Posting Photos

[metalspinner]

DanG,
I don't know how to do that on my camera.  Asked wifey and she doesn't know either.   There are many little bottons on this camera that I have learned to ignore. :-[   I posted some pics tonight and compressed them down to "30" on the slide scale thing and they posted fine.  And I do reduce them to 400 pixels on the longest dimension.

Where do you see the "30kb" designation on the XAT program?

[DanG]

MS, I would think your camera has a "Menu" button.  Punch that and it should tell you what size your pics will be.

You should be able to tell the file size of the pic in your computer by right clicking on the photo and going to properties, or just position the cursor on it and it may tell you the file size automatically.  Just be sure you're looking at the actual photo, and not just a thumbnail of it.

[Jeff]

In XAT, the file size is displayed on the top of the individual picture window you are working in.

[metalspinner]

Thanks,
I will see what happens to my pic sizes without compression.  They seem to be really small - in the 7000 - 13000 bytes rang.  Not even in the kilo-bytes range yet.  Isn't a kilo-byte 1000 bytes? :-\

[SwampDonkey]

I always size it to 400 pixels on the long side first, then compress in Photoshop 7 using the 'save for web' utility.

[jkj]

I always size it to 400 pixels on the long side first, then compress in Photoshop 7 using the 'save for web' utility.

I uploaded my first picture this morning.  Yippie!  I also use Photoshop. (my day job involves 3D modeling and animation, photography, video, etc) 

Photoshop's Save for Web is in fact the most efficient way I know to prepare images for electronic transfer.  You are not limited to using PS 7 - I don't rember when Adobe first included Save for Web but I've been using it for years. It is even included in the consumer version of Photoshop, Photoshop Elements with a slightly different user interface.  This command turns what can be a frustrating trial-and-error session into a simple procedure.  Here are the steps for Photoshop in case anyone is interested:


- Load image, rotate, crop, and color correct as needed

- Choose File/Save for Web
--- Note: I use either the Optimized or the 2-Up display tab at the top of the screen

- Resize the image
--- Click the Image Size tab on the right, enter the size (I used 400 width), click Apply
--- Note: resizing can also be done before entering this Save to Web dialog

- Click the Optimize Menu button (small triangle in circle, above to the right)

- Choose Optimize to File Size from the menu

- Type the desired file size (35) and click OK
--- Note: the new file size will be shown under the optimized image

- Click the Save button and save the file with a new name


Photoshop is not free, but in my opinion well worth it if you need to work with graphics, and especially if you are the kind of person who values good tools!  It does seem a touch odd that someone who would never be caught with cheap tools will beat head repeatedly against wall to avoid buying good software tools.  The Photoshop Elements program (the consumer version of Photoshop) costs less than a cordless drill on sale at Home Depot.

JKJ

My first photo: Sawing short pieces for woodturning blanks

[DanG]

Good job on the pic, jkj! 8)  You should put it on the Sawmilling board.  That's one of the better pics I've seen of a LT-15 in action.

Everyone should use whatever photo program works well for them.  I'm real comfortable with xat's Image Optimizer and you can get it for free.  From your description of Photoshop's steps, I think xat is easier, too.  I know Photoshop has a lot more features and allows you to do more things, but I don't care to do more things.  Anyone who has another program they like should certainly use it.

Here's a pic I took at the Pig Roast.  The original was 672kb. I reduced it by resizing to fit the Forum specs, then only had to compress from 33kb down to 29kb.



Now here is an image I cropped out of that same 672kb original.   All I had to do was pull a little box over Furby's head and click crop.  It was ready to upload at that point.



I really don't feel like I'm beating my head against anything, but I probably would if I was trying to learn a new program! :D :D

[SwampDonkey]

Dang, it ain't complicated, eh? Just move that mouse pointer to the left, then up, click the mouse, then move back down and hit one of them buttons again. ;D

[jkj]

Everyone should use whatever photo program works well for them. I'm real comfortable with...

