Image quality, format, resolution for web images

[Boro]

I'm looking to take some photographs of products for a website. The max filesize allowed is 300kb and I'd like to have as clearer an image as possible with quick load times.

Which is the best format to save them in and should I be taking them in RAW then saving as PNG, JPG, etc?

Also, is PPI/DPI an issue for this as I'm not printing anything, just web use.

Thanks

[Simpo Two]

JPG (I use compression 10 or 11) and 800px wide or 700px high - or whatever size you want them to be. Larger images with high detail will need more compression. Sharpen carefully after resizing.

Pixels are pixels, there are no inches online.

[DIW35]

I find jpg with 800px on the longest side, saved at a compression quality that gives a file size of 125 - 130kb gives a decent image that loads quite quickly.

[flat-planedCrank]

Is this to be a small image for a product page and then 'click to zoom' for the main image?

If so, the small product image should have as minimal a filesize as possible - good for mobile users, good for general user experience as it loads very fast.

See if you can get away with in terms of filesize for these smaller images, it'll depend what the product is too (lots of flat colour compresses well, lots of tiny detail will require less compression and larger filesize to look ok).

(^ Tbh this could all be handled by the websites CMS so you may not have to worry about smaller 'thumbnail' type images at all)





For full-size images I'd go with the above advice (quality as usual on PH )

Tbh 300kb is a large image.
E.g. If you look at this amazon product page - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-D3200-Digital-Camera... the large image you see in the magnifier is only around 230kb. So if you have a fixed resolution your images could be way smaller than 300kb (again this depends on what the product is. E.g. a photo of a TV will compress much more efficiently than a photo of a patch-work quilt)



Yup, DPI has no influence on images for the web




Hope this hasn't overcomplicated things

[RobDickinson]

Shoot them jpg if you can set manual white balance otherwise raw.

Read up on downsampling and correct sharpening.