#image size

Angie Lewin

wood engraving and linocut

27.5 x 23.5cm.

mount size

10 x 7.5cm.

image size

unframed

Check the size that you work in matches the size on the web - changes in size (both enlarging or reduction) can result in the effects you mentioned.

Especially make sure you work at either the same size or a larger size than the final size - resizing upwards to a larger size will usually result in the worst loss of quality, resizing downwards can result in some quality loss but usually not as bad (some artists prefer to work at a larger size, and reduce the final output downwards to hide small flaws and give thinner lines, and smaller details and textures).

Tumblr, for example, uses a 500 pixel width view by default. DeviantArt often displays a reduced size, which you can click on to see the full-quality image.

Now, I’m not great with technology, but understanding sizing of images is so important to keeping the quality of the images your photographer provides you.

Digital images are made up of pixels. Think of each pixel as the data that makes your image exist, and look like you.

Digital images can come in various formats, like a .jpeg, .tiff, .cr2, .dng, .psd., and more.

Right now, we’ll focus on .jpeg. This is the most common format that your photographer will send you when they return your images.

When an image is taken on a digital camera, it is typically formatted in RAW, which just means that it has a crap ton of information embedded onto the image. The information is so extensive that it’s more than you will need as a client. I’m going to compare images to pizza’s in order to help describe this. Imagine the image that your photographer’s camera captures is a huge pizza. I mean, this pizza is MASSIVE. It has more ingredients on it than you wanted when you ordered it. It has the regular stuff, pepperoni, sausage, onions, peppers, cheese, but also, it has mushrooms, olives, anchovies, pineapples, cherries, sprinkles, gumdrops, maple syrup and more. You don’t need nor want all the extra ingredients to eat your pizza and have it still be delicious. So, this is where your photographer will reformat your images to make them easier, and tastier for you to digest (use).

Before distributing your images, your photographer will reformat the files from RAW into .jpegs. Basically, striping them of useless, (to you), information. Removing the anchovies, cherries, gumdrops and maple syrup.

The final format you receive will typically be a .jpeg. Your .jpegs may come in various sizes. 300kb, 1mb, 3.2mb, 9mb, etc. Imagine this is the actual size of the pizza you ordered. Did you want a personal pan pizza? a 10 inch pizza? an extra large 14 inch pizza? You may want to use a 300kb image on platforms like Instagram, and the larger images, 3.2mb, or 9mb for printing.

In each image size, or pizza size, you will be able to fit a certain number of ingredients (data), before the pizza (image) becomes so heavy (large) that it can’t support the number of ingredients (data) you are putting on the pizza (image). Meaning, that personal pan pizza can only support the pepperoni, sausage, onions, peppers, cheese, mushrooms, olives, anchovies, pineapples, etc., until it becomes so heavy that it falls apart when you pick it up to eat it.

It is kind of amazing how many ingredients you can fit onto a large pizza though! If your images are delivered to you in 9mb, and 3mb, don’t necessarily assume that the 3mb (or 10 inch pizza) is too small to print, or has less ingredients than that extra large pizza you ordered. It likely has a lot of information embedded onto the image, and could probably still be printed poster size or larger! I recently had a client ask me why the retouched images I sent her for printing were 9mb, and the unretouched images I sent her were only 3mb. This is where you’ll need to know pixels per inch, or ppi. When the retouching on her image was done, it was as if I took that massive RAW pizza we started with, and ADDED more ingredients to it. I added artichokes, broccoli, and arugula, things that didn’t exist in the beginning. I then needed to send that pizza to her in the mail. So, I shrink wrapped it! Then, I needed to send her the RAW pizza that I did not add ingredients to (the unretouched images) in the mail, so I also shrink wrapped that. The pizza with more ingredients will shrink wrap smaller than the pizza with less ingredients. So, both pizzas are large, and delicious, but one just has more on it that didn’t exist in the beginning.  Both images have 300 pixels per inch, the maximum number of pixels that can be fit onto an image. Both images are going to print large and clearly. It’s just that one image has more data than the other because more ingredients were added to it.

Well, that’s about it. In general, you want to use the smallest sized images for instagram and twitter, the medium sized images for emailing and web usage, and the largest sized images for printing.

If you have any questions about image sizing feel free to ask us in the ‘ask’ box above!

Try resetting FireAlpaca - instructions here.

Note: There is a possibility the previously saved file is already corrupted.

However, that’s an enormous file for FireAlpaca (or most paint programs), as a 32-bit program it can only access about 3GB of memory maximum and a single layer at that size would use about 1GB memory on its own if it was full. Add an Undo or two and FireAlpaca has run out of memory.

At 300 dpi printed, that’s a poster about 5 feet by 4.5 feet in size in very fine detail (most posters that size are printed at only about 50 to 100 dpi because people aren’t viewing them from a few inches away). At typical 96 ppi monitor size, you’d need a monitor about 15 feet by 14 feet to display it at normal size.

I recommend you install and use FireAlpaca’s sibling program, MediBang Paint Pro (use the 64-bit version), to open and work with the file, and if you need to work with such large sizes. It will read FireAlpaca’s .mdp files, and as a 64-bit program it will handle as much memory as your computer can provide. Professional print/image services that work with those size files typically have 32GB or more memory in their computers (working memory, not storage space) to reduce those types of crashes.

FireAlpaca does not support or create PDF format. If you are indeed creating a PDF file (e.g. using a PDF printer driver), check the settings (including DPI and paper size) for your PDF software.

View the PDF at 100% zoom, not fit to page or fit width.

For print quality, multiply real world output size (e.g. 4 inches by 3 inches) by the dots per inch that the image will be printed at e.g. 300dpi, to get the size the output image needs to be (e.g 4x300 pixels by 3x300 pixels). 

FireAlpaca does support PNG images (good for web pages) and layered PSD format (good for compatibility with image manipulation software for further advanced editing or composition).

If you are viewing a PNG image, check that both FireAlpaca and your image viewing program are both showing the image at 100% - this will show only part of your image. 4000x3000 pixels is too big to fit on a computer screen at 100%. Even the biggest Ultra HD 4K screens only use 3840x2160 pixels, while a lot of computer screens are running at Full HD 1920x1080 pixels (or sometimes less). 

Resizing to fit/view the whole image on the screen will result in some quality loss, and how much quality loss will depend on the viewing software.Viewing only part of the image at 100% zoom will show the real (full) quality.

Check your screen size, and check your screen is running at native (recommended) size, not being scaled. If you have more than one screen (e.g. laptop with external monitor), check that each screen is running at the correct size (extended mode, not duplicate or mirror mode).

Here is a post detailing some of the standard Tumblr image sizes:

https://unwrapping.tumblr.com/post/75873529443/dashboard-image-sizes