How to Email Photos


Believe it or not, this is one of those "most-asked questions," and I guess it's because there are no official guidelines for emailing photos. Perhaps there should be, because there are photographers who routinely send me high-res photos that either (a) get bounced back to them because of size restrictions, (b) take all day to download, or (c) never get here at all because "there are no official guidelines on how to email photos." In the absence of such rules, consider these the "official unofficial rules."

Step One

Open the photo that you want to email. Before you go any further, you have some decisions to make based on whom you're sending the photo to. If you're sending it to friends and family, you want to make sure the file downloads fast, and (this is important) can be viewed within their email window. I run into people daily (clients) who have no idea how to download an attachment from an email. If it doesn't show up in their email window, they're stuck, and even if they could download it, they don't have a program that will open the file. So the goal: Make it fit in their email browser.

Step Two

Go under the Image menu and choose Image Size (or in CS2, press Option-Command-I [PC: Alt-Control-I]). To play it safe, enter a resolution of 72 ppi and a physical dimension no wider than 8" and no higher than 5" (but the height isn't the big concern, it's the width, so make sure you stay within the 8" width). By limiting your emailed photo to this size, you're ensuring that friends and family will be able to download it quickly, and it will fit comfortably within their email window.

Step Three

If you're sending this to a client who does know how to download the file and print it, you'll need a bit more resolution (at least 150 ppi and as much as 300 ppi, depending on how picky you are), but the photo's physical dimensions are no longer a concern because the client will be downloading and printing out the file, rather than just viewing it onscreen in their email program (where 72 ppi is enough resolution).

Step Four

As a general rule, JPEG is the best file format for sending photos by email. To save the file as a JPEG, go under the Edit menu and choose Save As. In the Save As dialog, choose JPEG in the Format popup menu, and then click Save. This brings up the JPEG Options dialog. This format compresses the file size, while maintaining a reasonable amount of quality. How much quality? That's up to you, because you choose the Quality setting in the JPEG Options dialog. Just remember the golden rule: The higher the quality, the larger the file size, and the longer it will take your client to download it.

Step Five

Your goal is to email your client a photo that is small in file size (so it downloads quickly), yet still looks as good as possible. (Remember, the faster the download, the lower the quality, so you have to be a little realistic and flexible with this.) The chart shown here gives you a breakdown of how large the file size and download time would be for a 5x7" saved with different resolutions and different amounts of JPEG compression. It's hard to beat that last onewith an 18-second download on a standard dial-up modem.



    The Photoshop CS2 Book(c) for Digital Photographers
    The Photoshop CS2 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)
    ISBN: B002DMJUBS
    EAN: N/A
    Year: 2006
    Pages: 187
    Authors: Scott Kelby

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