As an artist, the quality of your print images is of the utmost importance when it comes to selling your artwork online. When your images don't meet the requirements for print quality, your customers may be left with unsatisfactory reproductions of your work.
In this article, we will provide guidance on supported formats and requirements, how to resize images to fit aspect ratio, and also how to photograph your artwork for print reproduction ensuring that your print images meet the highest standards of quality on your Art Storefronts website.
If you are looking for specific instructions on how to add new products to your Art Print Store, please see our detailed guide on how to Upload Images for Print On Demand Products
Table of Contents
Terminology
Before we continue, it's important to establish clear definitions for the terms we'll be using in this article. This will help ensure a mutual understanding of the terminology and avoid any confusion.
DPI/PPI - Dots (Pixels) Per Inch of a printed piece. This measurement is commonly used in printing to determine the quality and sharpness of an image. A typical DPI for printing is 300, which means there are 300 pixels in every inch of the printed image.
Image File Format - Image file format refers to the type of file that an image is saved as, such as JPG, PNG, or TIFF. Different image file formats have different characteristics, including compression methods, color support, and transparency capabilities. Image format is usually added as an extension of the image name, for example flowers.jpg, or landscape.png
Image File Size- In this context, "file size" refers to the amount of space an image file takes up on a computer's storage device, typically measured in megabytes (MB). It is determined by a combination of factors, including the image's resolution, color depth, compression, and file format. A larger file size generally means the image has higher quality and resolution.
Image File Resolution-File resolution refers to the number of pixels that make up an image, typically measured in width x height (e.g. 1920x1080 pixels). It is a measure of the level of detail that can be captured in the image. Higher resolution images have more pixels and can be printed at larger sizes without becoming pixelated or blurry, but also tend to have larger file sizes. Lower resolution images have fewer pixels and may look pixelated or blurry when printed at larger sizes, but tend to have smaller file sizes
Aspect Ratio-aspect ratio refers to the proportional relationship between the width and height of an image. It is expressed as a ratio, such as 3:2 or 16:9 and is important for ensuring that an image retains its intended shape and dimensions when resized for printing. Your images can be of any aspect ratio, whether it's landscape, portrait, or square oriented. Art Storefronts website can accept any size, with the only limit being the maximum printable size.
Image File Color Profile (Space)- Embedded color space refers to the color model or color space that is used to encode the color information in an image file. Common embedded color spaces include sRGB, Adobe RGB, and ProPhoto RGB. The choice of color space can have an impact on how the colors in the image are displayed and reproduced, as different color spaces have different gamuts or ranges of colors they can represent.
Supported Image Formats, Requirements, and Limits
Your fulfillment vendor partners have specific requirements for the images that are uploaded to your site for Print On Demand purposes. If your images do not meet these requirements, it could result in delays when orders are placed for unsupported images. In such a case, you may need to either cancel the order or provide your vendor with a new image that meets the requirements. It is recommended to replace the unsupported image on your site with the new image to avoid such issues in the future.
Below is a list of supported formats, size maximums, and color profiles for image printing. Please note that all of our fulfillment vendors can print images as low as 72DPI.
Image Formats and Requirements for Bay Photo Labs
Supported formats are JPG, TIF, and PNG. (JPG is recommended)
Files should be under 100 Megabytes in size
Files should be under 200 Megapixels in resolution
8-bit RGB files only
Embedded color space should be either sRGB or Adobe RGB
Image Formats and Requirements for Graphik Dimensions
Supported formats are JPG, PNG and TIF.
Files should be under 100 Megabytes in size
Files should be under 200 Megapixels in resolution
8-bit RGB files only
Embedded color space should be either sRGB or Adobe RGB
Image Formats and Requirements for PrintPartner
Print Partner is a Vendor from Ontario, Canada, and for connected Art Storefronts sites they support printing of images down to 72DPI. For information about printable size limits for their different media types (which is separate from the printable size ranges generated by the platform) you can refer to the product information on their site here: https://www.printpartner.ca/
Supported formats are JPG, TIF, PDF and PSD
Files should be under 100 Megabytes in size
Files should be under 200 Megapixels in resolution
8-bit RGB files only
Embedded color space should be Adobe RGB.
