Export Settings for High Quality JPEG?
I have been reading and reading about the relationship between pixels, PPI, image size and print size/quality and I'm still confused...
I want to export a high quality JPEG with the largest range of printing possibilities so the person that gets that JPEG can do whatever they want with it--print at whatever size they want and still get an excellent quality printed photo--whether it's 4x6 or 16x20 or whatever size (understanding that there would be crop issues when choosing a 4x6 versus an 8x10, etc). In reality, these pictures aren't likely to be printed at a huge size, but I want them to have that option. Original Raw files are 6000x4000, around 28mb. Edits usually involve only crop and small develop adjustments.
In Lightroom5, I used to export my raw to JPG at resolution 300 PPI (resize to fit NOT checked) and 100% quality per suggestions I heard somewhere along the line. I would get JPEG's somewhere in the 9-12mb size range.
In On1 2019.x, using the export module:
If I choose no photo size and just 100% JPEG image quality, this results in a JPEG around 6.8mb.
If I want to specify 300ppi, it appears that I have to select the photo size option, but then I also have to put in a photo size, in addition to the 300ppi. If I select photo size and put in 300ppi, it looks like it calculates the width and height for my pixels (since I cropped the image, it is less than 6000x4000) and my resulting JPEG is the same size as choosing no photo size (6.8mb). This JPEG file size seems small to me, making me wonder if I am not making choices correctly. And curious why 300PPI and 72PPI result in exact same file size--I clearly am not understanding the relationships!
If I select photo size, put in my original dimensions, 6000x4000 and 300ppi, I get a JPEG 10.9mb (which would be closer to the file size I am expecting based on my LR experience).
Suggestions on what my export settings should be for the best quality printing options?
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There is a whole section in the Photo Raw user guide 'How big can I Print' followed by 'How much resolution do I need". (Page 149). If that doesn't explain it, and you don't get a better answer here, there are experts in the Facebook group that can explain it.
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Thanks. I had read through the export section of the user guide and didn't see anything that was helpful in choosing what export settings to use. I will read through the resize section to see if that helps me with choosing export to JPEG settings.
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The PPI has no effect whatsoever on image size (or quality) - it is only used for printing. That means an image sized at 6000 x 4000 printed at 300 PPI will be 20" wide (and high quality) but the same image printed at 72 PPI will be about 80" wide (and low quality).
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I was going to ask this exact same question that cindy has asked. I was a LR user and the export options are easier to understand than ON1.
I have images that i need to print out at 300ppi in the highest quality for a print company who then uses my images for multiple size canvas art. I crop most of my images at 4x5 before an edit.
All i want to do is export out without any resizing at width or height , just at 300 pp in high quality JPEG . In LR as cindy said, it gave this option.
How do i get this same option in ON1? do i have to go into RESIZE to do this? i also have read the manual and it doesnt help.
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Export settings are sticky so you'll see what ever settings you used the last time you exported. You can click the Reset widget in the top right corner and it will reset everything to default settings. For the image size that is its original pixel dimensions. It will default to 300ppi. Set the Image Type to whatever is appropriate for the image you're exporting but that is primarily for when you resize the image.
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Thank you so much Brian for your quick reply and for showing me this small reset button!
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