High-resolution Photography and Web Design
Recently, a company I frequently partner with, Devens Design’s (http://www.devensdesign.com/) owner Brandon inquired about product photography size in terms of 4k, 5k, and now 8k displays. Specifically, for websites to scale properly photos will need to be available in much larger sizes to accommodate these incredibly high resolution displays.
[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]If you are planning on spending money on product photography you should consider the future requirements of your imaging.[/pullquote]
In other words, the resolution of a file that comes out my Canon 5D Mark III professional DSLR camera is 22.3 megapixels. This translates into a file that is 5760 x 3840. 4K resolution is a bit shy of the cameras capabilities providing a dimension of 3840×2160 (roughly 8 megapixels). 5120×2880 is the resolution of the 5k monitors currently available, which is almost matching the quality of of the 5D Mark III output, and exceeding the quality of many decent modern digital cameras that output less than 20megapixles.
What You Should Know
What does this mean for prospective photography clients? If you are planning on spending money on product photography you should consider the future requirements of your imaging. The images you currently have, or plan to get soon may require upsizing, which will cause the images to lose quality. In a world where super large images, and full-screen images are reigning in web-design you should make sure you future proof your images.
[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]iMac’s are now coming with 5k displays. Web designers will ask for high-resolution photos! Be ready![/pullquote]
If you are considering hiring a photographer for product photography, ensure that your photos will meet the needs of 4K displays (and UltraHD displays) that are becoming inexpensive and popular. It’s safe to assume in the next two years, virtually all TV’s available will be in 4K, as all the 1080P models are phased out. Higher resolution panels will be less expensive to produce, and you will also start seeing PC / Mac displays declining in price, and increasing resolution.
Product Photography
It’s also important to remember, you likely can’t see the difference between a 4k 27” monitor and a 5k 27” monitor. After all, it takes a keen eye to identify the difference between a standard resolution 27” screen vs. a 5k screen. However, it’s important to remember as resolution increases, everything on a screen gets smaller. Web designers currently code alternate images for high-resolution images, and now web designers need to code alternate image for many iMac’s that are now coming with 5k displays. Web designers will ask for high-resolution photos! Be ready!