Downsizing a photo.

[Digital]

For a week I have been pondering this question. When a photo is emailed, and you do not want that photo to have the potential to be enlarged (e.g. to a 5x7) what would a respectable size be to downsize this photo in terms of width, height, and pixels per inch (ppi)?
I have reduced this question to the above variables; however is there something that my question is missing in order to have a definitive answer-if this is possible.



Bruce

[Shadowman]

You can downsize a photo to 2" x 1" and it will still look good on your monitor. If you change the pixels/inch your image will only be so large.

[Manfred M]

A number of commercial photographers I know have said the same thing; jpeg with decent amount of compression and a maximum dimension of 1600 pixels on the longest side. It looks decent on a computer screen, but it cannot be enlarged and printed except as a very small print.

[Digital]

A number of commercial photographers I know have said the same thing; jpeg with decent amount of compression and a maximum dimension of 1600 pixels on the longest side. It looks decent on a computer screen, but it cannot be enlarged and printed except as a very small print.

Manfred, thanks for the response. When you say 1600 pixels on the long side are you talking about the width on a horizonital shot, and the height on a vertical shot. I guess I am asking for clarification since I am ignorant on this subject.
Thanks.

Bruce

[Manfred M]

Manfred, thanks for the response. When you say 1600 pixels on the long side are you talking about the width on a horizonital shot, and the height on a vertical shot. I guess I am asking for clarification since I am ignorant on this subject.
Thanks.

Bruce

Correct.

[IzzieK]

I am in the process of sending some of my images for both web and actual magazine content from an event my husband had last week. On the way home, I told him that I am not willing to send a large resolution but I will send 800 px on the longest side on 72dpi. They can work it out from there. I sent a test email on exactly what I said...In short, I got a response that the images I sent pixelated when zoomed. Of course it does! Someone called hubby in short that my images are so small. I have to explained my life away. Fancy talking to a snapshooter who couldn't care if there is a pole sticking on the head of a person in the shot. They all want me to give them SOOC shots. Towards the end, I ended up sending a 3500px on the longest side at 360dpi.

I am having PMS today because of that...800px on the longest side is about 2 x 1" plus the 72 dpi . It certainly looks good on my screen but a bugger of a thing to print on a white printer paper expanded to 7.5 x 10"...I just smiled and went up here to my den but as you can probably guess, I did not get away with it.

[Digital]

Izzie, this whole question started when a person (who knew that I charge for my pics) requested that I email a particular photo to her so she could make copies. There was no way this was going to happen. Emailing the pic was no problem; however I would downsize the file to the point that any attempt that she made would result in pixilation.
I informed her of this. As a result this particular photo was not taken.
Then the question became academic. I posed the question on this thread for future reference.


Bruce

[Digital]

You can downsize a photo to 2" x 1" and it will still look good on your monitor. If you change the pixels/inch your image will only be so large.

John, thanks for commenting.


Bruce

[Mike Buckley]

I keep things simple. Every image I make I automatically make a copy that is the same size as the native resolution of my monitor. If someone wants a copy for display on the Internet, that one works fine. If they want a copy for something else, they can explain their needs to me and I can then send a larger file if necessary.