Question About Difference in Size of Photos When moving to external hard drive: I am concerned about saving photos to my external hard drives. A photo on the computer says it is 11MB...

MaryFran Loc: Front Royal, VA

I am concerned about saving photos to my external hard drives. A photo on the computer says it is 11MB and shows up as a JPG. When I transfer that photo to an external hard drive going the route of "file, export" or through finder, it shows up on my external hard drive as a jpg and with only 3.8MB. If I drag the same photo from the computer to the external hard drive, it shows up as a JPG with the same 11MB as it has on the computer. Am I losing something of the picture by going "file, export" rather than just dragging it? Should I be saving all my photos by dragging them? And, if I drag the jpg from the external hard drive to my desk top, it remains the 3.8MB

What is the difference between a jpg and a JPG? Will there be any difference between prints made from these two shots? Thanks.

BigOldArt Loc: Seminole, FL

MaryFran wrote:

I am concerned about saving photos to my external ... (show quote)

You did not mention what software you are using. Are you just using functions from your operating system or are you saving/exporting from a program/app?

For example, in <saving as> in Photoshop you have an opportunity to adjust the degree of compression for JPEG format files.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

MaryFran wrote:

I am concerned about saving photos to my external ... (show quote)

Mary
I always drag the image or the file to the external drives

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

MaryFran wrote:

I am concerned about saving photos to my external ... (show quote)

If you are exporting from LrC it is most likely you have a size or dimension limit in place. If you need to move images why not just copy and past them in your computers "finder"?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

There is NO difference in the jpg/JPG/jpeg/JPEG nomenclature. They are simply letters used as the file extension (type).

lukevaliant Loc: gloucester city,n. j.

BobHartung wrote:

If you are exporting from LrC it is most likely you have a size or dimension limit in place. If you need to move images why not just copy and past them in your computers "finder"?

what is computer finder?

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

lukevaliant wrote:

what is computer finder?

Surely you jest!!

TomHackett Loc: Kingston, New York

I agree with everyone who has recommended dragging the file in Finder. You can also use Copy and Paste Item within Finder. If you use File > Export in LrC, there are a host of options that can be set. Even using the Lightroom Preset "Burn Full-Sized JPEGs," you may see differences. (I tried with a handy jpeg, and it actually increased in size on export!)

The same is true with Photoshop, which has even more options. By the way, as far as I know there is no difference between JPEG and .jpg, other than the context where they are used. .jpg is the extension, whereas JPEG is the name of the format (like .xmp is the extension used for an XMP Sidecar file).

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

TomHackett wrote:

I agree with everyone who has recommended dragging... (show quote)

WHY not just drag then into the folder they will reside in ?

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

On a Mac it is called "Finder". On Windows it is "Windows Explorer". It is a program you run to access your file file directories
.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

BobHartung wrote:

On a Mac it is called "Finder". On Windows it is "Windows Explorer". It is a program you run to access your file file directories
.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

If you have any file size adjusters that are active it will change the exported file. In the diag. below, the two blue check boxes show both of the options that will change the exported image if either one is checked, or alternatively, having the Quality slider at less than 100% will result in compression on export.

However, since you are exporting as jpg, the export tool is possibly doing its own jpg compression even without any file size adjusters being active. That would account for the change in file size.

As a general rule it's better to use the operating system to move things about in the computer - unless you're moving files within the Lr library, in which case you need to use the library to do the moving.
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(Download)

User ID

BigOldArt wrote:

You did not mention what software you are using. Are you just using functions from your operating system or are you saving/exporting from a program/app?

For example, in <saving as> in Photoshop you have an opportunity to adjust the degree of compression for JPEG format files.

He did specify. He is comparing "file export" to dragging.

Try reading more slowly, possibly aloud, to your cat. File exporting is not simply moving. Exporting can change the file to a png, a pdf, etc, so it can certainly further compress a jpg. Its all in the parameters the user assigns to the task of file exporting.

OTOH, dragging is simply moving files from pillar to post using ONLY the OS, no intrusive apps involved. Dragging is merely an option in the user interface, same as <highlight and right click> which brings up the <copy> and <move> options in a menu ... again using ONLY the OS with no app involved.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

I find that "export" usually reduces files size.

JPGs are compressed versions of a file. How much compression is selectable. Moving a file does not change it in any way. Exporting does. How much depends on the program doing the exporting.

User ID

PHRubin wrote:

I find that "export" usually reduces files size.

JPGs are compressed versions of a file. How much compression is selectable. Moving a file does not change it in any way. Exporting does. How much depends on the program doing the exporting.

Yes, and that "how much" is set within the app menus by the user.