Big booboo

[tarves57]

I have just sold a photo and the buyer wanted me to email the tif file (18MB) as it was nearing the deadline.

I had a search on the internet for ways of sending off such a large file by email but I didn't have much time and couldn't find anything other than compressing it to a JPEG which as far as I know, degrades the quality.

Therefore............ I sent the tif, and spent 40 minutes waiting for it to go and was late for work in the process........ouch!

Hopefully the recipient has a fast connection and can download the email quickly, otherwise I may just have lost a customer.

I know it's after the fact now, but how else could I have gone about it??

Any answers appreciated.
Thanks
Susan

[CyberDyneSystems]

I think you could at least send it "Zipped"... but if the client wants a tiff.. what can you do?

Convrting it to jpeg would be my advice.. but only if the client will accept a jpeg.

At highest possible quality you would be hard pressed to see the difference between the Tiff and jpeg.. but you'd easily shave a good 12 to 14 MB off of the file size.

[mvrekum]

You might have another problem, most internet providers have email programs installed that do not accept attachements larger than 2MB. My provider limits it at 8MB.

The best thing you can do is ask your customer if he has an FTP server where you can upload the image, or, setup your own FTP server and let your customer download the image.

Anyway I would sugets you get a faster connection. 40 min for 18 MB!!! That shouldn't take longer then a couple of minutes.

Martin

[tarves57]

Well I did ask....... and they wanted a tiff! :shock:
Thanks for the quick reply.

I'll find out tonight, when America wakes, and I'm cringing already!

I might be back for consolation..................

[stopbath]

Alternatively you could zip it up with a password, upload it to a directory on your own web site, let the user where it is, the password and how long the file will remain there for.

They could then download it at leasure, and unzip it.

Do NOT put any links to the file on your web site. Just put the file in some directory in public_html and let it sit. Delete it after allowing time for the user to down load it. Use a password zip program to lock the image against others finding it...

[IndyJeff]

FEDEX a cd, add the cost in your invoice.

Just wondering but, how long did you know they wanted this photo and how long before the deadline?

[tarves57]

Just wondering but, how long did you know they wanted this photo and how long before the deadline?

I knew about the general request for about a month now, but they entered a final request with additional subject matter that I happened to have, two days ago. I sent in samples of what I had and they liked one photo and asked me to supply it to them via email as a tif.

There is also the time difference between US and UK which meant an extra time pressure element.

If I could've I would've but I couldn't so I didn't................ :D

[tarves57]

Alternatively you could zip it up ........

I think this is what I probably need to know.... is there a way to zip up tiffs without loss of quality?

[steven]

zip files are lossless by default.

[neil_r]

not 100% sure but I dont think you get any size reduction when you zip a tif.

N



<edit for spelling>

[robertwgross]

Zipping a TIF will get mixed results. Sometimes it saves a lot of file space. Sometimes it doesn't.

If you have a rather plain image with lots of solid colors, it can be Zipped and accomplish a little. If it is a rather detailed image, perhaps in 48-bit depth, then it gets really hard to Zip and accomplish anything.

Sometimes I try to Zip it, and if the result is about the same as the original file size, then I discard it. If Zipping it saves me 50%, then I use it.

The other option is to use a non-lossy JPEG. One editor program of mine uses this. I can take an 18MB TIF file, convert it to non-lossy JPEG of several MB, and then convert it back to the 18MB TIF. So far, I have never been able to find any loss at all doing that. I keep believing that there is some, but I can't find any. However, some programs do not support non-lossy JPEG.

---Bob Gross---

[Digital Prophet]

I have had situations like this happen several times. In my case it was all about engineering drawings in CAD that someone just HAD to have right then, right there.

My policy has always been two fold.

One: I can't work miracles. If you call me at 9:00 and tell me you need a set of files that are, oh lets just say, 400 megs then you need to understand that there may be a transmission delay. There should some understanding on thier part (but there never is).

Two: I cannot say enough times that redundancy has to be the order of the day. While one slow connection is spooling take a copy of a disk to Kinko's or a freind that has a faster connection. Send a copy via FedEx. I have almost never failed to find that when someone says "I'll die if I don't get it TODAY!" that they still have a pulse when it gets there at 8:00 the next morning.

That of course assumes they are long distance. I have driven files to clients up to 200 miles away. As stated above pass added cost onto the client. FedEx. Kinko's. Gas money. They pressed, you charge. If a client is really desperate they gladly pay. And trust me, you drive 200 miles to give a desperate man a disc when his DSL is dead and you got a client for life.

I know that over the years I have made a career out of hitting the mark no matter what it takes for my firm. I email. I FedEx. I drive. I work through the night. But if there is a deadline that I just can't hit or think that I have a very small chance of hitting, then I tell them up front.

