PHOTO TIPS
PREPARING PROJECTED IMAGES FOR COMPETITIONSResizing and optimizing your photographs
Q: Why is it that photos for competitions are only allowed to be 1 megabyte in size?
A: Large images can slow down older PCs, and are not necessary for viewing as projected images – most digital projectors only project a 1 megapixel image.
Q: What’s the difference between megapixels and megabytes?
A: Megapixels measures the number of pixels (dots) in a photo. So a photo measuring 3000 x 2000 pixels measures 6 megapixels. Megabytes refers to the amount of space the image uses on your hard drive, CD, or memory card. A six megapixel image will usually take up between two and four megabytes of space on your memory card.
Q: So how many megapixels should a photo be, if it’s only allowed to be 1 megabyte?
A: Any size you like! But a good rule of thumb is to resize a horizontal photo so that the long size is 2048 pixels, and a vertical photo so that the long size is 1536 pixels. There’s no magic to these numbers, so feel free to ignore them. But it’s a good compromise to start from.
Q: How can I compress and resize a photo?
A: If you aren’t editing it in any way, try using EvJO Photo-Image Resizer, a free photo re-sizer available from www.evjosoft.com. If you’re editing the photo in Photoshop, Elements, or similar, look for the options when you save the jpeg – the program will usually give you a preview of the file size.
Q: My photos get a bit blurry when I resize them!
A: Apply a little sharpening. If you’re using unsharp mask, start with values set to: amount, 70, radius 1 pixel, threshold, zero. Then play around with the figures until you get the result you like. (These figures only work if you're optimising your photo for displaying it on a PC or digital projector!) The most recent versions of Photoshop and Elements have an auto-sharpen feature and enhance sharpness filters – they’re easier to use and sometimes give better results than unsharp mask.
PREPARING IMAGES FOR CLUB WEBSITE GALLERIES
Use your preferred graphics package to save the images as JPEG format (use high quality - around 80% for systems that use the numerical format), 72dpi, and with the longest side at 400 pixels. Remember to do this with a copy of the original! Save the file with your initials and a name that has no spaces or symbols such as '&' in it. For example, if Ann Other were sending a picture currently called PICT1001356.jpg, she would save it as AO_HerChoiceOfTitle.jpg (or AO_her_choice_of_title.jpeg). Then email it to Lesley, who keeps the website updated. Include your name and a title for the photo. A description and location are optional.
Lesley's contact details can be found here, on the "Contact Committee Members" page.
All text and the Haddington Camera Club logo are ©2008 Haddington Camera Club. All photographs are ©2007-2008 the respective photographers.