If you're an Artist on the Art Storefronts platform, there are some things you may want to know about images before you begin uploading them. We'd like to give you a brief tour of the basics of what kind of images you should upload, their sizes, and how they display on the platform. Let's go ahead and get into it.

1. Accepted File Types

2. File Preparation

2.1 Graphik Dimensions

2.2 Bay Photo

2.3 Print Partner

3. Upload Size Limit

4. Calculating Sizes as an Automated Fulfillment Artist

4.1 Graphik Dimensions

4.2 Bay Photo

4.3 Print Partner

5. Displaying Images on the Live Site

6. Image Security

Because you will primarily be using an Art Print Store on your website, we want to briefly cover what kinds of files you can upload into an Art Print Store. We've included a list below:

If you're looking to upload a file type that is not listed here, the image will not upload to your Art Print Store.

To make sure your image file is in RGB, check the file info or image settings in your image editing program. Additionally, for optimum expected results make sure that your image file has an embedded Adobe RGB or sRGB color space profile. Please note, Graphik will honor the profile that is present in the image records and does not alter the coloration or auto-color-correct. If an uploaded image doesn't have an embedded profile, a standard sRGB profile will be added to the image in order to normalize it. For more information, please read Image File Specifications.
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To try and reduce page loading times on your site, Art Storefronts has implemented a hard limit of 100mb. If you attempt to upload images that are larger than 100mb, the platform will not allow the image to be uploaded and you will receive an error message letting you know the image is too large. Keep this in mind as you're working on your images and uploading them to Art Storefronts.

There is also a limit to the upload size in terms of Megapixels. Art Storefronts has a limit of 200 Megapixels. You could always find the exact pixel size of your image here: Tool Studio. If you attempt to upload images above the 200 Megapixel size, the platform will not allow the image to be processed and will be stuck at "Processing uploaded image". To calculate the Megapixel size of your image, you just have to multiply the dimensions of your image. For example, if you have an image with the dimensions 1920 W and 1080 H;

Calculation

Calculating sizes on Art Storefronts works a little differently than many other platforms because you are setting up products that will be printed at a large number of different sizes, and we want to make sure that you will be creating the best prints that you can.

When you upload an image to an Art Storefronts site to use as the source image from which your prints will be created, the system starts by reading the resolution of the image (it’s width and height in pixels), and then generates a list of sizes that the image can be printed at. Higher resolution images will generate larger print sizes, but lower resolution images will only generate a small range of potential sizes (or in some cases, will not be printable at all).

The best piece of advice we can offer here is to always upload the highest resolution images that you have. Don’t downscale or shrink your images before uploading them, even if they’re larger than are needed for your target print size.

If you haven’t taken photos or scans of your work yet, and are wondering what resolution you need for these images, you can use this table to determine what size will be best given the largest print size you wish to be offering.

If you already have photos or scans and know what resolution these are, you can use this table to determine what sizes you may be able to offer based on their resolution.

To learn more about creating a self-made order, you can refer to this article: Everything You Need To Know About Self-Made and Wholesale Orders

For small print sizes (under 10x12in) that are 72PPI, these may not give you the best prints, especially when viewed up close where they may lack detail. However for very large print sizes where the optimal viewing distance is further away, this relative lack of detail is no longer noticeable unless the image is viewed from up close. For prints above 10x12in 150DPI will usually be fine, and for prints above 16x20 even 72DPI can look acceptable (although the style of the artwork or photograph can affect this).

To manually determine the maximum print sizes at different DPI values for an image, this can be calculated from the resolution of the image as follows.

For 300DPI: print size = (width / 300) x (height / 300)

For a 3000x4000px image, this is (3000/300) x (4000/300), or 10x13.3”

For 150DPI: print size = (width / 150) x (height / 150)

For a 3000x4000px image, this is (3000/150) x (4000/150) or 20x26.6”

For 72DPI: print size = (width / 72) x (height / 72)

For a 3000x4000px image, this is (3000/72) x (4000/72) or 41.7x55.6”

Graphik Dimensions is a Vendor from North Carolina and for Art Storefronts, 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.asfprints.com/

Bay Photo is a Vendor from California and for Art Storefronts, 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://art.bayphoto.com/

Print Partner is a Vendor from Ontario, Canada and for Art Storefronts, 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/

If you don't understand this formula or you have any questions about it, please email cs@artstorefronts.com.

Since you now know how to upload images to your site and the restrictions and requirements for those images, let's chat about how images display on the live site.

Regardless of how large an image is when you upload it, it is going to only be shown as a 700px by 700px image when customers are going through the buying process. The reason we've done this is to protect your image. Image security is paramount at Art Storefronts, so the images on your live site will not scale to larger that 700px by 700px unless someone uses the zoom tool. At that point it will display as 1000px by 1000px. Below, we've included a screenshot of what an image looks like on the live site using the 700px by 700px and the 1000px by 1000px.

Here, you can see what an image on the live site looks like at 700px by 700px.

Here, you can see what an image on the live site looks like at 1000px by 1000px.

If you're an Artist on the Art Storefronts Platform, there are some things you may want to know about images before you begin uploading them. We'd like to give you a brief tour of the basics on what kind of images you should upload, their sizes and how they display on the platform. Let's go ahead and get into it.

ASF has implemented maximum security measures to protect our customers' images, and we have taken it far further than any other art/photography website provider and will continue to do so based on any web updates.

This includes:

Unfortunately, there is no way to prevent someone from taking a screenshot of your website. This will only give them a low resolution image, but technically, anyone can do this. Therefore the best way to give yourself maximum protection is to watermark your images, similar to how it is done on mainstream stock photography websites.