Shutterstock Photographer Forum :: View topic

estes53 · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:53 pm

I'm getting ready to submit for the first time.

My Tiff "negatives" are 28.5 megs at a resolution of 72.

For ImageKind, my large framed print supplier, I change the resolution to 300, then downsize the widest side to 6000 (new file size- 79 megs).

What should I be uploading here, to ensure good sales, but at the same time not waste my time sending files too large, if there is such a thing with Shutterstock.

Thanx, Alan

supertramp · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 8:46 pm

estes53 · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 8:55 pm

So, even though they will accept my tiffs, I should give them jpg's instead?

Update- Just saw the FAQ that says that all tiffs are converted to jpg's by them.

So, really there is no problem. If I also save my processed tiff's as jpg's, for this service, those will only be 10 meg files.

triceratops · Joined: 15 Nov 2006 Posts: 3343 Location: The other Nevada

SS has stated that while they accept TIFF files, they prefer JPEGs. And it's a whole lot easier to upload a 4-6 meg file than a 28.5 meg file ... unless you have a T-1 line or some such. And they do prefer these be at 300 dpi.

jeffbanke · Joined: 18 Dec 2005 Posts: 7045 Location: www.xlr8photo.com

I agree Alan, save as a jpg at DPI 300 and quality 12, your file should be much less than 10 MB so you will be fine. Anything higher quality is frankly a waste of upload time.

pharm · Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 6086 Location: Contemplating

Be sure when you go into Photoshop and change the resolution to 300 ppi that you UNCHECK the box that says "Resample Image". ALWAYS save your final .jpg at a quality of "maximum 12" (NEVER 10, NEVER 11, NEVER anything less than 12).

Also be sure you have a clear understanding of the difference between MP (megapixels) and MB (megabytes). They are two totally different animals. When you say you change the side of the image to 6000, you are talking about megapixels, not megabytes. When SS says the minimum file size is 4 MP, they mean 4 megapixels, not 4 megabytes.

jeffbanke · Joined: 18 Dec 2005 Posts: 7045 Location: www.xlr8photo.com

As Perry pointed out don't confuse MP with MB. You appear to upsizing your images. Let me explain, if you change your DPI from 72 to 300 the physical dimension in inches or cm's should go down.
Let me give you an example:
I shoot with a Nikon D100, which is 2000x3008 pixels = 6 million or 6 Mega Pixels. Since the camera (as most are ) a 12 bit camera, it subsequently creates a file which is 6,000,000 x 12 = 72 million bits in size. Since we don't express images in terms of bits, but in terms of bytes, and there are 8 bits in a byte, we must divide the 72,000,000 by 8 to get the number of bytes. 72,000,000/8 = 9,000,000 or 9 Mega Bytes (MB). Now when we bring this into Photoshop it creates what is called a bit mapped file of 34.4 Mega Bytes (MB) in size. This happens because PS upsamples to a 16 bit file size. Now if you go to the image size and you have a dpi of 300 selected you should see if you look at pixel dimensions the 2000x3008. If you look at the document size it should be about 10.027 inches by 6.667 inches. If you select 72 DPI the files size in terms of Mega pixels and in terms of Mega bytes should not change. The ONLY thing besides the 300 changing to 72 should be the images dimension which would be 41.778 inches by 27.778 inches.
BUT as Perry once agin pointed out you must NOT have the resample image box checked! If you are going from 72 DPI to 300, the converse is true, the only thing that should change is the image size going to the 10 inch by 6 inch dimansion the pixel diminasion should NOT change, therefor if they are you mUST have the resample box checked, and you upsizing the image. SS only allows images to upsized 5%, you are from you decription upsizing 100%, which will ALWAY lead to rejection.