I agree!  People who regularly post photos on any forum have a way that works efficiently or they probably would not be so prolific.  I was thinking more about those who have trouble or suffer photo processing anxiety from past attempts.  For many years I was a moderator for another forum and watched people struggle due to poor software tools.  Those who do NOT currently have and use good image software might benefit from an inexpensive and powerful tool such as PS Elements.

Thanks for the kind words about the sawmill photo.  That is one of the few photos of me since I'm usually taking the picture!.  When I get time I may post it in the Sawing section - I read some discussion earlier about ways to hold and saw short sections and that photo shows a method I came up with for the short term. 

Here's a happy Mr Parr from our woodturning club with his haul of bowl blanks from that afternoon:



I'm having great fun with the LT-15!

JKJ

[Onthesauk]

I think I've got the photo posting down to a routine that works for me but having a time with my avitar.  Had it but lost it and can't seem to replace it.  Any suggestions?

[SwampDonkey]

Somehow you must have removed the link to it in your profile page. Just click your username in any post it appears in and it will take you to your profile, or you can click the profile icon up top in the forum menu strip. Then edit or add the url for your avatar. I've set mine ages ago and it's never disappeared since we switched over to the new forum server back around Christmas 2004 ???

[Tom]

It took me a minute, but I figured it out.  There were several things.

First:  There were two instances of Http://  You are only allowed one.  It is a common mistake because the software primes the little window with one and then you end up adding another with the link.

Second:  there was a space at the end of the link

Third:  You don't use the IMG tags in the avatar window.  It's just the link.  That's confusing too.  I've made the mistake a bunch of times.  My problem is that I can't remember from time to time.  That makes me stupid too.  :D    ....or maybe just senile ;D

Anyway....  your avatar is back in place. 

[Onthesauk]

Thanks Tom!

I'm surprised there weren't more problems.  I must have tried about 100 different directions to get it back up.

Steve

[Jeff]

Steve, I downloaded the big version and kicked your avatar up to the maximum width and reset it. Its a bit clearer now. Excellant picture.!

[Onthesauk]

Thanks Jeff,

That was on one of my attempts to get it to post.  I know some sites want the avatar really small.  Didn't help.

Steve

[Minnesota_boy]

I really like Onthesauk's avatar.  A while back I was thinkin gof how pretty it was and that I'd like to go see that sometime.  Then I looked at his profile to see where that was and checked it out on a map.  I"VE BEEN THERE!!!  Maybe I even saw that mountain, but without as much snow on it.  8) 8)

[Onthesauk]

That's the view off our front porch.  I just checked, that was taken on March 3rd, just after I had dropped a couple of big maples that kind of framed the left side.  View is a bit different today, glacier is still there but much of the rest of the snow is gone.  It's Whitehorse Mountain.



Taken a few minutes ago, a lot less snow.

[Tom]

It's that confounded Global Warming again.  :-\

We've got to figure out how to get rid of that dreaded June, july and August before the world melts into a puddle of water. :D

[SwampDonkey]

Going through Terrace to Prince Rupert BC you can see alot of receding glaciers, some are now 'extinct'. In Prince Rupert they built a ski lodge and lift, there ain't been snow on that mountain any longer than 36 hours for at least 10 years. Some kids burnt the lodge down. Alot of the times they shedule ski events in Whistler for Olympics and Commonwealth Games, it's too wet to ski.  :

[OneWithWood]

I just tried to post some pics of what I have been up to lately.  I got an error message saying "forbidden file extension" and I could not upload the pics.  I crunched them to less than 400 pixels, I used the old limit of 20kb and the file extension is .jpg.
What gives? ???

[Tom]

The Photo Gallery is broken.

[SwampDonkey]

What ya do now Tom? You go on vacation for a few days and the place falls to pieces.  ;) ;D

[Terry]

just marking this post, thanks

[Ray Bell]

After posting my first picture on this forum, I got an e.mail suggesting I read this thread to understand the ways here.

Okay, I've read it.