Let it roll. Chances are you are going to catch the blame. Just because you are the guy that isn't in the office when your client's boss wants to know why. So you are easy to blame. That is just something you will have to overcome by being extra sure to be on time if not early on the next project.

But you should consider upgrading your connection if you are going to be dealing with files this size on a regular basis. It is just that if that is your market you need to make ever possible effort to go as far as you can to insure a smooth delivery 100% (realistically as close to 100% as you can get).

- Digital Prophet -

[robertwgross]

... when someone says "I'll die if I don't get it TODAY!" ...


Then you tell them that you also offer photography services for a wake.

---Bob Gross---

[NILOLIGIST]

FTP...Would have worked fine. You might want to invest and get that program. Usually someone that accepts files that large would have a way for you to send it.

I hope it went well anyway.

Congrats on the sale.

NiL,

[tarves57]

Well, thanks everyone. I just got a message saying "it came in fine, looks good, thanks again"

SO...... big sigh of relief.

As Digital Prophet says, you can't work miracles, so why stress yourself. Exactly the attitude I decided to adopt.

I think I am already on Blueyonder's 512(kb?) broadband or maybe more (they keep upgrading me for free), so I think that's not too bad.

Well it's 6.30am and I'm off to get a few snaps for some competitions that finish soon - British Nature, Birds - etc. The weather's not looking too good, but then it never is, so I'm just going to get going!

Thanks all for your help!

Susan

[Conk]

In the future I would tell my client that an image that size just can not be done via e-mail. Most people should know this. If they don't they need to be told. You got lucky sending that file. Next time a client wants to get a large file from you I would suggest snail mail or a file sharing program to send it. If he doesn't want to agree to the file sharing then snail mail is it.

[DocFrankenstein]

MSN for one
ICQ
AIM

or any other similar prog allows you to send files like these directly.

[sGu]

zip it then split it to couple of chunks, send them individually and tell your client to stitch them back on then unzip

always work

[RichardtheSane]

Or get a web hosting package with a a couple of hundred meg.

This is what I use for any file larger than 2-3 meg. I upload it to my webspace using FTP then email the link to the file.

They can then download it at their leisure. Plus if I am pressed for time I can start the FTP upload and mail the link of, just say it will be available for download at xx:xx time.

[toddb]

Get a web site to upload to. That way you can show proofs too.

There is a lossless TIFF compression. In Photoshop, you can select LZW when you save the image. What I found is that if you have a 24bit tiff, then this works really well. I saw about a 40% compression there. However, this does not seem to make any difference if you are using 48bit files (16-bit per channel).

[Kenski]

If they owned the EMAIL server then they probably know what the limitations are on the email. They also probably know that the tiff is going to be large also. My guess is they were one step ahead of you already and have done this before. When I build websites for customers and do their Email servers, I can set the limitations on the email sizes for indvidual email accounts so I can have one for 1 gig of space and one for 1 meg of space... This is probably the case here since they got it with no problem...

[vfilby]

... when someone says "I'll die if I don't get it TODAY!" ...


Then you tell them that you also offer photography services for a wake.

---Bob Gross---

Sorry for the off topic post but, that was a brilliant comedic moment.

[IndyJeff]

... when someone says "I'll die if I don't get it TODAY!" ...


Then you tell them that you also offer photography services for a wake.

---Bob Gross---

Bwhahahahahahaha Bob strikes again.


DP, on your "my policy has always been" post reminds me of a saying I love.......An emergency on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part.


I can't stand when someone emails me and says that they must have a file for deadline ASAP. In one case it was a crash shot they had seen in the media room after a race. Did they say they needed it then when I would have been glad to put it on disk for them? No, they himhawed about if they could use it/ could afford it. Well about an hour later, according to the time the email was sent, they email me saying they need the file ASAP. Want to guess where I was when that email was sent? On the road heading home. Now I may talk on a cell phone while on the road but, logging in to check email is a bit over the top, even for me.
I got home and it was probably about 4 hours after he sent the email when I checked my email. I called him as his cell number was included. Got his voice mail and left him a message that he could call me if he still wanted the shot and I would email it. He called me the next morning mad because I didn't check my email enough. I just laughed and said I didn't have internet connection in my car yet. He was dumbfounded. Cost me $150 but, he had to file his story without the shot he wanted.

[clorich]

An emergency on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part.

I love a variation of this:

Your failure to plan ahead is not my emergency.

[evilenglishman]

As a few people have suggested, you should really be using ftp for this kind of transfer.
The worse thing about e-mail, which no one has mentioned is if the mail doesn't get through and it gets returned - so you have to download it at your end.
I've had this in the past and it becomes a nightmare if you get several notifications every few days saying it still wasn't delivered, with the original message/attachment included.

Set up a password protected directory on your webspace and just send them the links to the files along with a username/password so they can download at their own leisure.
They will thank you for it - people hate having their e-mail messed up.