Posting pics, how do you do it?

[Ole Anderson]

I attach a fair number of photos to my posts, but am often not happy with the result. The camera is a decent Canon T2i, so that is not the problem. Sometimes I use flash, other times not. My shots are generally about 6 megs, which is of course too large to post, so I run them through Microsoft Office Picture Manager to resize them. I also have Photoshop Elements 9 (oops my trial ran out), Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Movie Maker, Windows Photo Viewer, Canon Picture Style Editor and Picasa 3 on my laptop. I use MS Office Picture Manager as it has an easy auto adjust and an easy resizer. I resize rather than compress and I choose the 1024x768 resize option which gives an image of about 250-400 k which will allow an upload to the Creek's File Upload Manager. By going through the "Manage Attachments", I end up with thumbnails in the post which I think is a good thing, particularly for those without a lot of bandwidth. Click on the thumbnail to bring up the photo, and click on it again to sometimes make it even bigger. I think the problem is partly attributed to the upload manager further resizing the shots to under 100 k and loosing even more detail. I could post through Picasa or another host but if I go through later and reorganize the shots, the link and the pic is lost in the thread. Plus if I want to post a quick pic while responding to a thread, adding the step to post it to a host first is time consuming.

How do you do it?

[Joe Angrisani]

I would resize in your computer using your favorite program. I use Photoshop, but as you know there are many. Let your computer run the WHOLE resizing process under your eye, not by SMC's unknown upload manager.

After you've resized it, be sure to give it a little "Unsharp Mask", which contrary to what it sounds like, will sharpen your image (it's named after an old darkroom trick). Most programs should have an Unsharp Mask. Then compress it good - I use 7 for online postings (on Photoshop's 1-12 scale). I'd go with a well-cropped 800x533 image with fairly hard compression, and it'll be just fine for the internet. Should get you under 100K.

[Tom Fischer]

Many digital images are 300 DPI and higher out of the camera.
I do not believe that a computer screen can display that much detail, but 300dpi and higher are useful/required for quality prints.
I always resample images to 72 dpi before posting, then set compress and smoothing to 25%, save as JPEGs, using Corel PhotoPaint.
This original was 2MB
The final re-sampled image, uploaded 800X600 pixels, is 76Kb, at 72 dots per inch.

257544

[Ole Anderson]

Tom, how did you upload that pic to the Creek? Do you use the image insert icon or the upload manager or just copy and paste? Yours is a thumbnail, but is not labeled as a thumbnail as mine is when I use the Creek's upload manager. Nice thing about the upload manager, if I reply in a thread and want to attach a pic I have already used, I just pull it from the Creek's archive of my pics.

So you compress it in your computer after resizing so the Creek's upload manager won't have to?

[Tom Fischer]

Yes, I used the SMC Insert Image icon, then I uploaded this image from my computer to the sawmillcreek image server.

Using Corel Paint, I can adjust the images.

The resample tool opens like this, original for this pic is 400 dpi
257597

I lower it to 72 dpi
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Save compressed and smoothed @ 25%.
257599

*******
Yes, I always compress images when uploading.
I'm pretty sure about the 72 DPI stuff, versus the much higher resolution that cameras will save.
The much higher resolutions are for printing.

[Joe Angrisani]

Tom,

As far as the DPI thing goes: It has no effect when things are displaying on-screen. DPI is a parameter that only comes into play when printing. Make one image at 800x600 and 360DPI, and another at 800x600 and 72DPI, and you'll see they both open and display exactly the same on-screen.

[Joe Angrisani]

So you compress it in your computer after resizing so the Creek's upload manager won't have to?

Ole,

Yes. This is exactly what I said in my first sentence. To repeat: I would resize in your computer.... Let your computer run the WHOLE resizing process under your eye, not by SMC's unknown upload manager.

Same with printing, by the way. My big Epson's native resolution is 360dpi. If I send a picture to it that is formatted to 8"x10" at 120dpi (which is 960x1200 pixels), the little Epson software does the upsizing to make it 8"x10" at 360dpi (or 2880x3600 pixels). Instead, I use Photoshop's accuracy and my computer's power to upsize it, then send it to the printer at the 360dpi it needs.