Now, I'm not unused to posting on bulletin boards. One I use has my posts in the tens of thousands, others in the thousands. I post pictures all the time. I really don't like having to file my pictures in the 'gallery' system as I post way too many on most of the forums I use, so I generally use either my own ISP-supplied webspace, --Photos MUST be in the Forestry Forum gallery!!!!!-- or --Photos MUST be in the Forestry Forum gallery!--. Tinypic has become my most used recently.

I try to keep my pictures to a size that's compatible with the forum and what others use on that forum. I've not been asked to abate in this in some years, but I will say that one forum I used to use did get somewhat stroppy with me for using pics that on other fora were not a problem at all. Here I'm talking about file sizes in the 35-45kb range.

But where there are rules, I'm happy to try and abide by them.

In reading through this thread I find the heavy emphasis on using the xat.com program. Do you mind if I recommend an easier one? I hope not, as I'm going to recommend it anyway.

This is Irfanview. It's a free download with no 30-day thing and no request to buy anything. It is different, but it seems to me to do all that xat.com does. And I feel, though I must say I haven't spent a lot of time playing with xat.com, that it's easier to operate.

Cropping is about the same, but more straightforward... drag and drop > click edit > click 'crop selection'. It doesn't require any prior opening of a crop tool. Your cursor is that tool. Finis.

Most other operations are done under the 'Image' dropdown. Rotate, invert, change size (in a variety of ways), change resolution in a flash, change to greyscale, change to negative, and one that doesn't seem to be there in xat.com... sharpen!

But I may be wrong. xat.com seems to be a program that's designed to look like and in some ways operate like Photoshop. I've never got along well with Photoshop and continually give up trying because of its complexity and lack of explanation.

Irfanview, on the other hand, gives you all you want at a glance.

By the way, I tried for a considerable time to follow the directions for uploading to an album (achieving it finally) and then to follow the directions to post from that album (which is unachieveable because the format of things seems to have changed) so I could bring this simple Irfanview menu to you:



Now, as things stand, I have no idea if that will work as I post this. It is simply a cumbersome and difficult method to work out. I could post that pic via Tinypic in a flash, know for sure it will work and know that it won't be using up your storage space.

But I'm trying to keep to your rules.

Okay, so that worked out, by virtue of me clicking on 'properties' after right clicking on the thumbnail, copying and pasting to the post, adding the image codes and deleting the thumb code.

So I'll show you the Irfanview 'resize' window, see how easy this is?



My purpose here hasn't been to try and teach you folk how to suck eggs. I have been trying to work within your rules and methods, but feel a need to show you that there are alternatives to xat.com that may be more appropriate to the less computer-literate and to express my frustration with the awkwardness of your gallery-derived picture posting rules.

[Tom]

Yes, irfanview has been used by members for optimization, it's not new to us.  We aren't selling software, just trying to suggest something that we know will work and that we can help with if there are problems.

Optimization isn't the only reason we require pictures to be placed on the Forum Gallery.  The biggest reason is to insure that the picture remains available to the post.   Lots of folks will link off-site and then find that they need to do some housekeeping later.  Their pictures are deleted or renamed and their posts in forums throughout the net get a broken link.

The Forestry Forum prides itself in making all of the information from the beginning of the forum to current available to members.  That's a lot of years of posts and thousands of pictures.

I used to use link off-site to a place provided by Hewlett Packard.  They changed the rules one day and all my pictures had their links broken.  It wasn't long before all of my pictures were deleted because I didn't care to have them sell me paper prints.

I then used a second storage company and had the same thing happen again.  Thank goodness for the fore-sight Jeff had in requiring us to use the forum for our storage.

As long as you find a piece of software that you are comfortable with, and it works, it makes no difference to the Forum what it is.  One thing that XAT provides is an intimacy with the photograph.  It doesn't make decisions for you.  Your picture size isn't linked directly to the number of KB's, and visa versa.  You have an option and optimize each individually.  One good option is the availability of being able to optimize areas of the photo rather than the entire photo.    You can let the background become almost undecernable while the object of the picture remains lettuce crisp. Yes, there is a sharpness function as well.

I use XAT image optimizer just so that I can have those options.  They have a JPEG Optimizer if you don't like so much hands on.