Export Settings for slideshows

[Nomad]

I need to export a collection of images for use in a company slideshow presentation. I'm not the person doing the slideshow, and it's not even happening on my continent. Is there a preferred (standard?) resolution, aspect ratio, dimensions (i'm not sure what terminology I should be using here) that I should use as a template for the images being exported? In a perfect world I'd like to give the guy images that would translate to full-screen without too much cropping or black space on the top & bottom or the sides. Is there any additional info I need to get in advance from him before I can proceed?

Also, I need to be prepared for the possibility that the person assembling the slideshow on the other end may have limited technical knowledge or be unable to answer my questions, so it may be up to me to decide what's best and just send them something.

Any suggestions?

 

[Denis Pagé]

Just ask for the screen resolution that will be used for the presentation. The is no such things as a "Standard" here.

For technically impaired, exporting your slideshow to PDF may be a good choice. If in doubt, you can also send an 8''x6''.pdf, 1'24x768.pdf and 16''x12''.dpf files. By writing the resolution in the filenames, this may give them a cue or they may find by themself that one is working better than the other at their unknown screen resolution.

 

[Nomad]

Just ask for the screen resolution that will be used for the presentation.

First of all, thank you Denis for your response.

I did as you suggested -- I asked them for the screen resolution they'd be using for the presentation, and received an answer of "72 dpi jpg". This was a different answer than I was hoping for, so I wrote back asking if they could tell me the width and height in pixels of the display area they'd be using for the presentation, and suggested it would probably look like one of these:

8'' x 6''
1'24 x 768
192' x 12''
etc.​

They replied that 192' x 12'' would be best. The only problem is that I discovered several of the images I have to work with came to me at a lower resolution than that to begin with. For example, when I open one image (in Photoshop, not LR), the "image size" says:

Pixel Dimensions: 1.55.M
Width: 9'' pixels
Height: 6'2 pixels

Document Size:
Width: 6 inches
Height: 4.'13 inches

Resolution: 15' pixels/inch​

Does this mean I would need to:

1. forego using images like this in the slideshow (not a good answer), or...
2. resample the image (upscale it to 192' x 1284), then crop 84 px off the short side to make it = 192' x 12''? or...
3. don't resample -- just crop the short side from 6'2 to 562.5, resulting in a new image size of 9'' x 562.5 (which proportionally = 192' x 12'')?

Also should I leave the (they call it 'Resolution' in Photoshop) unchanged at 15' pixels/inch (or whatever it happens to be), or should I convert that to 72 dpi since they said they are using "72 dpi jpgs" for the slideshow?

I thought I understood this stuff, but I feel like I'm a newbie all over again.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Brad Snyder]

1. forego using images like this in the slideshow (not a good answer), or...
2. resample the image (upscale it to 192' x 1284), then crop 84 px off the short side to make it = 192' x 12''? or...
3. don't resample -- just crop the short side from 6'2 to 562.5, resulting in a new image size of 9'' x 562.5 (which proportionally = 192' x 12'')?

[COLOR=#''''ff]Clearly the optimum answer to this depends on the slideshow tool they'll be using, but I'd go with #2, (if you're happy with the upsampling result), or #3 if you're not. I expect any reasonably competent slideshow software will scale the source images to the display dimension.[/COLOR]

Also should I leave the (they call it 'Resolution' in Photoshop) unchanged at 15' pixels/inch (or whatever it happens to be), or should I convert that to 72 dpi since they said they are using "72 dpi jpgs" for the slideshow?

Since this is nothing but a metadata field, feel free to change it within the export dialog. (I think you then have to make sure 'Minimize metadata' is *not* checked.

Thanks for your help.

.

 

[Mark Sirota]

They replied that 192' x 12'' would be best.
... they said they are using "72 dpi jpgs" for the slideshow?

I thought I understood this stuff, but I feel like I'm a newbie all over again.

Don't despair -- it's clear from their responses that they have no idea what they're talking about.

At this point, you should probably give them exactly what they're asking for, rather than trying to give them what they actually need.

Constrain your images to 192'x12'', leave the "Don't Enlarge" box unchecked, and put 72 in the resolution box. I'm confident they need something smaller, and PPI doesn't matter.

I wouldn't bother cropping to the 8:5 aspect ratio, because I think it's highly unlikely that their device actually has that aspect ratio. Just constrain to the 192'x12'' box, and let their slideshow software letterbox them appropriately.

Or, if you have more patience than I do, you could ask what model projector they're using, look up its specifications, and then do the right thing.

 

[Denis Pagé]

...they said they are using "72 dpi jpgs" for the slideshow?

I do agree entirely with Brad and Mark. That said, it is important to understand that monitors know nothing about dimensions (dpi/ppi)!

 

[Nomad]

I just wanted to drop a quick albeit belated "thank you note" to Denis, Brad, & Mark for your valuable feedback on this. I'm guessing it all worked out well (thanks to your suggestions), because I received no complaints or problems from the end-user. Thanks again & happy holidays to all!