Sending large files

Sending large photos and files via email can prove a challenge, as most email programs limit the amount of megabites you can send and receive at one time. Here are a two different ways to send photos through your email and start sharing your memories with clients, friends and family in a matter of minutes. Firstly, you could reduce the size of your images but you will lose quality and the photos may pixelate. The second option is to use a third party website.

It would help if you knew the requirements of the people that you are sending the images to. For example, a website developer might not need a high resolution file, so you could downsize them before sending. But if you are sending photos to be printed in a large format (e.g. to a relative to print onto a canvas) you will need to send the largest file possible. Just make sure you ask what they need first.

1. Reduce the size: There are two main ways to reduce the file size. One is to resize the image (reduce the number of pixels). The other is to compress/zip the file (right-click the file icon on most machines).

You shouldn't lose quality when downsizing (although your images will be smaller) but you can lose quality when compressing the image. And jpeg files are already compressed so you won't save too much memory by zipping them.

Compressed files are good if your recipients just want to view them, but if they want something to print it's probably best not to shrink or compress the image.

It also depends on the number of images that you are sending. If it's only a few, send one at a time. But if there lots of images, it might be better to use a third party website.

2. Third Party Website: Some of these include wetransfer.com and hightail.com (formerly yousendit.com) where you can sign up (for free) and 'email' your files. If you have a free account and you want to send multiple files you will need to 'zip' them into a single file. (Put them into a folder and zip the folder). Another great option is dropbox.com. This handy little website lets you share a folder on your computer with anyone you invite via their email address. And it's free!