Linda 1949 Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Hi, I have recently attempted QC twice and been rejected for the following reason - soft due to size. I am struggling to understand this! I have checked the document size and all except any raw images are twice the size they should be. For example all my Jpegs are 110.75MB with dimensions of 7620 x 5080. Lightroom 5 was set for Prophoto and 16 bit. Is this the problem? If so how do I rectify it? I have tried using the originals as I still have most of the memory cards but the same thing keeps happening even though I have changed the settings to Adobe RGB and 8 bit. Most of my older images are JPEG of 20MB. I have no problem with Raw which comes out at about 68.7 MB. I have been told these should be ok. I would be grateful for any suggestions, Thanks, Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MircoV Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Hello Linda, I think they (i am not super sure) mean that your submitted photos are not 100% sharp at full size. I noticed that Alamy is very strict with that so i am carefully checking my images one by one for unsharpness. If you doubt if an image is sharp enough then it means it isnt. I hope i am right and that this is the reason . Good luck Linda. Mirco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Hi, I have recently attempted QC twice and been rejected for the following reason - soft due to size. I am struggling to understand this! I have checked the document size and all except any raw images are twice the size they should be. For example all my Jpegs are 110.75MB with dimensions of 7620 x 5080. Lightroom 5 was set for Prophoto and 16 bit. Is this the problem? If so how do I rectify it? I have tried using the originals as I still have most of the memory cards but the same thing keeps happening even though I have changed the settings to Adobe RGB and 8 bit. Most of my older images are JPEG of 20MB. I have no problem with Raw which comes out at about 68.7 MB. I have been told these should be ok. I would be grateful for any suggestions, Thanks, Linda Presumably you are using the Lightroom Export to produce your JPEGs. Have you got the Image Sizing box clicked in the Lightroom Export dialog? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 It's all explained in Alamy's submission guidelines, which you will of course have read before submitting. "Soft due to size" means that the images appear to have been upsized to the point where they are no longer sharp. If they haven't been upsized then they are obviously not sharp anyway. If you're not sure about what counts as sharp, you will need to post a cropped section at 100% and people here can advise you further (not the whole image at 100% please - at that size it would probably take my entire month's bandwidth to download it!). Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Hi, I have recently attempted QC twice and been rejected for the following reason - soft due to size. I am struggling to understand this! I have checked the document size and all except any raw images are twice the size they should be. For example all my Jpegs are 110.75MB with dimensions of 7620 x 5080. Lightroom 5 was set for Prophoto and 16 bit. Is this the problem? If so how do I rectify it? I have tried using the originals as I still have most of the memory cards but the same thing keeps happening even though I have changed the settings to Adobe RGB and 8 bit. Most of my older images are JPEG of 20MB. I have no problem with Raw which comes out at about 68.7 MB. I have been told these should be ok. I would be grateful for any suggestions, Thanks, Linda I would simply upload your images through the web upload after saving as an 8bit jpg. I don't use Lightroom, but obviously by exporting through lightroom it is sending your images as 16bit. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda 1949 Posted December 1, 2014 Author Share Posted December 1, 2014 Thanks MDM! I knew it had to be something simple but in my panic I couldn't work it out! Thank you so much. I will now try to submit some more images. Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Thanks MDM! I knew it had to be something simple but in my panic I couldn't work it out! Thank you so much. I will now try to submit some more images. Linda Great Linda. Glad it helped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P_D_R Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Hi, I have recently attempted QC twice and been rejected for the following reason - soft due to size. I am struggling to understand this! I have checked the document size and all except any raw images are twice the size they should be. For example all my Jpegs are 110.75MB with dimensions of 7620 x 5080. Lightroom 5 was set for Prophoto and 16 bit. Is this the problem? If so how do I rectify it? I have tried using the originals as I still have most of the memory cards but the same thing keeps happening even though I have changed the settings to Adobe RGB and 8 bit. Most of my older images are JPEG of 20MB. I have no problem with Raw which comes out at about 68.7 MB. I have been told these should be ok. I would be grateful for any suggestions, Thanks, Linda Presumably you are using the Lightroom Export to produce your JPEGs. Have you got the Image Sizing box clicked in the Lightroom Export dialog? Finding this a little ambiguous -- should be, or shouldn't be ticked? I seems to have fixed Linda's problem, but did she tick it, or untick it...