Camera Labs

Most of the photos I take are raw format or large jpeg. These file sizes are a little big for uploading to Flickr all the time. Especially with upload speeds of 300-450kbs.

How are people optimizing their images for upload to site like Flickr?

What size is possibly optimal ? And do you use a nifty optimizer for shrinking file sizes?

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Canon 550D, Canon EFS 17-85 IS USM, Canon EF 75-300 IS USM, Canon EFS 10-22mm USM, Canon EF35mm F2.

Got some of the gear but really still no idea...

I use Lightroom's export function, and when doing so I set it to export JPEGs 1024px on the long side, at 72dpi and 80% quality. Keeps file sizes down while retaining quality.

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Canon EOS 5D MkII | Canon EOS 7D | Canon Digital Rebel XSi | EF 35mm f/1.4L | EF 50mm f/1.8 II | EF 85mm f/1.8 | EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM | EF 135mm f/2L | EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS | 580EX II | LumoPro LP-120

My Flickr

Those using Linux can install and use Kim (KDE Image Manager), which has about 40 options on the Right-Click menu.

For reducing file-size while retaining good image display, use the Actions > Compress and Resize > WebExport, option. Defaults are 640 x 450, 800 x 600, and 1024 x 768, which covers most Forum-etc maximum sizes. Those are for 4:3 AR images. If using a P&S in 3:2 AR option mode, or a DSLR, the width quoted is retained, the height changes.

For a 4MB std JPEG at 3648 x 2736 4:3 AR original, the file-size will reduce to 194kb at 1024 x 768, or 128kb at 800 x 600.

To further reduce the file-size at 1024 x 768 use one of the default re-size options to reduce the size to say, 1400 x 1050, then the WebExport function, to 1024 x 768. On the 4MB original camera file mentioned above, this makes the WebExport file 147kb at 1024 x 768.

As that is two operations on the lossy JPEG format, some degradation must occur, but it isn't noticeable at the online display size.

A better option is to do the display size reduction, then, on the same drop-sub-menu, use Compress Custom, to get just below the max file-size allowed, while retaining most quality.

You can also do a Custom Re-Size, between the 6 offered re-sizing defaults (or smaller/larger) - then do a Compress Custom to suit that, to the desired file-size.

(Kim is part of the free Linux KDE desktop environment, but will work in other enviros, such as Gnome - some might require you to install KDE-base, which won't affect other functions. Kim can add a border to images, add on-image text to images, losslessly rotate images in 90-degree increments, or Custom angles, while retaining the Exiif, rename files, create a montage, slideshow or gallery, and many other functions. Quite useful for a 115kb install..!)

Regards, Dave.

I also use Lightroom (4). It allows you to define numerous export pre-sets, each with different settings. So that you can have one for Flickr that exports at 1024 pixels longest side, and another one for your own web site that does 800 pixels, etc. You can include/exclude export sharpening, add a watermark choose the file format, the amount of compression (if any) and several other settings. It makes uploading your latest pics to numerous sites a lot easier.

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Dan Marchant
I am learning photo graphee - see the results at www.danmarchant.com

Hmmm looks like I am moving towards Lightroom.

Great tips from all thanks.

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Canon 550D, Canon EFS 17-85 IS USM, Canon EF 75-300 IS USM, Canon EFS 10-22mm USM, Canon EF35mm F2.

Got some of the gear but really still no idea...