Anyone care to give uploading pics 101 ?
where is a good image host ?
it seems easier than trying to resize everything
..or is it
Photos 101
You can upload pictures < 175kb to the forums using the "Image Upload" button, if you're willing to resize them down to this size. This should be good if you're looking to show off a handful of pictures.
If you're looking to show a gallery of pictures, you will probably want to look at a hosting service. I don't use any in particular, so I'll let others speak to this matter.
-Kris
If you're looking to show a gallery of pictures, you will probably want to look at a hosting service. I don't use any in particular, so I'll let others speak to this matter.
-Kris
Let's say you have a digital image, usually very large size, many hundreds of kilobytes.
It takes awhile to download a large image on a dialup connection, so you want to reduce the image size to maybe 56 K, 75k, 175k. Whatever.
You will need a photo imaging software such as Photoshop, or MS Digital Image, however, you'll want to buy these softwares. There is a quick function for reducing the image size in these programs.
You can do a search for a free digital imaging software to shrink your images for quick download on the web, but I can't think of anything to recommend.
I have photos on photos.yahoo.com/mharnet. you have to sign up to yahoo for this service. Similar process to upload the pictures. Just login, and look for the button to upload, and browse to your files and upload away.
Pics 101-course one-introduction
Mark
It takes awhile to download a large image on a dialup connection, so you want to reduce the image size to maybe 56 K, 75k, 175k. Whatever.
You will need a photo imaging software such as Photoshop, or MS Digital Image, however, you'll want to buy these softwares. There is a quick function for reducing the image size in these programs.
You can do a search for a free digital imaging software to shrink your images for quick download on the web, but I can't think of anything to recommend.
I have photos on photos.yahoo.com/mharnet. you have to sign up to yahoo for this service. Similar process to upload the pictures. Just login, and look for the button to upload, and browse to your files and upload away.
Pics 101-course one-introduction
Mark
Depends on the pictures I need to load. If I am posting to one of the various plant forums, incl this one, I usually use the free hosting thats APC offers. If you want to pay for a subscrition based one then Pbase is darn good.
You will still need some photo manipulation software. Photoshop is nice but is very advanced for your needs and has a very advanced price tag too. Paint Shop Pro is nice and affordable, will do much more then you need too.
You will still need some photo manipulation software. Photoshop is nice but is very advanced for your needs and has a very advanced price tag too. Paint Shop Pro is nice and affordable, will do much more then you need too.
Oh... I would be remiss if I didn't mention the opensource photo-editing software called "The GIMP." I don't have a whole lot of experience with it, but it's free, and it's often mentioned near or in the same league as Photoshop, in terms of capabilities.
If you want to try it out before spending any money on other programs, you can download it here:
<a href="http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html" target="_blank">http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html</a>
(First download and install the GTK+2 for Windows, then download "The GIMP for Windows"). If you don't have Windows, it is available on other platforms. PM me for that.
Anyways. Once you have it installed, open it.
1. Goto "File" -> "Open...", and open the image you want to resize.
2. The picture will open up. In the picture's menu, select: "Image" -> "Scale Image..." Now type in the size you want to scale it to in the "width" box. I usually do 400-500 pixels for forum pics.
3. The height will automatically be chosen to keep the correct proportions. Hit the "Scale" button to scale it.
4. Now, the image will probably look too small. This is because it's zoomed out. Goto "View" -> "Zoom" -> "1:1 (100%)." (Or just hit "1" on the keyboard)
5. This how the image will show up in the forums. If it's still too big, repeat steps 2-4.
6. Once you're happy with it, goto "File" -> "Save a Copy", and type in a new filename. ie/ "75galtank.jpg" (You want to keep your original photo if case you want to print it or do something else with it later). Hit OK.
7. It'll bring up one last window with a slider on it. You can move the slider from left to right, to change the quality of the image. This will affect the size of the file. For web graphics, you generally want move the slider as far left as possible until you start to notice the picture is ugly. (Make sure you check the "Show Preview in image window" checkbox so that you can preview the quality setting you choose.)
Lastly, if you wanted to crop the image before scaling it, just use the mouse to drag a selection box around the part of the image you want to keep. Then, right click, and select "Image" -> "Crop Image".
Hopefully, this will get you started. I will say that I find other graphical programs slightly more user-friendly, but if you don't want to have to go out and spend $50-$600 bucks, just to post pictures to a forum, then The GIMP might be for you.
-Kris
If you want to try it out before spending any money on other programs, you can download it here:
<a href="http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html" target="_blank">http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html</a>
(First download and install the GTK+2 for Windows, then download "The GIMP for Windows"). If you don't have Windows, it is available on other platforms. PM me for that.
Anyways. Once you have it installed, open it.
1. Goto "File" -> "Open...", and open the image you want to resize.
2. The picture will open up. In the picture's menu, select: "Image" -> "Scale Image..." Now type in the size you want to scale it to in the "width" box. I usually do 400-500 pixels for forum pics.
3. The height will automatically be chosen to keep the correct proportions. Hit the "Scale" button to scale it.
4. Now, the image will probably look too small. This is because it's zoomed out. Goto "View" -> "Zoom" -> "1:1 (100%)." (Or just hit "1" on the keyboard)
5. This how the image will show up in the forums. If it's still too big, repeat steps 2-4.
6. Once you're happy with it, goto "File" -> "Save a Copy", and type in a new filename. ie/ "75galtank.jpg" (You want to keep your original photo if case you want to print it or do something else with it later). Hit OK.
7. It'll bring up one last window with a slider on it. You can move the slider from left to right, to change the quality of the image. This will affect the size of the file. For web graphics, you generally want move the slider as far left as possible until you start to notice the picture is ugly. (Make sure you check the "Show Preview in image window" checkbox so that you can preview the quality setting you choose.)
Lastly, if you wanted to crop the image before scaling it, just use the mouse to drag a selection box around the part of the image you want to keep. Then, right click, and select "Image" -> "Crop Image".
Hopefully, this will get you started. I will say that I find other graphical programs slightly more user-friendly, but if you don't want to have to go out and spend $50-$600 bucks, just to post pictures to a forum, then The GIMP might be for you.
-Kris
