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DPChallenge Forums >> General Discussion >> Small and 100% quality vs big and lower quality
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10/03/2020 11:22:52 AM · #1
So I shoot in Canon's Raw format (CR2) and my images are around 25 mb, and I want to keep shooting raw so should I make the images small and 100% quality or the normal 1200x800,800x1200. Can you tell me which one you would chose or even another way.
10/03/2020 11:38:20 AM · #2
Raw will always be 25MB full resolution. The size and quality settings in the camera are for JPEG only.

If you're talking about for uploading here, I will make a copy of the image (ie. when I'm done editing I choose Image->Duplicate and check the merge layers box) and then resize to 1200px on the long end (the other dimension depends on aspect ratio). I then use Photoshop's Export -> Save For Web feature (in the File menu) to save it. In the upper right corner there is a down-arrow with an option to "Optimize to File Size". There's a 700KB limit for uploads for challenges here so I plug in 693 in that box (the calculation is a little hinky) and it guarantees me I can upload it. The quality setting varies greatly depending on the amount of detail and consistency of color in the image. Generally my stuff falls between 65 to 95%, but with B&W and plainer images I'm at 100% with file size to spare.

Message edited by author 2020-10-03 11:40:59.
10/03/2020 11:47:08 AM · #3
At 95 down to 65 won't the image get a bit fuzzy, and maybe even grainy though? Sorry I'm a beginner at this.
10/03/2020 12:27:05 PM · #4
Originally posted by photoboy19:

At 95 down to 65 won't the image get a bit fuzzy, and maybe even grainy though? Sorry I'm a beginner at this.

The quality of JPEG compression has improved since it was introduced, and it is unlikely DPC voters will be able to detect the difference. To test, take the same image you're planning to submit and save it at two different JPEG quality settings and examine them both at 100% size and see if you can find any noticeable defects.

Personally, I resize my images slightly smaller than the maximum allowed not so much for saving size in the convert-to-JPEG step as for simplfying the scaling operation -- with my (smaller) camera I reduce to 40% size (1126 pixels) rather than the 42.61% it would take to make it exactly 1200 px. I think that reducing by a "whole ratio" gives Photoshop a better shot at preserving detail.
10/03/2020 12:27:39 PM · #5
Originally posted by photoboy19:

At 95 down to 65 won't the image get a bit fuzzy, and maybe even grainy though? Sorry I'm a beginner at this.

Not to any appreciable degree at the size we are displaying. Many of my more detailed images are in the mid-low 70s...
10/03/2020 12:32:48 PM · #6
Thanks
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