Photoshop Help --Image size

Joy Heyer

When I save my work as a jpg or png file on the largest setting, they usually end up around 12 mb in size. Most of the time that has been fine, but I just opened an online store and when I upload the 12 mb jpg, the image is blurry. I always start with a file that is 300 dpi and a minimum of 3200 pixels on the short side. Am I starting too small? Am I saving it as a jpg wrong? Help?

Gary Wilkinson

I don't think it is an issue of the image being too small, it sounds more like the image is too big and the website is compressing the image which is causing blur. If I upload 2 files to a website, one 3000+ pixels and one reduced to around 1000 (using photoshop to resize) then the smaller one looks nice and crisp until you start zooming in and start seeing artifacts.

@Chip-Valecek seems to be the guy to ask about web related stuff so he might be able to give advice if smaller image sizes don't work

Chip Valecek

@joy-heyer what shop are you using? Most sites will give you the requirements for the best results. If you are printing them a 300dpi JPG or PNG file is what you want. For display on the web then you want the image sized down to 72dpi. The print shop might be keeping the larger image for print and then displaying a thumbnail of the image on the web. That thumbnail would be the compressed file and when you zoom in on it, you will lose pixels. A JPG image is already starting to compress your file as well. A 12 MB jpg is pretty large.

Joy Heyer

@chip-valecek and @Gary-Wilkinson I started a small shop on society6. The instructions are to download a jpg or png that is 72 dpi or larger and at least 6500 px on the smallest side. The max size is 150 MB. So, I thought I was creating images that were large enough...but they aren't 6500 px on the smallest side. When I get to the stage of "preview my image" it is really blurry. I'm just worried they will look blurry on the products too....not that I expect a lot of sales, but I still want it to be professional. Do I need to resize? Can I resize without losing quality? And how do I save it as png or jpg without losing the quality? What is the best size to work at if I want to create large poster -size AND smaller prints? This is all so confusing for me!

Chip Valecek

@joy-heyer If I plan on printing something or think maybe some where down the line I might print it i will create my image at about 20in (6000px) on the largest side at 300dpi. You can't really up size your image without it getting blurry. You can but not doubling the size, it will get blurry.

As far as saving, you will retain more information with a PNG vs JPG.

jimsz

The society6 webpage is specific on the image sizes needed.

https://help.society6.com/hc/en-us/articles/227119388

If you are specifying the width & height pixels you do not need to worry about what the dpi setting is.

I setup an example you can see here with the same image setup with the specific pixels for a notecard with a dpi of 72 and another with a dpi of 300. The quality of the image is exactly the same.

If you are assembling or creating the artwork in Photoshop make sure you flatten the image before exporting as a JPG or PNG.

JPG is a lossy format which means you lose some quality when you open it and save it, png is a lossless format which retains the quality and also allows for transparency.

Now, as far as the blurryness, that is simply the screen image. It could even be a setting on your browser to display at lower quality to save bandwidth and increase loading speed.

If you stick with the suggested pixel dimensions, your art will reproduce fine.

Joy Heyer

Thank you @jimsz and @Chip-Valecek! You have all been very helpful! I will make sure to save as a png after flattening the image. My brain sees all this as a ratio math problem--and it rejects those without even trying to figure it out!