Calculators for planning: image storage, transmission, print and repro

I often need to make advanced plans around quantities, sizes and transmission of images for my clients and to aid this I use some simple maths to quantify things. To aid this further I have created a set of web calculators covering all the common tasks.

Here are some common calculations I need to make when planning in advance:

  • How long will it take me to upload 2GB of images via ftp to a client? – or download 1TB?
  • How many raw or tiff files can I store on a 3TB drive or a 9TB NAS?
  • How many minutes (or hours) will it take to transfer 1620GB of raw files to a NAS from a client’s USB2 external drive?
  • To make a high quality 20″x16″ print at the Epson ideal print density of 360dpi how many pixels do I need?
  • What is the lowest megapixels a camera or file can be to still cover (for example) an A2 print at 350dpi? how about 7″x6″  at 150dpi?

All of these can be answered using the calculators below, here is a list of what they do:

 

Time and transmission:
Internet calculator – Calculate upload and download times for large files and collections of images.
Network calculator – Calculate transfer times for large collections of files across a local wired or wireless network

Capacity and file size:
How many images? – Calculate how many images/ files can fit on a hard disk, NAS or optical device
Camera file size and space calculator – Calculate files sizes and storage requirements of a particular camera
Card Full? – Calculate image capacities for your camera writing to different sized SD or CF cards

Dimensions for print and repro:
Print size calculator 1 – Calculate file size requirements when someone asks for a physical size for print or repro, this calculator allows you to specify units of meters, feet, inches, cm, mm.
Print size calculator 2 – Calculate native print and repro sizes from your images pixel dimensions.

Misc:
View: Print Size screen dpi calculator for photoshop -New method for when you know your screen size and the resolution its using

Getting View: Print Size to work properly in Photoshop – Older method for when you have a ruler but dont know all the figures needed for the new calculator

I hope you will book mark these individual calculators to help plan your workflow. If you have any ideas for other calculators let me know and I will see what I can do.

Photoshop: View Print Size dpi calculator

Monitor DPI/PPI Calculator

Change the following values to represent your setup
PPI px/cm
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Stephen Johnson / Copyrightimage.com

I like using View → Print Size in Photoshop because it lets me see an image at the exact size it will be printed. That makes it easy to judge how the final piece will look in the real world. For example, you can hold a picture frame up to your monitor to see how the print will sit inside it, or check whether the image quality will hold up under close inspection—especially useful if you’re producing something large, like a 10-metre print.

By default, Photoshop assumes a monitor resolution of 72 DPI. That was roughly correct for mid-1990s displays, but it’s not accurate for modern screens. If you know your screen’s physical size and the resolution it’s running at, you can calculate the correct DPI for your setup. Enter that value in Preferences → Units & Rulers to ensure Print Size displays your work at a true, real-world scale.

If you dont know any of the numbers to enter then try this alternative method instead: https://copyrightimage.com/2017/06/20/getting-photoshop-to-display-image-size-correctly/

File Transfers

 

 

Faster file transfers – 2GB/sec (Thats up to 256MB per second!)

After many years of waiting a new fibre line is in at Copyrightimage! I now have much faster transfer speeds to recieve your files and send completed work back to you.

Combined with my own private file server its possible to send files securely as well as via the cloud file transfer services:

Im happy to receive files by MailBigFile.com and other services, please email your file links to stephen@copyrightimage.co.uk.

 

1000 Mbps/sec = 125 MB/sec (there are 8 bits in one byte)

 

You can send images directly via Dropbox to the same email address also.

 

Problem displaying Google chrome with Rec 2020 colour space

A bit of a strange one this. I have been doing some video work and switched my Eizo ColorEdge CG279X into the Rec  2020 color space and found that when I launched a Google Chrome web browser that the window displayed without its contents with just a transparent frame around where the Chrome window should be. When I chose a different colour space (Rec 709, Adobe 1998 etc.) Chrome displayed properly.

I had tried everything before this (uninstalling the program etc.) but it was only when I changed the colour space that things fixed themselves.

Planet Earth III, Copyrightimage helps the BBC make the most of its images

Pleased to receive my complimentary copy of the new book accompanying the new BBC series Planet Earth III narrated by David Attenborough. This new series has all the stops pulled out and has music by Hans Zimmer!

My task was to colour grade all the photography and video grabs used in the book so that they printed well and depicted the subject matter in a natural way.

My careful image grading techniques are designed to fit a large tonal and colour space within the confines of printed paper, unlike HDR televisions which have a huge contrast range CMYK printing has a limited range and in order to make the pictures sing their best I used my 35 years of repro and photo knowledge to work some magic.

The book is published by Penguin and will be available in all good book shops or Amazon on the 19th October 2023.  You can see the trailer for the new series here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ0VZM1rz78

Copyrightimage is the place to go for the highest quality stills and custom video grab processing, talk to me about your project and lets see what we can do together. stephen@copyrightimage.co.uk

Client story: BBC Wild Isles

The latest David Attenborough series is due to air in the UK on Sunday 12th March 2023. The book of the series is available now at all good book shops (and Amazon).

Many thanks to the series producer Alastair Fothergill and others who got me involved to make sure most technically difficult shots in the book were up to the standard of the rest.

Ethical grading and retouching ensures that the images on the page reflect the nature they represent and not issues with noise, exposure and white balance that would introduce unnatural artefacts in the images. Also provided were my techniques to keep the dynamic range of the HDR material as much as possible, without care this can print very badly on the more limited tonal and colour range of CMYK, by mitigating against this the images can sing out.

If your organization needs to improve the quality of your publications, exhibitions or photolibraries then send me an email stephen@copyrightimage.co.uk

Client Story: Julian Lennon

A pleasure to work on Julian’s images recently for his latest major exhibition “Atmospheria” at the William Turner Gallery in LA.

My task was to prepare the files used in making the very large prints.  These were made on a metal base using dye sublimation.

The file preparation was a very machine intensive process and some images grew to over 5GB when layered in Photoshop. The final stage of the process was quality checking at 1:1 to ensure no artefacts or dust spots made their way to these very high quality premium prints.

Careful work ensured that the prints retained the intentions of the photographer and allowed for close inspection of detail on the photographic surface without any significant enlargement artefacts even when viewed close up.

You can read more about the exhibition here

Client Story: Christopher Swann’s new book, “Sea of Dreams”

 

I received the most beautiful book through the post today Its by Photographer Christopher Swann and called “Sea of Dreams”. It covers the subject of Whales, dolphins and wildlife of Baja California. 450 pages of superb photography, illustrations and insightful text. ISBN: 978-1-7396721-0-2.

Tipping the scales at well over 3.3KG (the limit of my scales!) it is superbly printed and has to be considered the most in depth and beautiful interpretation of its subjects.

My work on the project was to help translate the more problematic underwater RGB files that often struggle to appear their best when printed in CMYK. I used all the options in my specialist toolbox to bring out the true brilliance in the images. I also worked on selected topside images to enable them to print smoothly across double page spreads.

Swanny is a very modest man but his work seen through this book is simply superb. I am very fortunate to work with one of the very best marine life photographers in the world, we share a desire to translate life to the page and are prepared to go through some pains to acheive it.

Thank you Swanny!
https://cswannphotography.com/