General Category => Forum Tip and Tricks => Topic started by: Driver on February 25, 2012, 07:29:21 AM
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As this seems to be a recurring theme, maybe a little info on the requirements on how to get photos up here would be helpful. Many people have commented that this is difficult when it's really not hard at all once done a few times.
From a few earlier posts:
"What is the best way to attach them to a post, and what is the preferred resolution (they were taken at 3meg pixel)?"
(Note: Always use the highest resolution you can with your digital camera. Use your computers' software to downsize it for web publishing after the fact. Pictures will be clearer, colors pop more, and detail will be much better.)
Rick also has said:
1. You can email them to him using the envelope icon by his name
2. You can batch convert them to any size using the website at irfanview (irfanview.com)
3. You can use something like photoshop to resize them to files below 128k
First I don't think people want to rely on others to get thier photos into a post they are making. Takes too long. So I'll focus on what you can do yourselves to get a photo online by yourself. Getting the post to be no more than 128K or so and using the Forum itself to "Attach" the image(s) to your post.
You need to understand that:
- Photographs need to be in Jpeg format. Not a must but for the purpose of this exercise it's the standard. Tiffs, BMPs, etc generally are too large (file size) to put up here.
- 128K refers to the file size of the picture itself. Not how big it is when viewing it. If your digital image is sitting on your computer all you need to do is right click on it (Get Info on a Mac) to check how much space it takes on a hard drive. The 128K limit is the amount of Kilobytes (K or KB) each image cannot exceed in order to use the upload file option in this forum.
- Optimum Viewable picture size is usually around 640-700 pixels wide. Personally I'd suggest 640 x 480 or the like depending on if the picture is vertical or horizontal in nature. Lately I've been using the max of 800 wide as by now EVERYONE should be running a 19" or larger flat panel by now. This is so people with smaller monitors can see it without scrolling around too much, but still maintaining enough detail to "pop". 800 is usually close to the max size for upload via most Forums as Admins will limit them. Offsite hosting allows larger ones but thats a different way of posting.
- The Forum Software will handle the uploading of the picture itself. Assuming you have these previous 3 points well in hand, the picture is sitting on your drive. Here's the step to do it. Go to the main "Reply" window, not the "Quick Reply" option and click the >Additional Options... link below the edit window. Under there you will see the option to "attach" a file. By clicking the button it will bring up a standard window asking you to pick the photo you want to upload. Select your Jpeg (.jpg) photograph on your drive and post it. If you have more, to the right of the Attach option is the "more attachments" option. Pick your first photo. Select it, then click "more attachments" for another, etc... Several (up to 8) can be done at one time.
At the bottom of the post is several attachments (png similar to a jpg) using this option but here I will use the code to show one full size
They almost always appear at the bottom of your posts (but once used to attachments you can use this code to insert an image anywhere that would look like this (ignore the word code and the outlined box)
[img]http://www.simplexservi-cycle.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=234.0;attach=1161;image[/img]
(http://www.simplexservi-cycle.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=234.0;attach=1161;image)
I think it should be said, other websites routinely take down their old articles and or threads, deleting the pictures from their servers. They don't like for people to direct link to thier pictures from other sites. Stealing their bandwidth in the process. It's better and more reliable to just use images off our own site. So if you can upload it yourself to this server, the picture stands a better chance of being around 6 months, even years from now when a newbie reads the thread for the first time. Rick will just have to get more space to store them all.
Note: There are many programs to resize your larger 3, 4-8 megapixel high res photograph to fit. Irfanview for Windoze is one, iPhoto on the Mac, Photoshop, Paintshop Pro, etc... Some even come with the camera software itself. If you follow my suggestions to size a picture to something like a 640-700 pixel width, and tell it to save as a JPEG then file size should not be a problem. If you go to the Max Forum size of 800 then make sure to save at Med Quality.
If you want a really simple way resize a image and are using Windows download the image resizer from Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx) The program is on the PowerToys Tab. Once installed you right click the image an select resize.
If you have questions. Ask. If I can't help then someone else here should be able to. Hope this helps demystify image uploading, and that I haven't muddied the water further.