I love the rain. I want the feeling of it on my face.
Katherine Mansfield
Occasionally I stumble upon interesting images on websites. And given that I am a digital squirrel, I frequently like to get a copy. And yeah, no matter what you see, you can always do a screenshot (Mac: command + shift + 3 for the whole screen or command + shift + 4 for a selection). But sometimes the images are available in a larger format. Larger even than if you can use right-click and «Save Image As …».
For example, if you open the image in a new window/tab or copy the link and look at it in a text editor, you might see something like this:
https://unherd.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/GettyImages-1300112384-scaled-1-1024x630.jpg
From the link you see that they use WordPress as a content management system (wp-content) and you see a -scaled-1-1024x630 behind part of the file name. Just remove it but keep the extension (.jpg):
https://unherd.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/GettyImages-1300112384.jpg
and you get the image before it was scaled down by the content management system.
Added bonus, the original file still has the EXIF information, so you see that the photo was made with a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II (70 mm, f/5.6, 1/1600). You also get the Description, incl. the photographer («LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 03: Covid-19 messaging is seen on the advertising hoarding at Piccadilly Circus during the UK’s third national lockdown on February 03, 2021 in London, England . (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)»).
In general, just look at the link and find out which parts have to be removed. For example, with:
https://img.nzz.ch/2022/09/07/ff94e18e-2efd-429a-82e5-ff166e3df3db.jpeg?width=976&height=650&fit=bounds&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=4713,3142,x0,y0
it’s the part after the file ending (?width=976&height=650&fit=bounds&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=4713,3142,x0,y0) that scales the image down to a width of 976 and a height of 650.
If you open the link without that part:
https://img.nzz.ch/2022/09/07/ff94e18e-2efd-429a-82e5-ff166e3df3db.jpeg
you get a much larger image.
Of course, it doesn’t work with all websites. The publisher has to have the original file that is then scaled down. But sometimes it does work.
