1mb photo

meoklmrk91

I want to get a picture printed on canvas, the company recommends that the photo be 1mb or over. The picture that I want to use is 71.1kb is there any way to get it to 1mb?

Cosmo K

In a word, no.

Why is the picture only 71kb? Is that the original file?

Kenny Logins

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

I want to get a picture printed on canvas, the company recommends that the photo be 1mb or over. The picture that I want to use is 71.1kb is there any way to get it to 1mb?

It's not the file size that's important, they only offered that as a guide - a 1mb jpeg should be of sufficient resolution for this purpose (roughly a 3 megapixel image).

You'll need to find the the original picture as it came from the camera, and not one you copied from Facebook or whatever.

CabanSail

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

I want to get a picture printed on canvas, the company recommends that the photo be 1mb or over. The picture that I want to use is 71.1kb is there any way to get it to 1mb?

This is the equivalent of asking
"I have a glass of Whiskey but I need a bottle, how can I achieve this?"
Of course you really cant do it. You could add some water and you will get away with the illusion you have more Whiskey but that will only work for a little amount.
On the other hand getting a Glass from a bottle is easy.

If you have taken the photo yourself or know the photographer then you need to get a high resolution copy for printing. It is also the reason that Photographers will generally only put low resolution copies of their work online.

meoklmrk91

Hello all, I did some messing around with GIMP and photomatix, the results to say in the least were dramatic, I honestly couldn't believe it, the file ended up being 2.2mb which is perfect but the file itself saved as a .tif, when I changed it to a jpeg the results were dramatically lowered however still visible, when I zoom in on the .tif pixalation is much less prevalent that in the jpeg and it showed in the file size with it being just over 200mbs. The .tif is perfect, I would upload it but can't due to the fact that photobucket will not allow me to upload it. The killer here is the canvas company will not accept the .tif only jpegs and .gifs which makes no sense to me as jpegs are lower quality than .tifs and .gifs even worse. Anyway here is the before and after of the jpegs, wish I could show you all the .tif but anyway.

Before


After

challengemaster

Unfortunately to burst your bubble, the results aren't anywhere near as dramatic as you'd like to think.

You took an original JPG file, saved it as a .tif and then as a JPG again. Nowhere along that process did the file gain any data. In fact, you've actually managed to lose even more data.

It's like going to the bank with €1000, changing it to dollars and then back to € again, and thinking you've managed to make money. The reality is you've lost some in the conversion.

So you're wondering, if I've lost data, how is it the file is bigger?

Again, think of going to currency exchange. Your original format is JPG (or €). In general when you save something as a JPG, it loses data, or is "lossy".

TIF files are designed to mostly be loss less, so when you save as a TIF, all the original file data is still there. However, TIF files handle the data in a different way, which makes the file size larger. Think of it like changing your € to Indian Rupees. The exchange rate is much higher, so you get a lot more Rupees(or bigger file size), but you still have the original amount of money(data).

When you saved this back as a JPG again, as JPG conversions lose data you lost some more data from the original image making it worse again.

The reason the canvas company usually recommends 1MB+ JPG files is because you can usually predict how much data the file contains, and if it is enough to give a decent quality print. It's actually got nothing to do with the file size, but the amount of data needed for a good print.

In essence you could make the file size 1000 times bigger and it would still be useless because it hasn't enough data.

meoklmrk91

challengemaster wrote: »

Unfortunately to burst your bubble, the results aren't anywhere near as dramatic as you'd like to think.

You took an original JPG file, saved it as a .tif and then as a JPG again. Nowhere along that process did the file gain any data. In fact, you've actually managed to lose even more data.

It's like going to the bank with €1000, changing it to dollars and then back to € again, and thinking you've managed to make money. The reality is you've lost some in the conversion.

So you're wondering, if I've lost data, how is it the file is bigger?

Again, think of going to currency exchange. Your original format is JPG (or €). In general when you save something as a JPG, it loses data, or is "lossy".

TIF files are designed to mostly be loss less, so when you save as a TIF, all the original file data is still there. However, TIF files handle the data in a different way, which makes the file size larger. Think of it like changing your € to Indian Rupees. The exchange rate is much higher, so you get a lot more Rupees(or bigger file size), but you still have the original amount of money(data).

When you saved this back as a JPG again, as JPG conversions lose data you lost some more data from the original image making it worse again.

The reason the canvas company usually recommends 1MB+ JPG files is because you can usually predict how much data the file contains, and if it is enough to give a decent quality print. It's actually got nothing to do with the file size, but the amount of data needed for a good print.

In essence you could make the file size 1000 times bigger and it would still be useless because it hasn't enough data.

Fair enough point, I didn't think I was after doing anything magical or anything but I do think the image looks better than it did, it was taken on an iPhone 3GS camera by the way so can't expect much. I have sent the file off to the canvas company asking them to correspond with me on the matter, I bought the canvas as a deal on grabone, €18 for a 8x12'', I bought it specifically for this image so kind of ticked off now, but sure what can be done.

jonniebgood1

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

Fair enough point, I didn't think I was after doing anything magical or anything but I do think the image looks better than it did, it was taken on an iPhone 3GS camera by the way so can't expect much. I have sent the file off to the canvas company asking them to correspond with me on the matter, I bought the canvas as a deal on grabone, €18 for a 8x12'', I bought it specifically for this image so kind of ticked off now, but sure what can be done.

If you still have the original image you should try and edit it again (Provided it is of sufficient quality). Your image of 71kb is no use to you at this stage.
When you edit the original, you need to save it as a jpeg as this is required by the canvas company.

magicbastarder

i'd be a bit wary about a printing company which can accept GIFs and not TIFFs!

meoklmrk91

magicbastarder wrote: »

i'd be a bit wary about a printing company which can accept GIFs and not TIFFs!

Those were my thoughts too, I just went ahead and bought it, sneakily though there was nothing about which files they would and wouldn't accept or that it had to be a specific file size, plenty of people caught out I'd say.

CabanSail

I have just looked at some images taken with my iPhone 3GS

The base Jpeg is about 1.2Mb when taken.

It would seem that you have uploaded a resized version of your image. Go back to the original on your phone as it will have enough resolution.

meoklmrk91

CabanSail wrote: »

I have just looked at some images taken with my iPhone 3GS

The base Jpeg is about 1.2Mb when taken.

It would seem that you have uploaded a resized version of your image. Go back to the original on your phone as it will have enough resolution.

, I was using a photobucket version of the file because I thought the original was saved to my old laptop which died late last year, just remembered its also saved on my desktop. Thank you!

Kenny Logins

Kenny Logins wrote: »

You'll need to find the the original picture as it came from the camera, and not one you copied from Facebook or whatever.

*cough*

meoklmrk91

Kenny Logins wrote: »

Kenny Logins wrote: »

You'll need to find the the original picture as it came from the camera, and not one you copied from Facebook or whatever.

*cough*

I know, I know, but when I read that I was full sure that I had no access to the original file, for whatever reason the other post just jogged my memory!