Carmarthen Photographic Society Nicky Rhodes & Nikki M-Freeman How to Size Images OK, so you love taking photos and you use a digital camera! Wow, just look at all the possiblitities for editing and cropping and who knows what-ing, and then you can upload them, print them and even enter them in competitions. But, the most important thing you need to do - one of the first things you need to do - is save them at the correct size! Sizes, Actions & Droplets This tutorial covers information about the best image sizes for various uses, how to speed up repetitious tasks in Photoshop, by creating personalised Actions, and how to transfer those Actions into Droplets for Lightroom. Sizes Below are some explanations and recommendations for various image sizes, quality and uses. Requirements for Camera Club Projected Digital Image (PDI) competitions To enter for a Carmarthen Photographic Society PDI competition, digital images must be in JPEG format (.jpg) and the files flattened (i.e. no layers left over from editing). When naming the file, it must include the number (i.e. 1, of 3), the entrant s initials and the image title: example: 1_JGT_sunrise.JPG. The maximum pixel dimensions should be no larger than 1400px wide or 1050px high. The colour space needs to be srgb and the resolution set at 72ppi. Ideal Size For Flickr, Email or Facebook Unless your original image is quite small, its always best to downsize it for uploading to the internet. Many sites restrict the size of uploads and it can take forever to send large files. Also, many people will not thank you for sending enormous attachments to emails! An image of 2mb or less is perfectly adequate, with a resolution of 72ppi and size between 1400px and 1800px along the longest side. So, imagine you start with a photo of 6000 pixels x 4000 pixels (px) at a resolution of 300 pixels per inch (ppi). This will be about 11.5 megabytes (mb). Way too big! Image Size Box You can change the size and resolution of your photo in Photoshop; go to Image in the tool bar and click Image Size in the dropdown menu. Try using this dialogue box to reduce the size to 1800px, on the longest side and change the resolution from 300ppi to 72ppi. Now, that s better - at 1.4mb! Page 1
Sizes (Cont.) Sizes For Printing Obviously, when printing, the size at which you need to save your digital photo will depend on the size you want the physical print to be, so, crop and resize the image to whatever size it will print out. For instance, if you are using Photoshop, open the Image Size dialogue box, via Image in the tool bar; then, under Document Size, change the dimensions according to your needs. Also, its a good idea to make sure the resolution is 300ppi, so that it produces good quality prints. (Note: Sometimes you will see the acronym dpi used, instead of ppi. Don t panic! Dpi only represents the number of coloured dots that a printer uses. For example, a 1200 dpi printer uses 1200 dots of ink in every inch. So, if you are printing a 300 PPI image on this printer, each pixel would be made up of 16 smaller ink dots (1200 DPI x 1200 DPI / 300 PPI x 300 PPI). If you want to enter photos into the Carmarthen Photographic Society s print competitions, they shold be large enough to see easily from a distance and mounted on stiff card, so that they can be displayed upright. The image number (i.e. 1, of 4), the entrant s initials and the photo s title, should be written on the back. Page 2
Actions Photoshop Actions Are you are a photographer who uses Photoshop to edit your digital images? Then, you know that this is the top programme for doing a million and one things with your photos! However, did you know that you can create Actions, to speed up all those repetitive tasks, for instance; resizing, copyrighting or adding borders etc? This is one of Photoshop s excellent tools for increasing productivity. By recording an Action, you can use it time and time again to do the same tasks. So, how s it done? To record a new, personalised Action : Open the photo you want to work on, in Photoshop. Open the Actions panel by clicking on Window, then Actions. Look for the New Actions icon, at the bottom of the panel, and click to open a new dialogue box. Here you can name your new action and start recording it. Click Record. Actions Menu Go back to your photo and carry out the tasks you want recorded. For instance, in the Image Size menu, give the image a resolution of 72ppi and resize it to 1400px along the longest side. Then click the Stop button on the bottom of the Actions panel. Now, your new Action will be shown in the list on the Actions panel. When you want to use that action again; highlight it, open the image you want to resize, and, at the bottom of the Actions panel, click on the red Play button. Your image will be resized to the same dimensions as the one you recorded. Batch Box If you want to use an Action on multiple images, make sure all the images you want to change are open, use the Batch option in the File, Automate menu. In the dialogue box, which opens, make sure your new Action is shown under Play and choose Opened Files as the Source. Under Destination, use the dropdown menu to choose None, (unless you want the files to be saved to a specific folder and closed after the Action has been carried out). Now click OK. Page 3
Droplets Droplets in Lightroom The Actions explained above can only be used in Photoshop. However, if you want to achieve the same results in Lightroom, you can create a Droplet from a Photoshop Action. This is a kind of preset for Lightroom. To begin with, you need an Action, like the one we already created. Then, in Photoshop, go to File, Automate, Create Droplet. In the dialogue box, which opens, select where to save the Droplet. It should go in the Export Actions folder in Lightroom. You can find this by following these steps: Open Lightroom, highlight any image in the library view, click on Export, at the bottom of the dialogue box that opens find Postprocessing, click the dropdown menu by After Export, click on Go to Export Actions folder now. This will show you where the folder is. Close Lightroom without exporting anything. (On a Mac, the folder should be in; Users\ Your name\ Library\ Application Support\ Adobe\ Lightroom\ Export Actions. On a Windows PC, follow; Users\ Your name\ AppData\ Roaming\ Adobe\ Lightroom\ Export Actions). Once you have chosen where to save the droplet, select Save and Close under Destination. Then, under Play find the correct set and your Action from the popup menus. Finally, click OK. Page 4
Droplets (Cont.) Now, open Lightroom and highlight the photo or photos you want to change. Select File, Export. A dialogue box will open, showing a variety of options. After you have chosen your desired options for location, file naming, file settings etc, scroll down to the last option, Postprocessing. In the dropdown box beside After Export, you should see your Action in the list. Choose this and then click Add, at the bottom, left. Your Droplet will appear in the left hand list, under User Presets. Usefull Links You can see more information on these tasks at the following links: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=uqk9ulwmwti https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=mmwpyobnyne Whenever you want to carry out those same actions in Lightroom again, you can export in the usual way, but use the droplet you created, as a postprocessing action in the Export dialogue box, or directly from the File, Export With Presets menu. Happy photo editing and sizing! Page 5