image shrinks after uploaded to SMUGMUG

RYANPHOTO

Can someone please shed some light on this? Why is it everytime I upload a average size image- in this case a 188x288 (or a 2.5" x 4") photo- it shrinks to at least half that size in my smugmug gallery???
This has been going on for months now, but never bothered to ask about it for try to fix it.

Larger files seem to keep the same size after uploading, but a smaller size like the one mentioned above never maintain their size ratio in Smugmug.

Anyone?

thanks!
Joe:dunno

Andy

1. How are you prepping your files? (complete workflow, and software...)
2. What uploader are you using?

Got a link to a photo that was "shrunk" ?

RYANPHOTO

Hi Andy,

Thanks for getting back so fast!
What I'm doing is very simple- I'm working in Photoshop CS2 and just downsize some of my high-res images to later post to my smugmug site. I upload to my site using the "drag & drop" option. Problem is when I seem to downsize a file in Photoshop to, say, 188x288 @ 75dpi it gets further reduced in size when I upload it to smugmug.

Here's the most recent example from today:
http://ryanphotos.smugmug.com/Other/images/3915420_TSd9x#1185099310_ojKFc-A-LB

This image is still 188x288 on my home computer...but this is how small it gets after uploading to my smugmug site. This happens will all my files of similiar size...never understood why it does this.

Anything I failed to communicate or need further clarification, please let me know.

Best,
Joe

Andy

OK why are you resizing? Storage is unlimited and you can only make great prints from all the original pixels. Do not resize. Do not change the pixel dimensions of your file. When you finish processing in CS2, use 'save as' and save as JPG in sRGB and use filesize of 10 in Photoshop for the jpg quality.

jfriend

RYANPHOTO wrote: »

Hi Andy,

Thanks for getting back so fast!
What I'm doing is very simple- I'm working in Photoshop CS2 and just downsize some of my high-res images to later post to my smugmug site. I upload to my site using the "drag & drop" option. Problem is when I seem to downsize a file in Photoshop to, say, 188x288 @ 75dpi it gets further reduced in size when I upload it to smugmug.

Here's the most recent example from today:
http://ryanphotos.smugmug.com/Other/images/3915420_TSd9x#1185099310_ojKFc-A-LB

This image is still 188x288 on my home computer...but this is how small it gets after uploading to my smugmug site. This happens will all my files of similiar size...never understood why it does this.

Anything I failed to communicate or need further clarification, please let me know.

Best,
Joe

Something you may not realize is that Smugmug takes what you upload and creates a bunch of standard sizes for web viewing. It then uses those standard sizes in the normal web display. If you upload such a tiny image, it has nothing to work with and cannot take that image and make it's normal web sizes out of. Further, if you don't enable originals for display, then it can't even display what you uploaded, but will only display the next standard size down.

Most people on Smugmug upload images that are thousands of pixels per side and then use the max viewable image size (a gallery option) to control what the largest image is that a viewer is allowed to see. If you do this, all your images will be offered as large as you want. Unlike some other web sites, Smugmug isn't built to let you upload small images in order to control the display size. It doesn't work best that way. Upload something larger (I upload full res photos, never down rezzed) and then use the gallery options to control what the max viewing size is.

WinsomeWorks

Those are just such tiny-sized files. That's about the size many places want you to use as an avatar! I can't imagine any reason to upload such tiny ones. Even if they were able to display larger, they'd look awful if they're so low-res to begin with. Besides that, what John & Andy said.

codyjbennett

Ryan, one other technique you might choose to utilize is to upload the full-resolution image (using the steps to save above), and then in the gallery settings, indicate that the largest available size is ___ (small, medium, etc). This will give your clients/guests the small image, but will save you time later on in case you decide to make a print or download (you won't have to re-upload the graphic).

While I don't yet understand your reasoning for keeping smugmug from doing the resizing, it may be that you can accomplish exactly what you're looking for (having only the small image) through settings in the gallery. Another thing which can be useful if you're trying to keep people from grabbing a larger screen version is to include a watermark and to turn on the right-click protection.

Take a look at https://secure.smugmug.com/help/picture-storage, specifically the "Security & Privacy" section - I think it may have some features of benefit for you.

Cheers!