Preparing Images for the Site

When submitting photos and images to be used on the RPS Web site, please adhere to these guidelines. Your help in this regard means that RPS's volunteers will be able to get your submissions online faster.

Quick Guidelines

• Submit all images "Web-ready." Do not submit out-of-the-camera images.
• The Web does not understand CMYK - use RGB modes only.
• If you have an Adobe product, use the "Save For Web..." feature for best results.
• If you use other than Adobe products, adjust for smallest file size consistent with the quality of the image.

for Photo Galleries

A maximum image width of 800px is recommended.

The 2011 incarnation of our Web site uses a popup "light box" presentation that can accept any size image. It automatically resizes the image so that the entire image is always visible in the browser's viewport (the portion of a browser window that actually displays a Web site).

As a practical matter, however, larger file sizes increase the download times for the images and use much larger chunks of bandwidth, a limiting factor for many smartphones. For the best user experience, modest file sizes are very desirable and these are achieved using modest image dimensions.

for Use in Content (Articles, Events, etc.)

The maximum width available for content is 600 pixels. The maximum recommended width for images is 598px.

Smaller sizes are most appropriate for articles so text can wrap around them. As a general rule, images should not exceed half the available width. We recommend 250px as a maximum.

Note that the Webmaster may adjust images used in articles to achieve the best presentation.

for Top Banners

Each page of the RPS Web site displays a randomly-selected, member-submitted image. For complete details, please read Top Banner for the New RPS Web Site.

Top banners must be exactly 900 pixels wide and 115 pixels tall. JPG images are best. The smallest file size consistent with presentation quality is required.

About Image Size & Quality

As a photographic club, we wish to present all submitted material in the best way possible. However, Web sites demand attention to a few technical issues in order to make sure that the visitor's experience is optimal. Images can be large; the more data the Web site must send to a visitor's browser, the slower the site will appear to them.

In general, images should be prepared individually so that the best compromise between image quality and file size can be obtained.

Many Adobe products, Windows or Mac, have a "Save for Web" tool (usually found on the File menu). Save for Web can both resize an image and accept a quality setting. The fidelity of its preview is excellent. Save for Web does the best job of balancing quality and size. Save for Web is available in both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

For other image editing tools, experimentation is usually required to get the best results.

Picasa and iPhoto tend to give poorer results - either lower quality or larger file size.

Automation

Many image editing software programs have a batch processing capability that allows resizing and saving in a single process for a group of files. Photoshop Elements is an example. While convenient, the same settings will be used for all files in the batch process. Some images may suffer as a result.

This page was last updated on December 31, 2011.