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Finding this a little ambiguous -- should be, or shouldn't be ticked? I seems to have fixed Linda's problem, but did she tick it, or untick it...? What exactly is the problem you are having? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P_D_R Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Finding this a little ambiguous -- should be, or shouldn't be ticked? I seems to have fixed Linda's problem, but did she tick it, or untick it...? What exactly is the problem you are having? Hi - I'm trying to get through initial QC tests. I think I have it sussed, but still confused by the "no sharpening" clause - how can DNG be output to jpg without sharpening? I have no setting within LR (4.4) to stipulate 8-bit or 16-bit and no idea what size an uncompressed jpg even looks like (isn't jpg all about compression?). My output jpg images are between 7-9MB, nowhere near the size of the Linda's images. I also don't want to hijack the thread... It's a steep learning curve. My first test images failed, and the one image which received comment was "too soft" - it has an area in front of the subject which is out of focus and I suspect this to be the cause. I've re-submitted and await a positive response. Is there a consensus that the "no sharpening" rule relates to the finished jpg, after processing the DNG and exporting that as jpg? I'm half expecting to be told not and find that my current test batch is rejected due to sharpening, but I can't see why I'd submit a flat, low contrast and unimpressive image directly from the DNG file. Wouldn't it be helpful if there was an export plugin provided by Alamy to help / deal with all this and upload directly to the site account, especially for noobs? Thanks for any help. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Finding this a little ambiguous -- should be, or shouldn't be ticked? I seems to have fixed Linda's problem, but did she tick it, or untick it...? What exactly is the problem you are having? Hi - I'm trying to get through initial QC tests. I think I have it sussed, but still confused by the "no sharpening" clause - how can DNG be output to jpg without sharpening? I have no setting within LR (4.4) to stipulate 8-bit or 16-bit and no idea what size an uncompressed jpg even looks like (isn't jpg all about compression?). My output jpg images are between 7-9MB, nowhere near the size of the Linda's images. I also don't want to hijack the thread... It's a steep learning curve. My first test images failed, and the one image which received comment was "too soft" - it has an area in front of the subject which is out of focus and I suspect this to be the cause. I've re-submitted and await a positive response. Is there a consensus that the "no sharpening" rule relates to the finished jpg, after processing the DNG and exporting that as jpg? I'm half expecting to be told not and find that my current test batch is rejected due to sharpening, but I can't see why I'd submit a flat, low contrast and unimpressive image directly from the DNG file. Wouldn't it be helpful if there was an export plugin provided by Alamy to help / deal with all this and upload directly to the site account, especially for noobs? Thanks for any help. Paul Hi Paul. These are very common questions. First to size: Size does not relate to your finished jpg. Jpgs vary in size depending on the detail in the image. A photo of mostly sky will have a smaller jpg size than one of a field of flowers. The size is the size of your dng or raw file straight out of the camera. They are all the same size. I have an 18 megapixel Canon so all my RAW files are 51 mb. Way above the Alamy size limit. So if your camera shoots 6 megapixels or more, you are fine. Only if you crop will they become smaller. Your are not sharpening your image when you convert to jpg. If you use the jpgs straight out of your camera then there will be a small amount of in camera sharpening, but nothing of any consequence. Alamy is referring to doing sharpening while in PS or Lightroom. That is a no-no. That is the sharpening Alamy is referring to. As to 16 bit vs 8 bit, I use PS so don't know where the settings are in Lightroom, but I would assume the default is 8bit. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 These are very common questions. Your are not sharpening your image when you convert to jpg. If you use the jpgs straight out of your camera then there will be a small amount of in camera sharpening, but nothing of any consequence. Alamy is referring to doing sharpening while in PS or Lightroom. That is a no-no. That is the sharpening Alamy is referring to. Sorry Jill but that is simply not true. Firstly, the basic guidance from Alamy is to turn off all in-camera sharpening. See bullet point 5 in the following http://www.alamy.com/contributor/help/digital-camera-images.asp Secondly, in-camera sharpening can be very severe and may cause all sorts of problems down the line. The fact that apparently a lot of people do it, and get away with it, doesn't mean it's right and it is certainly not what Alamy is saying.. The absolute advice from Alamy is no sharpening whatsoever although they don't appear to object to a small amount of capture sharpening (in ACR or Lightroom for example). My advice to Paul would be to buy Martin Evening's book on Lightroom. He clearly has a lot to learn as he says himself and that is an excellent resource. