Quality and File Size

tgelstontgelston Registered Users Posts: 72 Big grins
edited May 30, 2008 in SmugMug Support
I just now realized that a few of my pics were not uploaded because they were too big (> 12mb - I am a power user) Here is the backstory and I wonder if you all have some suggestions on how to avoid this

I have been using Aperture and the export plugin for the last 6 months- I have been very happy but was interested in checking out Lightroom recently so I tried that and the export plugin for smugmug. As I was playing with the quality slider I realized I had never played with the adjustment in the Aperture export. So I was trying to make comparisons between the two, just uploading a few photos at a time and the ones from Aperture were not showing up, I checked the log and saw "upload problem: > 12MB - file size too large." Looking back over the last month I see a few others that were not uploaded. I never noticed the missing images. Now the obvious answer is to drop the quality some, but it seems silly to drop the quality for all images when less than 5% of my images are too big.

I just wondered how other people handle this and am I missing something obvious in my workflow that will let me know if it is going to be too big before I export to smugmug?

I shoot RAW on my 350D

I would appreciate any help folks could provide and I apologize for rambling.

Comments

  • BaldyBaldy Registered Users, Super Moderators Posts: 2,853 moderator
    edited May 29, 2008
    tgelston wrote:
    I just now realized that a few of my pics were not uploaded because they were too big (> 12mb - I am a power user) Here is the backstory and I wonder if you all have some suggestions on how to avoid this

    I have been using Aperture and the export plugin for the last 6 months- I have been very happy but was interested in checking out Lightroom recently so I tried that and the export plugin for smugmug. As I was playing with the quality slider I realized I had never played with the adjustment in the Aperture export. So I was trying to make comparisons between the two, just uploading a few photos at a time and the ones from Aperture were not showing up, I checked the log and saw "upload problem: > 12MB - file size too large." Looking back over the last month I see a few others that were not uploaded. I never noticed the missing images. Now the obvious answer is to drop the quality some, but it seems silly to drop the quality for all images when less than 5% of my images are too big.

    I just wondered how other people handle this and am I missing something obvious in my workflow that will let me know if it is going to be too big before I export to smugmug?

    I shoot RAW on my 350D

    I would appreciate any help folks could provide and I apologize for rambling.
    Hi tgelson,

    File size versus quality is an exponential curve, with the steepest part of the curve coming in the last few increments of the jpeg quality setting. In Photoshop, the quality settings go from 1 (awful) to 12 (enormous but beautiful). Every pro print lab I'm aware of asks for your files in jpeg 10 because no one has ever been able to tell the difference between a jpeg 10 and a 12, even in the largest prints, but 12 is typically 3x the file size of 10.

    I save my files at 9 because I know that there is a lot of padding in 10 and it speeds my workflow. I've taken 30x40-inch prints to high-end camera user groups saved at 7, prints with hard edges, and no one in the room was able to tell.

    If you back off to where your files are more like 4MB, I'm certain you won't be able to tell the difference.

    I hope this helps.

    Thanks,
    Baldy
    My Smug Mug
  • tgelstontgelston Registered Users Posts: 72 Big grins
    edited May 30, 2008
    Thank you!
    Baldy wrote:
    Hi tgelson,

    File size versus quality is an exponential curve, with the steepest part of the curve coming in the last few increments of the jpeg quality setting. In Photoshop, the quality settings go from 1 (awful) to 12 (enormous but beautiful). Every pro print lab I'm aware of asks for your files in jpeg 10 because no one has ever been able to tell the difference between a jpeg 10 and a 12, even in the largest prints, but 12 is typically 3x the file size of 10.

    I save my files at 9 because I know that there is a lot of padding in 10 and it speeds my workflow. I've taken 30x40-inch prints to high-end camera user groups saved at 7, prints with hard edges, and no one in the room was able to tell.

    If you back off to where your files are more like 4MB, I'm certain you won't be able to tell the difference.

    I hope this helps.

    Thanks,
    Baldy


    That helps greatly!

    Thank you,
    Tobias
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