Piwigo.org

kc27 · 2019-04-18 14:44:40

configuration dimensions file size image size optimal resolution user upload

Hello

I resize my photos to 1200 pixels on the longest edge of the image before loading them in Piwigo. Is there any reason why I should not resize them, and just send them to Piwigo at full resolution. Full resolution for me would be a 12 mb image measuring 5472 x 3648 pixels. I could keep the images at the same dimensions and compress them 70% in ImageMagick to reduce the file sizes down to about 3 mb, if that matters.

I think of a photo gallery I made in the early days of the web, where I kept the images to 300 or 400 pixels on the longest edge to accommodate dial-up speeds and monitors of the time. I recently redid that gallery to provide the viewer with a larger images. That is why I am wondering if the 1200 pixel measurement that I am using now might be a mistake, and I would be better off just uploading the images at full dimensions.

What do you think?

Piwigo 2.9.5
Operating system: Linux
PHP: 5.6.38 (Show info) [2019-04-18 07:36:02]
MySQL: 5.5.5-10.1.38-MariaDB [2019-04-18 07:36:02]
Graphics Library: External ImageMagick 6.7.8-9

Last edited by kc27 (2019-04-18 14:51:23)

plg · 2019-04-18 14:54:54

Advantage : Piwigo serves as a backup.

Inconvenient : slower to upload, disk space used on server.

kc27 · 2019-04-18 16:23:19

Thanks, having another back-up would be beneficial, and also would be helpful to give users the ability to access the high resolution files if they ever needed them.

Last edited by kc27 (2019-04-27 17:53:50)

kc27 · 2019-05-03 21:56:16

Loading Piwigo with full resolution images just did not work for me. It was doable when images were 1 to 2 MB or less, but 5 to 8 MB files added a noticeable delay before a photo was displayed. I tested with two different hosts, too. I wish it had worked. I really wanted to make the gallery function as a repository for the full resolution images, so that the full resolution file would be available for download if it was needed.

For now, I will use Piwigo to display downsized images, and going forward look for a digital asset management (DAM) solution. I think a DAM tool would seem to offer an on-screen view of images along with download capability of the full resolution file without getting bogged down as Piwigo did.

plg · 2019-05-04 11:05:13

Just for a try, please open a Piwigo.com account on https://piwigo.com/signup and tell me if you still have a "noticeable" delay before a photo is displayed.

On Piwigo, you have the "original" photo, the one you upload. Then Piwigo creates some "mutliple size" derivatives. Piwigo creates them "on demand" and then stores them in a cache. So maybe the cache generation is a bit slow on your server. You can use the Batch Manager to pre-generate the multiple size cache. This will avoid any delay when viewing photos for the first time in the gallery.

kc27 · 2019-05-04 22:05:17

OK, thanks I will do the test you suggested and report back with the results. I appreciate your advice, because I would prefer to build my gallery and archive in Piwigo.

kc27 · 2019-05-05 00:44:22

Thanks for the explanation as to why I was seeing a delay, and for suggesting testing on a piwigo.com gallery. There was a delay on the piwigo.com gallery, until I ran the "Generate multiple size images" option in Batch Manager, as you suggested. Once it had finished generating the images, the gallery images loaded instantly. The delay was gone. I repeated the test on my hosted gallery as well, and this resolved the delay there, too.

Thanks again. I really appreciate the help.

Last edited by kc27 (2019-05-05 00:51:05)

kc27 · 2019-05-06 14:58:43

I have a follow up question about how Piwigo works

You had mentioned earlier that Piwigo creates files then stores them in a cache

"On Piwigo, you have the "original" photo, the one you upload. Then Piwigo creates some "mutliple size" derivatives. Piwigo creates them "on demand" and then stores them in a cache. "

My Piwigo gallery recently had a problem where random thumbnails or full size images would not display. Instead the user would see a "broken image" file. The fix for me was to change the Piwigo config_default.inc.php file's value for the graphics library from "auto" to "gd" as shown in the code excerpt below.

// Library used for image resizing. Value could be 'auto', 'imagick',
// 'ext_imagick' or 'gd'. If value is 'auto', library will be chosen in this
// order. If chosen library is not available, another one will be picked up.
$conf['graphics_library'] = 'gd';

If the images that Piwigo needs to display have already been created and cached, why would changing the image handler correct the problem of the images that do not appear? I am just trying to understand how the software works.

kc27 · 2019-05-27 19:13:54

If you have a good hosting provider, the right hosting plan, and fast upload speeds, you will be fine. It sounds like your gallery is in a corporate environment. I that case, the constraints on speed and host server space limitations that a private user might face would not apply.

I found the fastest way to populate the albums was to upload the images via FTP, then sync Piwigo. Even then, with my 23 - 25 Mbps upload speed, I had to have patience.

Using Batch Manager to "Generate multiple size images", the full resolution images took some time to process when creating the medium size images. I created the medium size, thumbnail and square images in Batch Manager so the viewers to the gallery would not have to wait for the system to generate those files on-demand. Some forum posters have expedited the creation of Piwigo assets by creating the thumbnail, square, medium, (and whatever other image sizes they are using in their galleries) locally, then uploading them into Piwigo.

Last edited by kc27 (2019-05-27 19:21:37)

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#1 2019-04-18 14:44:40

Is There Any Advantage/Reason to Upload Photos At Full Resolution?

#2 2019-04-18 14:54:54

Re: Is There Any Advantage/Reason to Upload Photos At Full Resolution?

#3 2019-04-18 16:23:19

Re: Is There Any Advantage/Reason to Upload Photos At Full Resolution?

#4 2019-05-03 21:56:16

Re: Is There Any Advantage/Reason to Upload Photos At Full Resolution?

#5 2019-05-04 11:05:13

Re: Is There Any Advantage/Reason to Upload Photos At Full Resolution?

#6 2019-05-04 22:05:17

Re: Is There Any Advantage/Reason to Upload Photos At Full Resolution?

#7 2019-05-05 00:44:22

Re: Is There Any Advantage/Reason to Upload Photos At Full Resolution?

#8 2019-05-06 14:58:43

Re: Is There Any Advantage/Reason to Upload Photos At Full Resolution?

#9 2019-05-27 19:13:54

Re: Is There Any Advantage/Reason to Upload Photos At Full Resolution?

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