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 These are very common questions. Your are not sharpening your image when you convert to jpg. If you use the jpgs straight out of your camera then there will be a small amount of in camera sharpening, but nothing of any consequence. Alamy is referring to doing sharpening while in PS or Lightroom. That is a no-no. That is the sharpening Alamy is referring to. Sorry Jill but that is simply not true. Firstly, the basic guidance from Alamy is to turn off all in-camera sharpening. See bullet point 5 in the following http://www.alamy.com/contributor/help/digital-camera-images.asp Secondly, in-camera sharpening can be very severe and may cause all sorts of problems down the line. The fact that apparently a lot of people do it, and get away with it, doesn't mean it's right and it is certainly not what Alamy is saying.. The absolute advice from Alamy is no sharpening whatsoever although they don't appear to object to a small amount of capture sharpening (in ACR or Lightroom for example). My advice to Paul would be to buy Martin Evening's book on Lightroom. He clearly has a lot to learn as he says himself and that is an excellent resource. Have to admit I was going by other people's posts on that one as I only shoot RAW, so never use in camera jpgs. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Richmond Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Finding this a little ambiguous -- should be, or shouldn't be ticked? I seems to have fixed Linda's problem, but did she tick it, or untick it...? What exactly is the problem you are having? Hi - I'm trying to get through initial QC tests. I think I have it sussed, but still confused by the "no sharpening" clause - how can DNG be output to jpg without sharpening? I have no setting within LR (4.4) to stipulate 8-bit or 16-bit and no idea what size an uncompressed jpg even looks like (isn't jpg all about compression?). My output jpg images are between 7-9MB, nowhere near the size of the Linda's images. I also don't want to hijack the thread... It's a steep learning curve. My first test images failed, and the one image which received comment was "too soft" - it has an area in front of the subject which is out of focus and I suspect this to be the cause. I've re-submitted and await a positive response. Is there a consensus that the "no sharpening" rule relates to the finished jpg, after processing the DNG and exporting that as jpg? I'm half expecting to be told not and find that my current test batch is rejected due to sharpening, but I can't see why I'd submit a flat, low contrast and unimpressive image directly from the DNG file. Wouldn't it be helpful if there was an export plugin provided by Alamy to help / deal with all this and upload directly to the site account, especially for noobs? Thanks for any help. Paul Hi Paul. These are very common questions. First to size: Size does not relate to your finished jpg. Jpgs vary in size depending on the detail in the image. A photo of mostly sky will have a smaller jpg size than one of a field of flowers. The size is the size of your dng or raw file straight out of the camera. They are all the same size. I have an 18 megapixel Canon so all my RAW files are 51 mb. Way above the Alamy size limit. So if your camera shoots 6 megapixels or more, you are fine. Only if you crop will they become smaller. Your are not sharpening your image when you convert to jpg. If you use the jpgs straight out of your camera then there will be a small amount of in camera sharpening, but nothing of any consequence. Alamy is referring to doing sharpening while in PS or Lightroom. That is a no-no. That is the sharpening Alamy is referring to. As to 16 bit vs 8 bit, I use PS so don't know where the settings are in Lightroom, but I would assume the default is 8bit. Jill Helpful advice, Jill, but one point is worth clarifying. Although you may be editing the RAW image in a 16 bit colour depth in Lightroom or PS, the JPG produced and exported is limited by the JPEG standards to 8 bits - 256 levels per red, green or blue colour channel. You will always lose some very fine colour detail - though it probably won't be noticeable. JPGs straight out of the camera will also always be 8 bit so you are not using the full potential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Finding this a little ambiguous -- should be, or shouldn't be ticked? I seems to have fixed Linda's problem, but did she tick it, or untick it...? What exactly is the problem you are having? Hi - I'm trying to get through initial QC tests. I think I