A Lesson in Photo Sizing

When Mindy wrote me about my post on photos for SoundSlides, she ultimately asked about why the photos had been cut off. I was traveling when I received her message, and looked at the post on my laptop. Sure enough, the photos were trimmed on each side. I figured that that the center column was narrower than 800 pixels, so I planned on re-sizing the photos and creating a new post.

Tonight, when I began working on the new post, I looked at the post once more…and the photos were not cut off at all! Why the difference? At my desk, I use a dual-monitor setup with a laptop screen and a 22″ wide-format flat-panel display. When I look at this blog on the wide screen, there is no photo cut off. It’s only when I bring the sides of the browser window in as I reduce the size that I begin to see photo cropping. Here, then, is the question:

How wide should I assume my viewer’s screen will be? In class, we discussed the reason for the size of our finished photographs, and the fact that they should fit on most screens if displayed as a SoundSlide project. That’s fine, but we have to acknowledge that there will be some viewers who set things up in ways that lead to the photos being cut off or shrunk in various interesting ways. I work for one publication that still insists that all screen shots accompanying articles be captured at 800 x 600 resolution, a resolution far lower than most people currently use. In my case, the large monitor is displaying 1680 x 1050 pixels, while the laptop is displaying 1280 x 800. Who’s right? In a technology environment that sees rapid changes in product capability, what do we assume that our readers can use to see our photos, videos, and stories? It’s an interesting question, and I look forward to various answers. Me? I’m still making up my mind…