Pixels anyone?

[Former_Member]

Can anyone lead me to some good articles that best explain what is the perfect photo size (and/or pixels) for my Etsy photos? I've always sort of 'eye-balled' it but realize now that that's not the best way to go about it. So any help would be greatly appreciated!! THANK YOU. :)

[Former_Member]

That is a really good question. I've never even considered that... Can't wait to read the feedback.

[Former_Member]

I read a long time ago that it was 1000 x 1000. I'm not entirely sure what it is now with "browse", but my listings still seem to look pretty good overall in the search results.

[Former_Member]

Anyone else? Hopefully, we'll get some answers, Annie!

[JudyStalus]

As long as it is between 570 and 1000 px across you will be fine. The photo that shows in your listing will be 570 across whatever size your load (unless it is smaller in which case it will be the size loaded with gray sides to make up the difference.
I prefer rectangle to square because they look better in gallery view.

[thevicagirl]

I think mine are 750 x 1000, or whatever the default is when I take the photos then make it 1000 wide. I don't know what is ideal, I would guess it also depends on if you want someone to be able to click it and blow it up or not.

[Former_Member]

OK, another 'stupid' question. I'll just put it out there. How do I know what the size is..or how do I 'control' the size of my photo?

[Former_Member]

Ok, let's try this again. I'd like to get a little more information on photo size and pixels--do you set it before or as you take the photo...or is it after, when you're editing?? Please help?

[RunkPockDesigns]

I always change it when I'm editing the photos, I usually take my photos at a larger size and higher resolution, then I edit them down to the correct size and save them at 72 dpi (screen resolution) so they don't take as long to load (proper web photos). I can't remember the size I usually bring them down to though, perhaps I'll look when I get home from work and let you know!

[MyDistinctDesigns]

I use a medium size setting on my camera and then crop it down to 900 or 1000 pixels. Also I use landscape format.

[Former_Member]

Rowena, thank you! That would be great. Sherry, can you explain what you mean specifically by "medium size setting"? Thank you very much.

[MyDistinctDesigns]

my camera has 3 options for size of picture. so i use the medium one so that i have plenty of space around the item and can crop it down to the size i want. your camera, depending on the one you have, may not have the option to change picture size. check under settings to see.

[Former_Member]

I take my photos on the "largest" setting possible, then I use an image editor to crop out parts I don't want, and scale it down. Usually I go with 900x1200 or 1024x768. Both are pretty standard sizes at a 3:4 aspect ratio.

[Former_Member]

1000 pixels takes forever to upload. Between 700 and 900 is best.

[Former_Member]

Hi Judy,

Let me ask you if you use any post-processing software ( such as Photoshop ) to edit your photos. If so, then you would set the size while processing the image. Go to Image > Image Size and look at the pixel dimensions on top. You will have both width and height. It is generally a good rule to set the long dimension of the image to about 850 pixels, for web viewing. So, for example, if your original image is 4928 x 3280 pixels ( about what you get from a 16 Megapixel camera ) the longest dimension in this example is the width and you would then type in 850 pixels to scale that down. If constrain proportions is on, then the height will be reset to be proportional to the 850 width, probably around 560 pixels or so. Keep resolution at 72 pixels per inch for the web and you should be good to go.

Jim

[Former_Member]

Hi,
I use photoshop elements to crop and resize my photos
They need to be at least 300dpi
But you can resize them to 1000 pixels (largest size) and it will automatically change the shorter side to correspond.
You click on images in your tool bar and then image sizes
Then you can choose pixels and type in what you want to change it to.
It is much quicker to upload a photo of that size too.

[Former_Member]

Jim, I use iPhoto. I think it's kind of similar to Photoshop. I have a question for YOU. (I hope you see this post) When you say post-processing...I take it you mean editing, yes? Just wanna be clear on this. There's so much I'm UNCLEAR about!! Like, when you all say dpi, is that the same as pixels? (I figured 'dots per inch' was the same as pixels.) My 'old' camera died so I'm in the process of figuring out my new one. ( It's a Canon Elph 110HS.)

[heartsabustin]

I use Photoscape to edit, and when I crop the photos, there's a bar at the bottom of the photo that tells me how many pxels wide and high I'm cropping the pics. Since my items are small, I tend to shoot on M2, which is 2272 x 1700 pixels. Then I can crop nice and tight with my editor. Some pics are at the minimum of 570 x 570, others are bigger, particularly the bust shots thatshow the whole necklace.

[Former_Member]

I'm not sure if there's a "perfect" size, but I try to aim for about 800-1000 pixels square. Too much larger than that and Etsy squawks at my photo being too large. Smaller than that and the photo ends up being hard to see.

[Former_Member]

Hi Judy,

When you hear people talk about post-processing it means anything you do to adjust your photos after you have them off of your camera and on your computer. Some cameras can do some processing ( in camera ) but you have more leeway in some type of post-processing software, such as Photoshop or iPhoto. Most digital images need to be processed further from the camera, especially to be sharpened.

As for DPI vs PPI. These are often used interchangeably, which is unfortunate because they are not the same thing. PPI ( pixels per inch ) affects the print size and it's quality. If you have too few pixels per inch, then those pixels have to be bigger to fill that inch, they lose some definition and thus print quality suffers.

DPI refers to the printer itself. Each pixel is made up of different colored inks. Your printer may only have 6 colors in it, so to get other colors, the printer needs to mix these 6 colors up to get more colors out of the printer and match the colors you may need for that image. So each pixel is then made up of many different tiny colored dots. A higher DPI equals better tones and colors. A 1200 DPI printer uses 1200 dots of ink in every inch to make up the colors.

So one term is for printers and another really is for monitors.

Jim

[Former_Member]

jim's got you covered i think, however just to reiterate, you want 72 dpi, (dots per inch) for images you upload to etsy. i always duplicate from a large image that i save at at least 300 dpi, as you never know if you'll need to for printing.

as for the actual size of the images, i would certainly go right up to 1000 pixels wide unless your image is very long.

i'm afraid i always edit in photoshop so i'm used to 'save for web' settings and don't know iphoto. anyone?

here's more:

http://www.etsy.com/help/article/205

http://www.etsy.com/help/article/208

good luck! x elisa

[starflycreations]

I crop my Etsy images for viewing at 1280 x 1000 pixels.

I never go above 1000 px in height for file size on Etsy, but I do go wider and then the image crops from the center for the initial thumbnail until you open the image.

Also Etsy now has the adjustment crop appearance of your photo. I haven't used it yet but it looks like it would come in handy for anyone that may need assistance with cropping.

Good luck.

[Former_Member]

Thank you all SO much for your responses. Now I just wish someone who uses iPhoto could jump in and share how you save your photos. Do you do your settings when you take the photo ... or do you adjust it on iPhoto. Anyone?