File Size And Resolution

Most here will say dropping down a bit will not matter. I have done it and haven't had any problems with some I've sold...mostly stitched images and panos.

Save as the largest resolution in Elements that you can. DPI is for printing. You will be fine with your cameras. Your shots look great, by the way

What do you mean by smaller size? Do you mean the amount of compression applied when you save? There is no good reason to not save with the least amount of compression.Memory is cheap. If you mean reducing the pixel size, don't do it. It makes no sense really and of course it limits the usefulness of the file.

Keep all your Raw files. Save your Jpegs at the highest quality except for internet sharing or if the file exceeds the maximum allowed here. It you do save it smaller, save an edited tif that you can use later.

Forget about DPI. It is a misused concept. Its merely a ratio of the number of pixels used for every inch scanned or printed. Don't worry about it unless you are actually scanning or printing. It is impossible to save a file at any DPI. Its just an informational file that is not part of the image file. Just don't increase or reduce the amount of pixels unless you have a good reason.

Strictly speaking a digital file has no resolution. However the more pixels you have the higher the DPI that can be used for printing. Ithink the information boxes in a lot of editing programs is misleading and confusing a lot of photographers. So are the menus on digital cameras. We here people say their camera saves at 300DPI. That's nonsense. It only saves a given number of pixels. Until you know the inches you can't determine Pixels per inch. (which is what DPI actually is. Dots per inch is a holdover term. There are no dots involved.

BTW when you crop be sure not to resample your image. Don't set a DPI when cropping or you may end up resampling. A cropped image file should be smaller then the original or you have up-sized. Which degrades the image.

When you make your files smaller, you also cut down the sizes they can be printed at. For professional photos to be sold, I don't recommend cutting down the size. You want them saved at the highest quality setting as possible. For everyday stuff, drop the settings down on your camera so the files aren't so large (just don't forget that you did this). Always save originals whether RAW or JPG exactly the way they are with no editing, etc. Once edited, they do lose some resolution quality depending on the program they are edited in.

Laurinda,

Welcome! Nice stuff.

First, as people are saying here, don't change what the camera captures. In RAW, your image is 5616 x 3744 and captured @ 300 PPI, which is Pixels Per Inch. DPI,which is more for printing purposes, is DPI, or DOTS PER INCH! Confusing, I know. When you open your file in PSE11 and the Camera RAW box comes up, you can see at the bottom, the file size and also the PPI. Same later, in PSE11 and IMAGE SIZE, you'll see the PPI is shown. So NEVER change that, no reason to.

Wait, I lied! You can change that if you're gonna post it for the Web and then 72 PPI is all that's needed, or "seen" by the monitor/computer. So anything that you send to FaceBook or Instagram,etc. should be 72 PPI.

When you save your image, you'll see the box come up that titled "Jpeg Options" and then the slider bar that starts at "12". If your jpeg is over or close to 25 MB, then slide the bar to the left and go to 11 and that should be small enough now to upload to FAA. I have the Canon 1Ds MKIII and it produces the same size files as your camera and this is the way I save my files.

I save my "editied" files as Masters or Fixed, in the original folder and then change the "Mode" of the file from 16 bits to 8 bits, duplicate the file and then save that jpeg as a "fixed copy".

Also, it seems that many of your images have been sharpened, a LOT and you really don't want to sharpen them, except in RAW. If you sharpen to look good on your screen and then upload the image, it may get rejected if the printer thinks it's over sharpened and has "artifacts" in it from the sharpening you did. The printer will sharpen to the size of the print sold, since you can't sharpen for ALL sizes,

Hope this helps,

Rich

Thanks all for the information. I learned a few things. I will back off on the sharpening. I had been told to always sharpen a photo that is considered for print. I am still trying to learn PSE - I had been using a free editing program - photoscape- and had PSE 11 on my computer for some time. Finally decided I need to learn to use it since I bought it. Maybe my go to person here at home for my questions on photography and PSE isn't the one I need to go to always. But on the flip side, everyone has different styles and this person like composites and creating digital art - I am not there yet. But thanks for all the input. I greatly appreciate it!

I'll be honest. I sharpen using the eye test. I don't worry about how it may look down the line somewhere if someone buys it. To me, that's overthinking. If it comes back as being too sharp, FAA can tell me and I can fix it then. So far, I've never had one returned and I've yet to have FAA decide not to print

Joseph, acceptable to print on FAA is not a high standard. My personal standards and those of most professionals are far higher. That said, oversharpening is rarely a reason for rejection. And that said when I inspect an image I give a pretty hard look at a file for a a 72" print. Do not up-size, and inspect images at 100% view. They should be sharp and reasonably free of grain. Not every photo can make a large print.