File size sacrifice?

[ChainReaction]

So I am curious to get some suggestions for a small roadblock I am hitting.

To get the quick questions out of the way
Using R5mkii shooting in RAW always
utilizing Lightroom mostly but also Photoshop when needed

Let me quickly explain one of the things I do with my photography is I donate it to my states local motocross series. I used to race for many years and wanted to give back so I provide free photography for all the racers at every race. It is very important to me.

That being said the system I have worked out with the racers right now is they reach out to me on my Photography facebook page and let me know what classes they raced and then I send them photos of themselves that way.

My problem is FB has a 25mb file size limit when sending files through the messenger, this has not been in issue for the many past years with my R6 but now that I am shooting the R5 mkii I have a file size issues.

My question is I shoot everything in RAW (yes I have tried compressed raw and still too big) without changing the method of how the racers get their photos from me would you just sacrifice image quality when exporting in Lightroom? Would you shoot the images in lower quality via one of the jpeg options on the camera and hope of the best with post processing?

I'm curious to hear anyone's ideas. I have been testing a few images and just manually adjusting the export quality in Lightroom until the file size is small enough but this is not an efficient process at all.

Image from last years race on the R6 just for fun

 

[TwoWheeler]

Dumb Question: is exporting to high quality JPEG an option? Do the racers really care what format they get their pictures in, since they’re probably not going to be editing them and posting them to social media?

 

[ChainReaction]

Dumb Question: is exporting to high quality JPEG an option? Do the racers really care what format they get their pictures in, since they’re probably not going to be editing them and posting them to social media?

No dumb questions here when I'm looking for help. So I should have mentioned I do take the .RAW into lightroom and export as a JPEG. most files are staying around that 30mb file size after that.

 

[PKM-UK]

Hi Chris,

Have you tried 'Limit File Size To' e.g. to 4MB in the LrC Export dialogue box? (You can also consider using this in conjunction with 'Resize to Fit').

I appreciate this will impact image quality, but you may be able to get away with a fair amount of file size compression before serious issues arise.


Alternatively, try the same thing in Photoshop which arguably produces slightly better downsizing results.

Phil

(PS. Fantastic image!).

 

[MrSparks999]

When posting to social media, i export using the limit file size as mentioned above, it works for me, and tbh can't really see any degradation in quality.

 

[ChainReaction]

I will need to check that out I do not get the same options in LR so I need to try an export process in LRC then. I appreciate the ideas this may be the perfect solution!

 

[miuzi]

That's a really cool use for your photo skills, and a lovely image! My approach, when I'm distributing photos to friends and file size is a consideration is to export them at a lower resolution, so I'll limit the long edge to 1920 pixels, or whatever suits my needs. That's always plenty for folks who want to use them for Instagram or their Facebook display photo or whatever. But I always tell them, if they're interested in printing something to have framed or some other larger-format need, to get in touch with me and I'll transfer them a full-res file as needed.

 

[ChainReaction]

Thank you I appreciate it. The works is really important to me and the feedback I get back from the racers just makes my day. You're right they mostly just use them for a FB or insta post. I'm going to try the file size limit in LR Classic and see if that can work into my work flow. I really love the flow of LR on its on right now so i'm hoping I can institute the same process i have into LRC

 

[ctitanic]

I export all my pictures in LrC and I set a limit of 20 MB maximum.

 

[ACEkin]

When exporting to JPEG there is also the quality level or compression. There is a common belief that JPEG images need to be of high quality or low compression. But some years ago, I did a series of experiments and wrote an article:

JPEG compression, quality vs size, what is the optimum

JPEG compression is often misunderstood and misused resulting in large file sizes for the Web, e-mail, contest submissions. You can compress more than you think.

www.keptlight.com

You may export several versions at different quality levels and compare. All my images on my site articles are 35-45 level in LrC. Just a thought.

 

[esheato]

I think it’s prudent to make some assumptions about usage by the riders. I think it’s fair to say that most are simply going to share on social media or store on their phone forever. I would maintain the quality, but scale down the size so they’re device/social media friendly with the caveat that you can forward hi-res stuff if requested….and I’m willing to bet that’ll only happen a few times a year. As far as how to do the hi-res? Dropbox? Smugmug site? Zip ‘em up and share through Google Drive? There’s lots of options.

EDIT: As far as Lightroom export presets go, you can easily create one based upon quality, dimensions, file type, etc.

 

[Dean Wilson]

Do all your normal editing. Put them in a file, then use Image Processor in Photoshop to resize as needed for social media. You can save them to a Sub Folder, that way you have the High Res in a folder and Lower Res in the sub-folder.

File/Scripts/Image Processor

 

[Only RF]

When exporting to JPEG there is also the quality level or compression. There is a common belief that JPEG images need to be of high quality or low compression. But some years ago, I did a series of experiments and wrote an article:

JPEG compression, quality vs size, what is the optimum

JPEG compression is often misunderstood and misused resulting in large file sizes for the Web, e-mail, contest submissions. You can compress more than you think.

www.keptlight.com

You may export several versions at different quality levels and compare. All my images on my site articles are 35-45 level in LrC. Just a thought.

Just to add and just in case. I recall some tests done many years ago. Anything over 80 does nothing to improve IQ and eats space. Or storage but you know what I mean.