How big should a 'web-res' image be?
Discussion
OK, so I know that the standard is 72 dpi, as this is the maximum resolution of most monitors, but, if you purchased a 'web-res' image, how big would you expect it to be in terms of number of pixels?
A lot of website 'previews' are limited to fit within 800 x 800 pixels, but that sounds a bit small, for a purchased image, to me? OK, for Facebook etc (and I think Thumbsnap, used here, resizes to 800x800?)
A lot of website 'previews' are limited to fit within 800 x 800 pixels, but that sounds a bit small, for a purchased image, to me? OK, for Facebook etc (and I think Thumbsnap, used here, resizes to 800x800?)
I don't think there is any standard for "web-res" although I wouldn't expect anything more than the 800px you have suggested.
Thats a perfectly adequate size for viewing the full image on a screen without the ability to zoom in or make reasonable prints from.
That is, afterall, the purpose of a "web-res" image. You want a bigger res, you have to pay for it.
Thats a perfectly adequate size for viewing the full image on a screen without the ability to zoom in or make reasonable prints from.
That is, afterall, the purpose of a "web-res" image. You want a bigger res, you have to pay for it.
To look at on a website, 800px wide (landscape) is fine. Most of the photos on my website are this size.
dpi is irrelevant; it will be 800px wide.
To buy an image and use for decent print etc, then yes of course you need a higher resolution - but that is for download not quick viewing.
dpi is irrelevant; it will be 800px wide.
To buy an image and use for decent print etc, then yes of course you need a higher resolution - but that is for download not quick viewing.
Yes, it depends what you're doing. If you're really concerned about the 2G phone audience, which you shouldn't be as that market is very minuscule these days, then you should go for whatever resolution you want, but perhaps increase the compression on the image. This all depends what you're doing? Are you making website background images? Or are you selling images and putting previews up? If you're talking about photos, I suspect it doesn't matter as much, as if I browse to a photo website, or an images thread on here, I except several hundred kb/mb images to pop up. But I still say bigger size/more compression for the web. For everything else there's mastercard.
Thanks everyone...
The market I have in mind is people wanting cheap images to update their Facebook Profile / Cover pic, and maybe their phone / tablet background, but not good enough to print (they can buy a higher-resolution image for that, if they want to.
So my dilemma is to make it 'impressive' on Facebook, but still not look brilliant as a print...
The market I have in mind is people wanting cheap images to update their Facebook Profile / Cover pic, and maybe their phone / tablet background, but not good enough to print (they can buy a higher-resolution image for that, if they want to.
So my dilemma is to make it 'impressive' on Facebook, but still not look brilliant as a print...
kVA said:
The market I have in mind is people wanting cheap images to update their Facebook Profile / Cover pic, and maybe their phone / tablet background, but not good enough to print (they can buy a higher-resolution image for that, if they want to.
So my dilemma is to make it 'impressive' on Facebook, but still not look brilliant as a print...
Find a picture that reflects what you want to send, look at its properties and see how many pixels it is. Then copy those dimensions.So my dilemma is to make it 'impressive' on Facebook, but still not look brilliant as a print...
Craikeybaby said:
I used to sell "web res" images as 1024 on the longest side, but that was a couple of years ago. Fine for Facebook etc.
I must admit that was the size that I first thought of and will probably stick to - gives 100-150kb file sizes, looks good on anything except full-size on retina displays and looks crap printed above 7x5 - perfect 
Just for reference, a 6x4 at standard print resolution (300dpi) is only 1800x1200 pixels.. so take that into account when offering "web-res" images that you don't want people printing from.
You would be suprised what sort of quality you can get from a lower resolution image. You will also be suprised with the sort of quality people are happy with as an end result. You wouldn't think anyone in their right mind would be happy with a 16x20 print from a 640x480 image... But then I've done it plenty of times and the customer has been over the moon with the result. Photoshop and filters can do wonders.
I would love it if customers would give us 1920x1080 images to print from. Sadly we live in a social media world and the majority of stuff we get has been through facebook or twitter first and is usually half of that and compressed to buggery, yet the customer if happy to print from that because they love the picture.
You would be suprised what sort of quality you can get from a lower resolution image. You will also be suprised with the sort of quality people are happy with as an end result. You wouldn't think anyone in their right mind would be happy with a 16x20 print from a 640x480 image... But then I've done it plenty of times and the customer has been over the moon with the result. Photoshop and filters can do wonders.
I would love it if customers would give us 1920x1080 images to print from. Sadly we live in a social media world and the majority of stuff we get has been through facebook or twitter first and is usually half of that and compressed to buggery, yet the customer if happy to print from that because they love the picture.
Edited by MysteryLemon on Tuesday 19th March 16:03
Craikeybaby said:
Most people seemed to be happy with the 500px heavily watermarked images I uploaded rather than paying a nominal amount for web resolution un watermarked images.
Yes - I've noticed that too 
I don't mind people sharing and tagging on Facebook, but going onto my website, circumventing the download block and then trying to crop out / blur the watermark, before posting it on their own websites / Facebook, is just taking the piss!!!!
Mind you, a solicitor's letter posted to my timeline, stopped that for a while
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