Restricting Use

I currently sell prints to my clients but due to demands I also want to sell a low resolution DVD of the images for my clients to share on facebook and email.

I know giving them a low resolution DVD will not stop someone from printing an 5x7" or 8x10" image, however, I would like to have it pixelated enough that the image looks like **** if they were to do this.

So, my question is: What is the maximum length on the long side and dpi I should save the DVD images at so they are only good for sharing on facebook or email??

500 pixels is ok online, an in practice a 6x4" print will be ok ish. Anything 10 inches or higher won't look great.

People will still do it though. Price wins over quality every time.

To me, 4x6s, 5x7s and even 8x10s, especially ones printed from a low resolution Web-size image rather than a full-res studio print are for personal use -- it's a way of people enjoying your photography, but there's no way it could be translated to being "profitable". And, I don't have a problem if folks enjoy one of my photos enough to want to print it at the smaller "personal" sizes, in fact, I'd consider it a nice compliment.

There have been occasions where I've gotten a nice request for using one or some of my images for non-commercial printing and my response is "sure, thanks for asking"! It's different if someone wants me to do some shooting for them -- in that case money gets talked about and settled on and all parties are satisfied. Or, if someone wants a big gallery-quality framed print, well, it's time to negotiate!

Thanks for the comments Tony.

I currently sell hard copies so I do not lose the original files to a CD/DVD, but I wanted to offer an option for low resolution files for sharing on facebook, etc. seeing how everyone is digital now - and still be able to protect the quality of my work.

Appreciate the comments and looking forward to hearing more from anyone out there with some knowledge or experience.

Well, Facebook has a pretty low "standard" resolution -- I hear they have raised the limit of what you can upload, but I still only see pics there that meet the limit display size of, I believe, 720 pixels max width or some such thing, and of course you can go smaller than that.

And, that 720 pixel max width will only print 7 inches at about 103 pixels per inch, which is a very lousy print! So to me, gving them images that are, say, 600 pixels at the widest would be pretty safe from them getting "misused", or you could go like Tim suggested and use 500 pixels...