[mike holden]

I use the free program irfanview. Works like a champ.

[Art Mulder]

I attach a fair number of photos to my posts, but am often not happy with the result.

Ole,

I looked at your photo. It seems fairly well lit, so that is good. Poor lighting is often a problem with snapshots. I struggle with it myself. You must have a well-lit subject.

But on the downside, I find your snapshot looks a bit fuzzy. just a bit, mind you. If you are sure that your camera is focussing correctly on what you want it to focus, then my next thing to check would be your photo software. I use iPhoto and it has a few sharpening/shadow tools that will help a photo look nice and crisp on my display. Photoshop elements also has those sorts of options, but I'm not up on the precise use of them.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Ole - I have a Canon T1i and have been using a free program for all my photo editing needs. It is called FastStone (http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm) and it does just about anything you want when it comes to basic photo editing. One of the easy features is something called Quick Resize and all you do is click on the size photo you want, then save it. Works slick. One other thing you can do to make the file size of your photos even smaller is to strip off the metadata before saving. The metadata is just all the camera settings used for that particular photo... and you really don't need to be including that with your photos.

Also, once you upload the photo to SMC, do not use the add thumbnails inline option. That is what causes your photo to be at the bottom of your thread and labeled as Attached Thumbnail. Instead, once you have uploaded your photo, click your mouse at the location in your thread that you want the photo to be displayed... then click on the paperclip icon located in the top of your text editor. That will list the photos that you uploaded - just click on the photo that you want and it will be placed at the location you had previously placed your mouse cursor at.

For detailed info on uploading photos and placing them inline - check out the Sticky in the Tech Support Forum.

[phil harold]

I use the free program irfanview.
I use photoshop
but have used irfanview many times, simple program

[Tom Clark FL]

"Tom, that is a real sharp pic you have of those cabinets. Would you care to respond in this thread http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...w-do-you-do-it (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?200815-Posting-pics-how-do-you-do-it) regarding posting your photos?"

Most shops are well lit, but not like a photo studio. I have been a photo fan for many years, and use a good Nikon 7000 with several lenses, but the most important element for photos of the shop is to use a tripod to stabilize the camera for shooting interior shots. We are all a bit shakier than we think we are.

The camera shoots higher res, but I use Photoshop Elements to reduce to what Sawmill asks for 800 pixels wide and a max of 100k. I don't know how some folks manage to post larger images instead of the thumbnails - but at least the thumbnails can be blown up when you want to see more detail. On my Mac is is Command + to made the image larger…

[Ole Anderson]

Thanks for all of the tips. So far my takeaway is that need to use a tripod and be able to upload a pic that is below 100k in size.

Steve, I downloaded FastStone and I am still struggling how to get an image that has been resized to 800 pixels wide and is now about 220k in size compressed to 100k in size and still be 800 pixels wide, both are parameters needed to avoid having the Creek's upload manager do its compression thing. I now have at least 6 programs that will display photos. The one I don't have is Photoshop Elements, I just can't bring myself to pay $100 when there is so much free stuff out there.

[Scott Shepherd]

One of the easiest I ever used was something that came from Microsoft's website during the days of XP, called a Image Resizer Powertoy. You could right click on any file and in the menu where "cut and paste" live, it would say "Resize Image". Worked fantastic. I've searched for newer versions of windows and it looks like someone's got something that works just like it (recommended by people on the Microsoft's site), and it's located here :

http://imageresizer.codeplex.com

[Bill Huber]

I use ACDsee, it is not free but I have used it for years, it is like $50.
With it I can do one or a 100 images all the same way. I set the size and the compression I want and it handles the rest, it will keep those settings as long as I don't change them.
It also does printing and editing, it is not a Photoshop or Lightroom but it is a great little program.

When I put an image in a thread I just click on the Insert Image icon and then pick the image from the computer and upload it and there it will be. Then place the cursor where I want it and do Insert Image again and upload the next, no need to ever go to the Manage Attachments. The only time I go to Manage Attachments is when I want to post an image that I have not uploaded.

If you understand the basics then you can take better images.

http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/the_basics