Prepping Images for Multimedia and Video
I am often asked the question about the best way to prep still images for a “motion” project. Like anything else there are differences in opinion as to color space, size and type of file. With that said – here is how I prep my still photos in Photoshop.
1. Size images between 2100 and 2600 pixels. Remember everything ends ups as a horizontal on a TV screen. So these dimensions are for images that are horizontal. Vertical or square images will be smaller. There are preset sizes for film and video as well. I size them larger than need be so that I can zoom in or out or pan and scan Ken Burns style.
2. 72 Res because they will be seen on monitors
3. Color space – I use Srgb
4. Pixel Aspect ratio – photoshop images have square pixels – NTSC monitors are non-square. You have to change your pixel aspect ratio. Again there are presets in the pixel aspect ratio box.
5. Don’t sharpen images
6. Some people use de-interlace filter – test and see what you like best.
7. Export as jpeg or tiff if you want to save with layers.
8. Images with fine lines seem to jitter on the screen.
Test for yourself and see what recipe you like. Different treatments work depending on your likes and what editing platform you are using. But I try to do all my prep work before I import anything in my editing system which is Final Cut Pro.
4 Responses to 'Prepping Images for Multimedia and Video'
Subscribe to comments with RSS or TrackBack to 'Prepping Images for Multimedia and Video'.
Having just finished my first Final Cut project with stills this week it is great to see this information. I was not aware of the “/view/pixel aspect ratio” in Photoshop (using CS4). I ended up batch resizing images with image size to 720×540 (unconstain proportions) then resize to 720×480 to get the NTSC DV full size. Always something new to learn!
Hi Kevin,
It took me years to figure out why my images looked “Squished” when I brought them into a video timeline. Thanks to Adobe adding the pixel aspect ratio drop down and other video presets in photoshop, it’s a lot easier to prep still images for video.
If you use a lot of still images in video, check out this amazing plug in for Final Cut – I saw this at NAB this year and was wowed.
http://www.geethree.com/slickfx/photomotion/
Pixel aspect ratio is under the View menu in PS-CS4. I had to look.
[...] of your photography – I point you towards this Strictly Business Blog article on Prepping Images for Multimedia and Video. And if you don’t know the Strictly Business blog from the ASMP – it’s a great [...]