Preparing photos for upload

Mr Hans

After reading the adding photos section under help I am a little confused...

It is recommended to use 100 pixels per inch. I figure my snapshots probably wont be printed any larger then 8x10 and if they want any larger print I guess I can just deal with that later.

Here is my question:
What about the dpi? Default in CS2 is set at 72 dpi, at least on my computer, is it ok to leave this as is or will that dpi setting result in unsatisfactory prints up to 8x10?

I noticed when I change the dpi to 100 or 200 the pixel dimension changes accordingly and produce a huge file...

Recommended settings in help suggests to "leave it alone" does that mean 72 dpi and that the upsample downsample will assure satisfactory prints from smugmugs lab?

Here is an example: original file size is 2.72 mb. After resizing to 1200x800 pixels at 72 dpi and saved at "quality 10" under jpg dialog box new file size is 269 kb, good enough for 8x10 print?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Mr Hans

Mike Lane

The answer is that for display and printing on smugmug it doesn't matter at all what you set the dpi to You could set it to 72 if that makes you feel good. Or you can set it to 100000 if you really want to. It won't matter in the least. I typically set it to around 300 in case I do other things with an image.

What does matter is the number of pixels. For printing large-ish prints you'll want at least 3 megapixels. For very large prints, you may want 5+ MP. If you have a camera that you bought any time in the past couple of years you're probably just fine.

Upload the full sized originals. The 1200 x 800 image is less than 1 MP which would not be good for an 8x10 at all. Give as many pixels as you can and don't worry about dpi.

Mr Hans

Thanks for the advice Mike. I uploaded my images almost full size, I did do the recommended level 10 compression when I saved the images after minor PS work. My internet connection runs about 450 kbs so I was just looking for ways to cut down on the upload time when there is a large number of images going out.

Thanks for clearing up that dpi thing also...