Standard Photo Size Guide for Event Photography

By Author and Professional Photographer Orlando Sydney Post Modified April 27, 2024 @ 1:21 pm Last Updated on 3 months by https://orlandosydney.com/

Consistency

Imagine organising a conference and being presented with photos in a dizzying array of sizes and shapes. It’s visually jarring and distracting! Standard sizes bring order and visual harmony, enhancing the viewing experience.

Ease of Sharing

Standard sizes conform to platforms like social media and online galleries, making sharing a breeze. No more cropping or resizing headaches!

PDF or Printing

Standard sizes align with readily available templates, albums, and printing services. No need for custom print jobs or distorted photos.

Professional Look

Consistent dimensions showcase your event in a polished, professional manner. It demonstrates attention to detail and sets you apart from others.

Think of it like building blocks. Just as Legos snap together seamlessly, standard photo sizes allow for creative flexibility. You can easily combine multiple images into collages, slideshows, or even printed booklets without resizing headaches.

Imagine your photo as a mosaic. Each tiny square is a pixel, and the more pixels you have, the sharper and clearer the image.

Resolution – Measured in pixels per inch (PPI), refers to the density of pixels in your image. Higher PPI means more detail, but also a larger file size. For electronic screens such as laptop and desk top computers it is 72ppi (old) or 96ppi (current).

Dots Per Inch (DPI) – Is used for printing, refers to the number of ink dots the printer places per inch. Higher DPI gives a higher-quality print, but requires a high-resolution image. Different to screen PPI above.

File Size – The larger the resolution and DPI, the bigger the file size. This can impact storage space, upload times, and online viewing speed.

Balancing the Act

Understanding these terms helps you in understanding our standard sizes. We provide both web and hires file sizes. This way you can easily upload to social media and also use them for hires archiving, PDF brochure making for posters and show handouts.

Imagine you’re baking a cake. You can use the same ingredients (pixels) to make a decadent, multi-layered masterpiece (high-resolution) or a lighter, bite-sized treat (web-optimized). Both are delicious, but for different occasions.

High-Resolution Images

Pros: Razor-sharp detail, ideal for printing, zooming in, and professional use.
Cons: Large file size, slow download times, not ideal for online sharing. And many social media platform won’t allow you to uploading them, exceeding their stipulated maximum size anyhow.

Web-Optimized Images

Pros: Smaller file size, faster loading times, perfect for online sharing and viewing on screens.
Cons: Potentially lower quality, less detail on large screens, not suitable for large prints or zooming in much.

Finding the Sweet Spot

By understanding your intended use, we strike a good balance between quality and file size. For online sharing, a smaller web-optimized version is sufficient. But if you plan to print large portraits, a high-resolution image is essential.

Ultimately, our goal is to deliver beautiful, impactful photos that suit your needs and audience, regardless of their size, so we deliver both sizes.

When it comes to event photography deliverables, the dominant formats is used.

JPEG – the client deliverables

Advantages: Widely compatible, relatively small file size, ideal for sharing online and emailing, fast loading times.
Disadvantages: Lossy compression depending on the output settings, potentially reduces image quality, not as suitable for professional editing or very large prints.

RAW – for inhouse editing only

Advantages: Uncompressed, retains maximum image data, offers ultimate editing control, allows for refined in camera custom profiles, ideal for professional use and high-quality print orders for commercial use.
Disadvantages: Very large file sizes, requires specialized software to view and edit and is compatible with the camera manufacturer, not suitable for sharing.

TIFF – good alternative for some uses

Advantages: Lossless compression, high image quality, good for archiving and professional editing, suitable for large prints.
Disadvantages: Larger than JPEGs files sizes, not as widely compatible, not suitable for online sharing.

Delivering the right format and size – Client-Friendly File Sizes

For all event clients, JPEGs are the ideal choice: They offer a good balance of quality and file size, perfect for viewing, sharing, and smaller prints.

Optimizing File Size:

JPEGs are the smallest format. We deliver JPEG’s with minimal compression levels for a balance between quality and file size.

We take the full size sensor readout file and down sample it to reduce the file size: This does not affect image quality. Some of our cameras up over 8000 pixels per photo, as this is difficult for event organisers to use we reduce it to 4K and 2K sizes. It remains high quality but in a small more manageable size.

Google Drive cloud storage for distribution

We use Google Drive exclusively for delivering your content, both video and stills images. It is widely available, intuitive and already has a very large user base.

Reasons to Not Ask for RAW Files from Photographers

While RAW files offer ultimate editing control, there are reasons why not to request them directly from our photographers:

We do not ever deliver them to clients

Instead, collaborate with us if you have a desired final look and editing style. Then we can deliver them in high-quality JPEGs ready for you to use.