Selecting image resolution, dpi, format for web, print, and email

Discussion in 'Graphics & Multimedia' started by nowwhatnapster, May 13, 2011.

  1. #1
    Aye, I'm going crazy trying to decide what format to save my pictures.

    Let me start off by saying I work for a mom & pop manufacturing company. I take their product photos, create their printed catalog, manage the website etc. Basically I have complete control over the entire image flow.

    I currently take the photographs with a 5MP nikon, (which saves in 300dpi, RGB, JPG format ewww) I immediately convert those pix to TIFF LZW, RGB, 300dpi before I color correct and touch up.

    For the printed catalog the images get converted to CMYK, 300dpi, TIFF LZW
    For the website I export them in 3 sizes (max dimensions of 150, 300, & 600pixels) Saved as RGB, Progressive, JPEG, 72dpi.

    Thats all fine and dandy. Now I move onto email... Basically we don't have a good image distribution method setup for our clients who want to use our images for print, web, email etc.

    Its a bit of a mess in that respect, I do have a section on our website where people can download (very few images), typically what happens is our (mom/pop) emails a JPEG picture to the client. Thankfully most people in the world don't know much about dpi and lossy formats so they rarely complain when they get a JPEG.

    I'm trying to decide what formats, dpi, res, I should make available to clients. I'm thinking the following would work:

    High Res (for printing): TIFF LZW, RGB, 300dpi
    Low Res (for email/web): JPEG 95%, Progressive, RGB, 72 dpi

    Only problem I have with this is our picture dimensions are all over the place because I always have to crop our original photos. For the low res pictures should I implement a cut-off resolution? ie.. 1200px? 1800px? in longest direction at 72 dpi?

    I'm worried most mom and pops that download the pix from us will try printing the JPEGs, maybe I should try not to think about it that way.

    Thoughts?
     
    nowwhatnapster, May 13, 2011 IP