Best format for Pics

[SaltedWeb]

I am looking at executing my personal website to integrate with SMF.

The question is I am a professional photographer and I have never used SMF really to share my work but with the
options out there like Galleries, portals etc I was wondering how to display photos without putting a server strain
this is on a shared server for now so two questions.

1. What resolution works best in the SMF program to keep resolution at a peak but not tax the server or need a ton of resizing done by SMF.
2. Which format works best rendering these photos and keeping size minimal I am thinking PNG but not sure how SMF works to display photos so want min resources used. With optimum visual.


Thanks

[Gwenwyfar]

For photos you can use lossless JPG, it will be much smaller than anything you can do with PNG. If you are dealing with any simpler images (fewer colors), then PNG is the way to go, but photos are normally the big exception.

As for size, really depends on what you're trying to do. Why not any resolution you intend on displaying it on? Maybe twice the size at most (for some screens).

[Sir Osis of Liver]

I resize and tweak my photos before uploading to gallery, with the understanding that how they will look to others depends on what they're being viewed on.  I don't see very well (not helpful for photography ), edit my images on a 23" hd display set to reduced resolution (1280x800), resize to 650 max dimension (that's what the gallery limit is set to), and save as jpg.  The look fine to me, and few, if any, of my forum members have as large a display as mine, so they should look better to them.  Unless you're posting images for members to download and print, or for professional use/distribution, high resolution/large format is wasted for viewing on a typical desktop/mobile display.

[Gwenwyfar]

The thing with doubling the image size is screen resolution, not monitor size. So for an image you'd display at 600px you can use 1200px if you want it to look absolutely the best. For photos 1.5x the size should be good enough for most cases though.

[SaltedWeb]

For photos you can use lossless JPG, it will be much smaller than anything you can do with PNG. If you are dealing with any simpler images (fewer colors), then PNG is the way to go, but photos are normally the big exception.

As for size, really depends on what you're trying to do. Why not any resolution you intend on displaying it on? Maybe twice the size at most (for some screens).

I am trying to keep my photos off places like Flickr and FB and try and direct to a place, and to display the work I do, SMF is actually structured in such a way it can group areas nicely add a portal and its even better at that in my opinion :-)

I resize and tweak my photos before uploading to gallery, with the understanding that how they will look to others depends on what they're being viewed on.  I don't see very well (not helpful for photography ), edit my images on a 23" hd display set to reduced resolution (1280x800), resize to 650 max dimension (that's what the gallery limit is set to), and save as jpg.  The look fine to me, and few, if any, of my forum members have as large a display as mine, so they should look better to them.  Unless you're posting images for members to download and print, or for professional use/distribution, high resolution/large format is wasted for viewing on a typical desktop/mobile display.

I wouldn't be needing to sell the pictures or download them, in fact I prefer people don't but in todays world if its on the net it downloadable.
But as mentioned above its just for showing the work at its best without taxing too much on the shared server.

Thanks guys and gals appreciate the input I now can have a clearer way to do this project.

[lurkalot]

I always use jpeg for photos, also as mentioned above I also resize mine before uploading to my gallery, or forum posts.  It amazes me just how big the image files are that some people try to upload, so unnecessary.

[Jailer]

But as mentioned above its just for showing the work at its best without taxing too much on the shared server.

Have you considered an external hosting script for your forum? I run Chevereto for my forum pic hosting. It integrates well with SMF and you can set it up in a way that works best for you IE: original size pics hosted on server, medium sized pics displayed in forum and linked back to originals. If the pic hosting ends up being too much for your shared hosting you would also have the option of an external CDN.

https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=556300.0

[SaltedWeb]

But as mentioned above its just for showing the work at its best without taxing too much on the shared server.

Have you considered an external hosting script for your forum? I run Chevereto for my forum pic hosting. It integrates well with SMF and you can set it up in a way that works best for you IE: original size pics hosted on server, medium sized pics displayed in forum and linked back to originals. If the pic hosting ends up being too much for your shared hosting you would also have the option of an external CDN.

https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=556300.0

Thanks lurkalot, as you mentioned the size is what I am trying to manage,  Jailer, I do have an account where I could do that but I think my Hosting would frown on it too much especially if I was making the majority of the site for that . I will probably go back to my own server later in 2018 just money is tight so trying to do it on the cheap. I have too many irons in the fire so trying to keep it simple for myself right now.