with the way every thing is so technical i thought the camera could do it all, another thing to spend money on, a program to re-size, and another step to do.I have not even begun to think of printing the shots, just posting them on sites and sending to my daughter who started college. I had to crop to send her e mail. Right now i am taking pictures of cross county runners. I'll look into the free software u mentioned. So take the largest size the camera(d80) can do, then use the software to re-size and the whole shot is still there to send or post. Right? thanks
dan

[granthagen]

dan writes: ...So take the largest size the camera(d80) can do, then use the software to re-size and the whole shot is still there to send or post. Right?

Right. The only bugger is if someone wants to print one of the resized shots. It takes a lot more pixels to make a good print than to make a good screen image. So, in such a case, you'll have to send the individual a larger sized version of the picture than you used for the email or web posting.

Sorry. :sad: But that's life in the big (digital) city.

On the bright side, if you and the recipient both have a high speed connection, even sending the full 10MP file won't be any big deal.

Check out this useful chart that shows a lot of relationships between megapixels and print size: http://design215.com/toolbox/megapixels.php

Edit: By the way, didn't your D80 come with editing software? It should have. I have two cheap Nikons (cheap anyway, compared to the D80) that both came with Nikon View software. They must be upping the ante with the D80!

Grant