Image Resolution and Print Sizes
At Art Storefronts, the process of determining print sizes is unique compared to other platforms due to the large variety of sizes available for printing. When you upload an image as the source for your prints, the system reads its resolution and aspect ratio and generates a list of available print sizes. Images with higher resolution will have more potential print sizes, while lower resolution images will have a limited range or may not be printable at all. It's recommended to always upload your highest resolution images to ensure access to largest print sizes possible.
If you don't have photos or scans of your work yet and you're unsure about what resolution you need, or you wish to determine the sizes you can offer on the images you have, you can refer to the table below to support your desired print size.
Desired Maximum Print Size (inches) | Best Resolution (300PPI) | Acceptable Resolution (150PPI) |
8x10 | 2400x3000px | 1200x1500px |
10x12 | 3000x3600px | 1500x1800px |
16x20 | 4800x6000px | 2400x3000px |
20x30 | 6000x9000px | 3000x4500px |
30x40 | 9000x12000px | 4500x6000px |
Art Storefronts has a limit of 200 megapixels (or 200MP) for images uploaded to the platform. For example, the best resolution presented in the table for 30x40 inch Print Sizes - 9000 x 12000 pixels would be 108 megapixels.
To determine the megapixel count of your image, you can use this tool: https://toolstud.io/photo/megapixel.php.
Important: If you attempt to upload images larger than 200 megapixels, the platform will be unable to process the image and will be stuck at "Processing uploaded image". If this happens and you determine that the image is over 200MP, you will need to reduce the size of the image to under 200MP before it will be able to be uploaded. (You can reload the Site Manager page to get out of that stuck process)
Note: While prints at the maximum printable size can be purchased, it is important to keep in mind that there are many factors involved in the printing process that can impact the quality of the final product. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that the prints will meet your expectations in terms of quality. If you have any doubts or concerns, we highly recommend ordering a test print. This article will walk you through placing a Self-Made order on your site
How Product Images Are Displayed On Your Website
When it comes to displaying images on your Art Storefronts site, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, high resolution images that are uploaded to the site will only be visible in the store page and will be accessible to the artist and vendor for printing purposes. To learn how to upload your images for print on demand products, and display them on the website, click here.
However, for display purposes, the website will automatically generate a lower resolution preview of 700x700 pixels.
Here, you can see what an image on the live site looks like at 700px by 700px.
To provide a more detailed view of the artwork, customers can use the zoom-in preview feature. The size of the zoom-in preview can range from 1000x1000 to 3000x3000 pixels, providing a more detailed and immersive viewing experience. By offering both lower and higher-resolution options, we ensure that your artwork is displayed in the best possible way while also protecting your images from unauthorized use. Here, you can see what an image on the live site looks like at 1000px by 1000px.
Image Security and your Art Storefronts Website
Art Storefronts has implemented several measures to ensure the highest level of security for our customers' images. To protect against unauthorized downloading or copying, we have disabled the right-click and drag-to-desktop functions on our website. In addition, we automatically generate a low-resolution preview of 700x700 pixels for public viewing, while high-resolution images are only accessible to the artist and the vendor for printing purposes.
Your website has site-wide SSL with top-tier encryption technology to safeguard all data transmitted on our platform. Although it is not possible to completely prevent someone from taking a screenshot, watermarking your images provides an extra layer of protection against unauthorized use. To learn how to add a watermark, check out our article on Watermarks.
Image Adjustments Made by Your Fulfillment Vendors.
It's important to keep in mind that vendors may need to slightly adjust images to fit the print size selected for an order. These adjustments can include cropping, resizing, or color adjustments. While some changes might be necessary to ensure the best quality print, others might be unwanted and result in a final product that doesn't match your expectations.
If you want to learn more about the image adjustments made by fulfillment vendors and how to prevent unwanted changes, we recommend reading our article on Image Adjustments Made by Your Fulfillment Vendors: When, Why, and How to Avoid Them This article provides detailed information on the types of adjustments that might be made, why they are necessary, and tips on how to avoid any undesirable changes.