scanned photos for online printing - sizes?

ih8stress

I've scanned some photos at original size as TIF's but would like to order some prints online.

They will only accept formats of JPEG or BMP though. I can change this via Paintshop Pro but am uncertain what size it needs to be.

Do I need to resize it at all? Obviously there will be a difference in file size (eg. 252 kb for the original size as a JPEG, 12 kb for 20%) but does it make any difference to the print quality or size at all?

I will only be getting photos of the same original size, not enlargements.

Thanks

S0litaire

When y ou save the images as jpeg check out the 'advanced settings' and set the quality to 80% if possible.
Also check what the "dpi"( dots per inch) is, 75 is usually good for printing 4x6 or 8 x 10 prints. But generally the larger the "dpi" the better the quality when printed out.

Jaffa.

JPEG will slightly compress the image file size but not the image it's self, however the quality of the image should still be fine.
The only way you might lose quality is by scanning in the images but of course that depends on the quality of your scanner .

espresso

ih8stress wrote: »

I've scanned some photos at original size as TIF's but would like to order some prints online.

They will only accept formats of JPEG or BMP though. I can change this via Paintshop Pro but am uncertain what size it needs to be.

Do I need to resize it at all? Obviously there will be a difference in file size (eg. 252 kb for the original size as a JPEG, 12 kb for 20%) but does it make any difference to the print quality or size at all?

I will only be getting photos of the same original size, not enlargements.

Thanks

Lot of useful advice here

espresso

Jaffa. wrote: »

JPEG will slightly compress the image file size but not the image it's self, however the quality of the image should still be fine.
The only way you might lose quality is by scanning in the images but of course that depends on the quality of your scanner .

Wrong! jpg is lossy. see here

Jaffa.

espresso wrote: »

Wrong! jpg is lossy. see here

Indeed JPEG file formats compress in lossy so if you keep compressing a jpg file then it's going to suffer from pixelation, however going from TIF to JPEG should be fine

S0litaire

That's why in my reply i said that the OP should check the advanced settings when saving and set the quality to 80% (in my view that gives the best balance between file size and image quality).

espresso

S0litaire wrote: »

Also check what the "dpi"( dots per inch) is, 75 is usually good for printing 4x6 or 8 x 10 prints. But generally the larger the "dpi" the better the quality when printed out.

I would not recommend scanning or printing at 75dpi.

:rolleyes:

Jaffa.

ih8stress wrote: »

Do I need to resize it at all? Obviously there will be a difference in file size (eg. 252 kb for the original size as a JPEG, 12 kb for 20%) but does it make any difference to the print quality or size at all?

When you send off the images they should do all the resizing to make sure it fits, but like S0litaire said you don't want to compress the image too much if all it's asking is the file type to be changed.

ih8stress

S0litaire wrote: »

When y ou save the images as jpeg check out the 'advanced settings' and set the quality to 80% if possible.

I can't see an 'advanced settings' option with my PSPro7 when I click on Save As. There is an Options button where I can alter the compression factor from 1 (low) to 99 (high). It is set at 15 at present.

S0litaire wrote: »

Also check what the "dpi"( dots per inch) is, 75 is usually good for printing 4x6 or 8 x 10 prints. But generally the larger the "dpi" the better the quality when printed out.

When I scanned this, I chose 300 dpi for it and did it as a TIF.

Jaffa.

I'm assuming you have all-ready taken the scans into Paint Shop Pro and coped them down so that your just left with the photograph and not a photograph with lots of white space round it... Most scanners are A4 in size and if the photos are smaller than A4 then your bound to be left with some sort of void where there's nothing for the scanner to scan.