Good day,
I'm almost ready to launch my new website with a smugmug account. I recently tried to export a TIFF file (thinking that its probably better than using a JPEG export) since I shoot landscapes and the larger prints will probably look best with a larger quality file. One file I tried to export is noted as 41 MB TIFF (as edited in Nik Effects). Exported this file directly to Smugmug through their direct export feature and its listed as 4.29 MB!! (I guess this is better than the 2.3MB JPG). Out of curiosity, I exported that 41MB file to my HD and its exported as 85MB. I exported both as a full quality 16 bit TIFF.
A) What is going on with a larger file export to the HD and a smaller file size in Smugmug?
B) Will the 4.3MB TIFF be good enough for people to order large prints? The camera I'm using is the Canon 50D which is 15MP which should be plenty of detail but I'm concerned about the compression in the Smugmug upload.
Any comments or advice would be great!
JF
Jason,
I’m sure that Smugmug is converting to JPG on import if you’re uploading a huge TIF. There’s no need for a TIF file for printing. A high quality JPG (quality 10 to 12) is perfectly fine for any size print. I always go to Smugmug at quality 10, but if you want to see the difference, check out this recent article “The Difference Between JPEG Qualities”.
I export using SmuginProForAperture which allows you to choose any preset from your export preset list. Very cool.
@PhotoJoseph
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Thanks for that info, I’ll check out the software you mentioned….after playing with the export settings, I’ve now found what you were talking about regarding 8, 10 or 12 setting…never saw that before. My default JPEG or TIFF export was set to 10 which I would imagine is fine for Smug. Have you done a training video with export? Also just saw the watermark utility, looks handy.
Thanks again,
JF
Jason,
I haven’t yet. I will have to get there eventually!
@PhotoJoseph
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