Image sizes for mixed publication

[russell_bastock]

I'm being paid to shoot promotional images of an event where I'll hand over the images for publication online and in print. So the images could end up in magazines and fliers, as well as social media. What size should I produce the images at (in pixels and DPI) for this varied publication market, and should I create two or more duplicate sets at different resolutions online set and a print set to deliver? I'm using Lightroom for the workflow.

[Jochen_S]

Clear answer: Ask your client to please connect you with their advertising artist &/ webmaster, to get details.

Alternative approach:

1. Search for your client's online presence(s) and
   
2. process images, to match each platform's demands.
   

Otherwise: I would simply process the pixels I'd dare to release and hand those over (too).

The "online" pitfall for you: AFAIK Facebook, Instagramm, ebay, etc. have rules about maximum pixel and file size. When you do your best to meet those the visible results connected to your name might look better than if the sites butcher bigger images to their needs.

 

Print media are a different beast. (I went through vocational school, a while ago.) Conventional printing is done at 60L/cm on coated paper and usually asks for 2x the pixels for small images and 1.42x the pixels for bigger sizes. The problem there is: In 4c printing the screens for each process color need to be angled towards each other, so providing just one pixel per line would cause information loss due to interpolation.

 

Print media usually get designed by somebody (hopefully knowing their trade) doing their thing to some of your images they selected, according to the medium's needs. Space tends to be given, written articles are sometimes not easy to shorten, so images are meant to fill gaps and get selected and cropped to do so.

 

Crop your stuff to taste (to get horizons straightened etc.), bin pixels, if denoising demands you to do so and hand the rest over. Pull out whatever you don't want to see published. - Thrive to gain a consistent look, when you are editing. 3 images that look OK on their own but very different from each other on the same page look "bad" together.

"Print publication" can mean banners & posters too; so don't downsize further than absolutely needed.

[russell_bastock]

Thanks Jochen. I rarely get details on print needs back from clients (even magazine publishers!) and these guys run an annual event so it may be 10 months before they look at printing needs. I like your idea of consistent look. I'm trying to develop my own style to up the value of my work. What I'll likely do is a social media batch that I reduce and sharpen myself, give a broadly hi-res set and they can contact me again if they need it even bigger, so posters or the like.

 

Clear answer: Ask your client to please connect you with their advertising artist &/ webmaster, to get details.

Alternative approach:

1. Search for your client's online presence(s) and
   
2. process images, to match each platform's demands.
   

Otherwise: I would simply process the pixels I'd dare to release and hand those over (too).

The "online" pitfall for you: AFAIK Facebook, Instagramm, ebay, etc. have rules about maximum pixel and file size. When you do your best to meet those the visible results connected to your name might look better than if the sites butcher bigger images to their needs.

 

Print media are a different beast. (I went through vocational school, a while ago.) Conventional printing is done at 60L/cm on coated paper and usually asks for 2x the pixels for small images and 1.42x the pixels for bigger sizes. The problem there is: In 4c printing the screens for each process color need to be angled towards each other, so providing just one pixel per line would cause information loss due to interpolation.

 

Print media usually get designed by somebody (hopefully knowing their trade) doing their thing to some of your images they selected, according to the medium's needs. Space tends to be given, written articles are sometimes not easy to shorten, so images are meant to fill gaps and get selected and cropped to do so.

 

Crop your stuff to taste (to get horizons straightened etc.), bin pixels, if denoising demands you to do so and hand the rest over. Pull out whatever you don't want to see published. - Thrive to gain a consistent look, when you are editing. 3 images that look OK on their own but very different from each other on the same page look "bad" together.

"Print publication" can mean banners & posters too; so don't downsize further than absolutely needed.