Contest #4 - Orchid Calendar

[lrbaldwin]

Tiffs converted from RAW are bigger than the RAW, but they can certainly be changed to 8 bit and LZW (lossless) compression which comes out to about the same as ZIPping the tiffs.

Mainly what would be best to know is the size of the final prints in inches.

Thanks,
Linda

[Marty]

98MB per image??? what's that a 12mpix tif ? If it's that large, you'll have to convert it to a JPG, but do keep it as large as you can.

[weng]

Hi Ian,
You are right. My raw files are only 16mb, but need processing before they can be viewed. They make 98mb tiff files though. Jpegs are compressed files, so specifically disallowed (as I understand it).
Weng

[weng]

Hi Linda & Marty,
The camera is 16.7mpix, so even 8 bit lzw compression still makes a 48mb tiff file.
Weng

[Marty]

16.7mpix? wow! How much did that camera set you back. That might be excessive, Resize it a bit and send it as a PNG or JPG if you can.

[lrbaldwin]

Originally Posted by Marty

16.7mpix? That might be excessive, Resize it a bit and send it as a PNG or JPG if you can.

Marty, tif file size might be a problem for those of us with DSLR cameras. Weng's is probably a Canon 1DSMKII. Mine's a 1DMKII, 8+ Mpx. When I switch to 8-bit and save as tif with LZW compression, I get about an 8MB file. I imagine the same procedure would get Weng a 16MB or so file. I know that my (and most other) ISPs don't allow a bigger than 10MB file as an email attachment.

To keep your time and effort to a minimum, it would be helpful if we could know a couple facts from your calendar publisher.

1. What will be the dimensions in inches?
2. What dpi does the printer want?

Reasons for 1:

Most P&S digital cameras make images with a ratio of 4:3 for width and height. 35mm cameras and DSLRs use a ratio of 3:2. Since composition is a major consideration in any image, the photographer has to know the W:H ratio of the final print.

Reasons for 2:

The highest dpi that I know of for printing is 300, and that's for high quality slick print mags and books. Therefore, if the final image is to be 12" in width, the digital image need be no more than 3600 px across (12" X 300 ppi). It's quite possible your publisher's printer may use even fewer ppi. Weng's camera produces 4992 px in width, so he could safely reduce the size of (or crop) the image. It is better to have the image as close as possible to the correct size for the printer because the post processing by the photographer (specifically sharpening) should be done at the final image size to produce the best quality image.

I hope I've made sense.

Thanks,
Linda

[Marty]

Good points.

Size of the pages will be 9x11.5 or 2300x1800px

If the pictures will be a bit larger that's fine though, as I'd like to have a bit of room to crop the image.

[lrbaldwin]

Originally Posted by Marty

Good points.

Size of the pages will be 9x11.5 or 2300x1800px

If the pictures will be a bit larger that's fine though, as I'd like to have a bit of room to crop the image.

Thanks, that's exactly what I needed.

Thanks,
Linda

[weng]

Spot on Linda, and thank you for sorting out the competition details in photo speak . Unfortunately, I've already posted a biggie. I'll crop & resize it now, but here's a small image for starters.

Common guys, let's get on with the competition
Weng

[lrbaldwin]

Nice pic! The only other concern I have is having an image cropped after it is submitted. Like the one you just posted, there's not really any leeway for cropping.

I'm not going to have time to deal with any entries probably until next week. This is a fun competition though!

Linda