have it sussed, but still confused by the "no sharpening" clause - how can DNG be output to jpg without sharpening? I have no setting within LR (4.4) to stipulate 8-bit or 16-bit and no idea what size an uncompressed jpg even looks like (isn't jpg all about compression?). My output jpg images are between 7-9MB, nowhere near the size of the Linda's images. I also don't want to hijack the thread... It's a steep learning curve. My first test images failed, and the one image which received comment was "too soft" - it has an area in front of the subject which is out of focus and I suspect this to be the cause. I've re-submitted and await a positive response. Is there a consensus that the "no sharpening" rule relates to the finished jpg, after processing the DNG and exporting that as jpg? I'm half expecting to be told not and find that my current test batch is rejected due to sharpening, but I can't see why I'd submit a flat, low contrast and unimpressive image directly from the DNG file. Wouldn't it be helpful if there was an export plugin provided by Alamy to help / deal with all this and upload directly to the site account, especially for noobs? Thanks for any help. Paul Hi Paul. These are very common questions. First to size: Size does not relate to your finished jpg. Jpgs vary in size depending on the detail in the image. A photo of mostly sky will have a smaller jpg size than one of a field of flowers. The size is the size of your dng or raw file straight out of the camera. They are all the same size. I have an 18 megapixel Canon so all my RAW files are 51 mb. Way above the Alamy size limit. So if your camera shoots 6 megapixels or more, you are fine. Only if you crop will they become smaller. Your are not sharpening your image when you convert to jpg. If you use the jpgs straight out of your camera then there will be a small amount of in camera sharpening, but nothing of any consequence. Alamy is referring to doing sharpening while in PS or Lightroom. That is a no-no. That is the sharpening Alamy is referring to. As to 16 bit vs 8 bit, I use PS so don't know where the settings are in Lightroom, but I would assume the default is 8bit. Jill Helpful advice, Jill, but one point is worth clarifying. Although you may be editing the RAW image in a 16 bit colour depth in Lightroom or PS, the JPG produced and exported is limited by the JPEG standards to 8 bits - 256 levels per red, green or blue colour channel. You will always lose some very fine colour detail - though it probably won't be noticeable. JPGs straight out of the camera will also always be 8 bit so you are not using the full potential. Alamy requires 8 bit, so that is where I go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P_D_R Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Thanks for the clarification. The level of detail provided by Alamy regarding requirements for 8-bit jpg would appear unnecessary if jpg's *are* 8-bit. My workflow includes conversion from CR2 to DNG at import into LR4 and I edit the DNGs. How about "uncompressed" jpg file sizes? The minimum jpg file size quoted is HUGE and I can't get anywhere near that with jpg images from my DNGs. Turns out it's nothing at all to be concerned with and appears to be superfluous detail in the Quality description. Pleasingly, my initial submissions have passed QC. I'm less concerned with the sharpening limitations imposed now that I've seen mine go through with DNG images of feather, fur and eyes sharpened to around '60' on the Lightroom slider and then pushed out as jpg with absolutely no output sharpening. Early days; I'll see how it goes. This isn't intended to be advice, merely a description of my experience so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin McAbee Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 These questions seem to come up quite often from new people trying to pass QC for the first time. I think it might be good to take the simple route for those first four pics. I use Nikon DSLRs but others should be similar. First set your camera for Large, Fine, JPEG, and go out on a nice sunny day and shoot some local landmarks. With it being a nice day you should be getting an f stop of f8-f11 and large depth of field. Also on a nice sunny day you should have a shutter speed of 500th or better, and if you have VR or stabilization turn that on. The f8-f11 f stop should be close to the sweet spot for your lens. Now at this point I think it would be hard to get a soft or out of focus image. Now if you are using a modern DSLR of 10mp or above, and shooting in camera JPEGs then size has taken care of its self. Normal in camera sharpening should be ok. On to Lightroom, so download your images and inspect at 100% for sharpness, dust spots, or any other defects. Export at JPEG 100%, and upload to Alamy. I realize this is very basic information, but many coming here for the first time are just wanting to get those first four images past QC. After this they can ease into more advanced post processing. Others may have a different view on this, but I think this would produce that first four images that would pass QC. Marvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.