what size for facebook but still not good enough to print

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monteiro

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Jorge
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hi,

im new in this forum so im really sorry if i havent posted this in the correct place, i just started doing some professional photo shoots for customers, mostly friends for the time being being, i want to give my customers as a free facebook album after they do a photo shoot with my however i dont want them to be able to save the picture and then go on and print it, so what size and resolution should i upload them to facebook? i know they can always save it and print anyway but not with good quality if they choose to do that.

many thanks

jorge
 
I cant give you a definite answer cause I dont know tbh. Could you not use a little trial and error and try printing off a few different resolution pictures on your own printer ?
 
The vast majority wont give a monkeys if they are high or low quality, watermarked etc they will still pinch them. Probably not for printing, just have on their own timeline.

The only way to get something out of it is a logo or something similar on the snaps so even if they are reposted your name is still on them.
 
snapalot said:
The vast majority wont give a monkeys if they are high or low quality, watermarked etc they will still pinch them. Probably not for printing, just have on their own timeline.

The only way to get something out of it is a logo or something similar on the snaps so even if they are reposted your name is still on them.
Click to expand...

^^^ this
 
Easy. Resale the photo at 72dpi by the required size ie 600x400 pixels.
This will view great on a digital device but look awful if printed.
 
it use to be 700 max on FB then it got bigger and bigger,
facebook mullars photos tbh with compression, as you'd expect.
I would not go other 800-1000 px on the longest side as 1600px which is how I normally upload photos is still okay printed at 6x4 sometimes.
for any stuff I want to retain control of, a nice big watermark is the best way :) I use pictureshark.
that's not foolproof but neither are corner logos as people just crop them out. sometimes not out of spite but just because they don't want the negative space or extra frame that you've deliberately created!
 
nex7photo said:
Easy. Resale the photo at 72dpi by the required size ie 600x400 pixels.
This will view great on a digital device but look awful if printed.
Click to expand...

Setting 72dpi on a digital file is a complete red herring. In your example it is 600x400 pixels whether you have it at 72dpi or 300dpi in the print settings.

At 600x400 you could probably push it to 900 x 600 with an interpolation in PS or genuine fractals and then print at 150dpi so you could get a 6"x4" print out of it.

As has been said. If you want to protect it on Facebook (including making sure that you have visible identification of your work to avoid it becoming an orphan work as Facebook strips metadata) then you should use a visible watermark on the file.

I use a 750x500 px file and watermark with logo, website address and a copyright symbol.
 
Interesting. I've printed an image set at 72dpi at a4 and it looked awful done he same with a photo 300 dpi looked great both looked the same on the monitor.
Watermarks can easily be cloned out these days if people really wanted too.
But then again I can think of better ways to show photos to customers rather than Facebook
That have built in security
 
nex7photo said:
Interesting. I've printed an image set at 72dpi at a4 and it looked awful done he same with a photo 300 dpi looked great
Click to expand...

If you change the dpi whilst keeping the size the same, it will have fewer pixels so will look much worse in a print.


Steve.
 
nex7photo said:
Interesting. I've printed an image set at 72dpi at a4 and it looked awful done he same with a photo 300 dpi looked great
Click to expand...

That entirely depends on how many pixels you have in your original image, and what settings you are using to print. Some software and printers will take a 72dpi large image and still print at 300dpi+ on a sheet of A4 if you ask it to fit the page. If you want to prove it create a 900x600 pixel image and then print it at 3x2" and 9x6" and you'll see the difference - make sure any settings are not automatically doing a pixel up-size when you change the physical print size.

both looked the same on the monitor
Click to expand...

Monitors have a fixed pixel pitch. It might be 72dpi, 90, or 100 but it remains the same. dpi is a print only construct. You could set it to 1dpi and 10000dpi and they would look the same.

Watermarks can easily be cloned out these days if people really wanted too.
Click to expand...

That depends on the watermark, and the skill of the person trying to remove it. I have seen professional images printed and framed with the watermark still intact and obscuring the image. If someone wants to steal it they will, if someone wants to edit it/crop it they will - but a visible watermark makes that a conscious act.

But then again I can think of better ways to show photos to customers rather than Facebook
That have built in security
Click to expand...

Absolutely I'm sure most people can and do. I don't post images to Facebook as a simple means to have them present online for people to view. I do it because of the viral nature, and access to family and friends it provides to broaden my visibility to potential clients.

The images I have for people to view and order are in a more sophisticated gallery system - but they are still small and still watermarked.
 
It's a said fact that people will always try and pinch your photos. I have had to quite heavily watermark my photographs with my logo as iphone users and such like were taking images from my website by screen grabbing (i think thats the term used) then using them as profile pictures. I obviously haven't been able to stop this from happening but at least it has my logo on it now. I would strongly suggest that if you would like to offer your clients an online/facebook only album that 1) you make it clear in writing that they are restricted to online use only. 2) you watermark your photo's as well. If you are offering this for free then I would say its ok to Watermark them, at put it in a place where it would be hard to crop it out. If they then want a photo with out a watermark then they have to buy it.

Could you set up a Facebook Page? You could upload the albums on there and then tag the people. That would give you exposure to all the persons Facebook friends and you might get more work out of it.

I personally have got quite a lot of work through Facebook but the images I put on are all mainly heavily watermarked.

Good Luck
 
The people that use your photos on Facebook are unlikely going to start messing around with software interpolation, and cloning watermarks out just to get a small print. They just want a print, so will either take the file to asda tesco or the like, or just send it to a home printer.

Many of us photographer over think the skill and willingness other are prepared to go to just for what to most is a snapshot.

Just use small images with very low dpi (less than 30) and you'll stop 99% of Facebook users printing your stuff off.


Putting your logo or watermark on can have the negative effect of an image being printed at a very poor standard, then when shown to other people, they say I'm not buying photos from so n so as they look crap.
 
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