Hi everyone. I really need some help. I am relatively new to PhotoLab. I have been asked to submit a high resolution image for a photo contest. Can someone help me with the settings to export the highest resolution file I can? What size and resolution do I use? Do I check enable resizing? What about the other settings sun as interpolation and ICC? Any help would be appreciated. I need to submit the image in a couple of days. I think they also want the original raw file. How do I submit that? Thanks for any tips?
For a start - Congratulations, Paul … Your image must be a very good one !
See the Export to Disk options;
Have you been asked for a JP(E)G or a TIF(F) file ?
- If a JP(E)G - then set “Quality” to 100%
- If a TIF(F) - then make it 16 bit
The “Resolution” setting will not impact image quality.
Do NOT enable “Resizing” … that’s for down-sizing (or up-sizing) your image - which won’t help the image quality.
For the ICC-Profile; I’m pretty sure they will want an image defined by the sRGB~ profile.
You may wish to un-select some of the “Include” options - if you don’t want details about your image (such as EXIF data) to be included in the exported image.
Providing the “original RAW file” is just a matter of providing the file produced from your camera.
Good luck with the competition …
An aside for others reading this;
- Paul’s question led me to trying-out up-sizing an image (I specified a bigger number for “Longest Side” than the image’s actual width, in pixels) … and, to my surprise, PL exported a larger file !!
Nice of “them” to ask…but what does “high resolution” mean? Are they thinking of pixel dimensions, pixels per inch, something else?
atto. @Doucer1 : Better ask first, or you risk to put some effort in a “wrong” result…
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Honestly, I think “they” just don’t want strongly compressed and downsized JPGs. They could have asked for full-size exports.
The competition organisers normally state the size of the image which is normally so many pixels on the long edge and so many on the short edge. The last club I was a member of required 1400 by 900 pixels.
Wow, that seems small for a contest. I use 3000px long side for web posts
Whatever you do, don’t send in your RAW file
Thanks so much for your quick response. Really appreciate it. They want a JPG file.
Thanks Joanna. They have asked for the raw file. Should I not send it in? They also want it. Here is their response:
Hi Dale,
Thanks for your email and congratulations on being shortlisted - that’s a great achievement!
Lease export the largest file you have at 300dpi.
We also require the RAW file - you must zip/compress this to upload to our site.
Best wishes,
I asked and they sent this response:
Hi Dale,
Thanks for your email and congratulations on being shortlisted - that’s a great achievement!
Lease export the largest file you have at 300dpi.
We also require the RAW file - you must zip/compress this to upload to our site.
Best wishes,
Sorry for so many questions. So much to learn. Can someone guide me on how to zip a RAW file?
Dale
As per my previous message, don’t get involved in competitions that demand the RAW file. You are effectively giving away your copyright material complete with the metadata that anyone can easily change to prove it is their image.
Which competition is this anyway ?
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What does this mean? This sounds like a photo-stealing scam to me.
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It’s the Bird Photographer of the Year awards. It’s a legitimate organization.
I think the want the RAW file to see how much post processing has been done but I could be wrong. They may also want to prove you took the image.
Have you seen the rule…
Entries must be received by 23:59 BST on the 11th December 2022
I’m really not sure how you are meant to comply with that unless you have a time machine. If a contract is incorrect in part, it can be challenged and might even be invalid.
Also…
raw format files (such as .NEF, .CR2 etc) or, if unavailable, original untouched JPEGs for authentication and forensic purposes
So, it looks like you could extract the embedded jpeg from the RAW and send that instead, assuming you get to the final stage.
There seems to be a rise, in recent years, in this kind of “verification”. If this is like other competitions I have seen, the verification might be farmed out to a third party forensics company, which gives me the jitters because, as far as I can see, there is no mention of the liability of such a company.
Tread carefully
Got it. Thanks. I submitted my images in time for the December deadline. This is now the final judging phase. Thanks for the info.
In bird photography is often a problem of authenticity, I heard from a bird photog who regularly sold pictures to bird magazines. That might be the reason they are asking for RAW data, also to check how much post production is involved how, much you cropped. Sort of newspaper photo rules to prove ownership of rights and no manipulation of facts.
I don’t know about the organizer’s reputation in this special case but in a way it’s fair against all other participants who also need to prove it’s not an artificially “improved” product. Anyway, for some of the reasons @Joanna already mentioned I’m not taking part in these competitions, often they plainly demand to transfer copyright to them - no, thanks.
Thanks for your response. Really good info!
That might be just because they might have a projector that can´t handle bigger images I guess.