What size are your digital files?

If you offer digital files to your clients, what size do you make them? I see "high res" and "web size" terms floating around but there doesn't seem to be an industry standard. So I'm here to see what you all personally do for your digital clients.

daystar wrote in post #18196579
If you offer digital files to your clients, what size do you make them? I see "high res" and "web size" terms floating around but there doesn't seem to be an industry standard. So I'm here to see what you all personally do for your digital clients.

Unless there are other requirements, I provide clients with 8in by 12in 300dpi PS Q=12 "hires" and 6in by 4in 300dpi PS Q=6 "small" JPEGs in folders on Dropbox. I keep the crop and original file number the same as the original.

Please forgive my lack of knowledge as I usually size my images in pixels in Lightroom, but how large of a print can be made by an image sized 8in X 12in in photoshop - just that? An 8x12 printed image?

Overall pixel dimensions are all that matter, ppi and "8x10" are meaningless without the context of how many pixels are actually present left to right and top to bottom.

Further, context of commercial photography vs photography to an individual is vital to this kind of discussion.

I provide full resolution images to most commercial clients and try to avoid giving digital files to folks who don't know what the f$@k they are doing.

240-300dpi is a print standard, so yes an 8in by 12in 300dpi image(2400 by 3600 pixels) can print perfectly at that size, In my personal experience, I have had great results printing these same files at 11 by 14 prints. It costs so little to make prints, that you should test your file spec choices and make prints to ensure that your images production process will give great results.

Thank you both for the replies. I'm trying to figure out how large of a file to make for my clients - individuals, not commercial. I guess I need to figure out first how large a print I might want to restrict them to.

daystar wrote in post #18196608
Thank you both for the replies. I'm trying to figure out how large of a file to make for my clients - individuals, not commercial. I guess I need to figure out first how large a print I might want to restrict them to.

You can provide them with a file that would be appropriately printed at 5x7 but there is nothing you can do to keep them from printing it at 10x14 or even 12x47.873269 if they want.

True. And they will. I know it.

But, thinking optimistically here, maybe putting something in my contract that explains that "digital images are optimized for up to ______ sized prints....." will help explain and discourage such behavior. Maybe? lol

daystar wrote in post #18196618
True. And they will. I know it.

But, thinking optimistically here, maybe putting something in my contract that explains that "digital images are optimized for up to ______ sized prints....." will help explain and discourage such behavior. Maybe? lol

In my experience, trying to limit print sizes or quantity for personal/family clients will always fail and lead to unhappy customers. You simply cannot compete with cheap Walmart prints or budget photo studios. You should charge full rate for the shoot, offer them an easy print service such as Smugmug, or let them make their own prints however they please.

Scott Spellman wrote in post #18196620
In my experience, trying to limit print sizes or quantity for personal/family clients will always fail and lead to unhappy customers. You simply cannot compete with cheap Walmart prints or budget photo studios. You should charge full rate for the shoot, offer them an easy print service such as Smugmug, or let them make their own prints however they please.

So sizing your files 8x12 inches hasn't presented any issues from your clients? Do they ever want to print larger such as 16x20 or 24x36 for example?

In the planing meeting with the client we discuss image format and use. If they want larger sizes, I provide them. My standard sizes have worked for 90% of my projects this year.

daystar wrote in post #18196591
Please forgive my lack of knowledge as I usually size my images in pixels in Lightroom, but how large of a print can be made by an image sized 8in X 12in in photoshop - just that? An 8x12 printed image?

It all depends upon a subjective criteria...how many pixels per inch of print?

At 300 ppi, which most consider to be high res enough, 300*8 x 300*12 =2400 x 3600
At 200 ppi, which most consider to be acceptable, 200*8 x 200*12 = 1600 x 2400

Yes, someone COULD make a 16 x 20" print from 2400 x 3600, if they considered 150 pixels per inch to be acceptable quality for their needs! The ppi value is a DERIVED value and there is NOTHING inherent that prevents them from printing larger, nothing other than a commercial printer's insistance that a 300ppi file size to be supplied to them from the client for printing.

I offer three digital file sizes:
1200px on the long side
1800px on the long side
2700px on the long side

All saved at Quality 12 Photoshop

First off, I don't have clients because I don't sell anything. I do shoot a lot of family events. I cull and PP the results, then generate 'small exports': 800 pixels on long edge & 250kB limit. My wife posts those on FaceBook, and I offer full-res copies to anyone who wants them. Very, very few people ever ask for full-res copies. As mentioned above, I don't they even know what I am offering.

Wilt wrote in post #18196668
It all depends upon a subjective criteria...how many pixels per inch of print?

At 300 ppi, which most consider to be high res enough, 300*8 x 300*12 =2400 x 3600
At 200 ppi, which most consider to be acceptable, 200*8 x 200*12 = 1600 x 2400

Yes, someone COULD make a 16 x 20" print from 2400 x 3600, if they considered 150 pixels per inch to be acceptable quality for their needs! The ppi value is a DERIVED value and there is NOTHING inherent that prevents them from printing larger, nothing other than a commercial printer's insistance that a 300ppi file size to be supplied to them from the client for printing.

Further note: Canvas is a very forgiving medium; most canvas printers only require 100-150 pixels per inch. So, using the same file you can make a canvas print that's three times the size of your glossy-paper print, and the canvas will look just fine.

The texture of the canvas obscures some of the finest detail, so you won't see a difference between 150ppi on canvas and 300ppi on canvas.