Taking and Posting Pics

[Senator]

So I searched around a little for a better place to post this and I searched for relevant posts and I feel really lame for posting this so go easy on me. 

How do you all go about taking and posting pics.  I used my daughters camera, shes 13 and knows this sh1t a lot better than me, took some pics for my project announcement, but they are over a meg and won't post.

Some questions, do you lower the res on the camera before taking the pics or do you take and then reduce using software, and if so what software.  My kid says Paint will do it but I tried and that dont work too well.  Do I need to buy some software or is there a freeware that'll reduce the resolution of a jpg? It seems the camera software won't do it either.

I know equipment has a lot to do with it but also, what settings do you use on your camera?  Again, I don't really even know what I'm asking but any friendly help is appreciated.

How do you post em so that the click enlarges, that is a nice feature.

I gained a lot of knowledge here and used it to build an awesome cp so I want to share and its very frustrating that my technological ignorance is holding me back.   

[ahofle]

In your software, look for an option to 'resize' the image.  Make it around 1024x768 or so and that should bring the size way down.
You could also use a free web hosting service like http://imageshack.us/ which will resize it for you and host it for free.

[superbigjay]

In your software, look for an option to 'resize' the image.  Make it around 1024x768 or so and that should bring the size way down.
You could also use a free web hosting service like http://imageshack.us/ which will resize it for you and host it for free.

I usually do ahofle trick, I keep the full res on the original pic (about 1mb) and then use acdsee (or any image editor that allow you to resize) to 600x480, 800x600 or 1024x768 depending on how detailed the picture needs to be.
At those dimensions, the files are way smaller in size...

And again, as ahofle said, if you need to host a real big image (more than the 512K limitation), you could use a web hosting service and use the "insert image" button on top of the smiley icons.

Jay. 

[shock_]

I use Irfanview since it's free, lightweight, opens just about anything and doubles as a nice fast-to-load viewer.  Let me know if you need help finding the right screen in it.

A colleague recommended Faststone the other day but I'm yet to try it.

Regards the autosizing-in-place thing, I think that's a built-in feature of the forum software which works automatically on any image as small as 640 x 480 (or 480x640). 

[Rabbi Bob]

Along with the resolution, 72dpi is usually enough for web content pictures.  Irfanview has a slide setting when saving to accomplish this.   

[leapinlew]

Download Microsoft's image resizer. It's free, easy to use and is very small.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Install/2/WXP/EN-US/ImageResizerPowertoySetup.exe

Once installed, you can right click an image and select resize. You can also select multiple images to resize at once.

To post them - click the "Additional Options" text at the bottom of the window when your typing your email. (see attached pic) 

[Cakemeister]

I just use GIMP and resize the images with the "best quality" option.

[XyloSesame]

I just use GIMP and resize the images with the "best quality" option.

Another vote for GIMP. There's a bit of a learning curve, but this is the best open-source editor I've found if you can't afford (or don't want to pay) for editing software. Irfanview is good as well, as long as you don't need to crop/edit the photos.

[Donkey_Kong]

Regards the autosizing-in-place thing, I think that's a built-in feature of the forum software which works automatically on any image as small as 640 x 480 (or 480x640). 

I have found that on this forum it is really nice to size pics to 600 or 640 pixels wide. 640 is the max before getting a pop up tab/window when you click it...It is nice if your pic stays within the same tab.

Also, if you take a really good shot, with good lighting and a steady hand, 600 wide will do your photo justice. IMO it is actually the best size to display pretty much any photo on the web.

I use adobe photo shop elements 3.0 and am happy with it. If I wasn't happy with it I would be checking out the free MSN thing that LeapinLew pointed out.

my 2 cents. 

[xmenxmen]

When taking picture, set the size at the max.  Much easier to shrink and retain quality than enlarge a small picture.

As for resizing, I also use Irfanview.  Quite easy to use, and most importantly handles about every pic format out there and SUPER fast and lightweight.  I use to use acdsee, but it's too huge now for basic task.  For other task, I turn to photoshop.

[leapinlew]

What is the deal with all you guys using these massive tools to shrink a picture to put on the internet? I mean, damn. Dude just wants to post pictures online.

Just download the resizer program unless you want to learn a bunch of crap just to shrink pics to post online. You want to start cropping, adjusting levels and adding effects - then check out photoshop and gimp. Otherwise, just download resizer from microsoft which I referenced above.

[Senator]

Thanks guys, I'll give one of these a go when I get home tonight.

[Rabbi Bob]

What is the deal with all you guys using these massive tools

I use my massive tools whenever I can! 

[Senator]

testing, testing

I used Lew's suggested MS deal...I thought I was on that Staples commercial - That Was Easy.

You dont need to open a software or even open a file.  Just right click on the file and 'resize' is now on the shortcut menu, very nice.

[leapinlew]

Looks good - and you used the microsoft program. Good for you.

So, thats your CP? Looks real nice. Dust washers underneath the CP? I'm sure no one on this board would object to that.

[Senator]

Yeah, good lookin out on that dust washers tip, Lew.  I'm gonna go post these over on that other thread now