http://www.elementownersclub.com/uploads/files/DSC02266.JPG


Had to get some help on this lets see if it worked

Good looking picture. A couple things though about your photo and posting pictures in general.

Your picture looks a little grainy. Could be due to being posted too large. Pay attention to what the original dimensions of your photo are, ie., 640x480, 1024x768... and stick with that or smaller. As you enlarge a picture you will spread out pixels and make it look grainy. Your situation could be something totally different though. Maybe you took a film image rather than digital and the grain is from scanning. Or maybe from the film stock you used. With Digital images though, Making smaller will compress the pixels making them closer together, often making photos appear sharper. If you resize the above image to 640 wide it might improve the quality some. You can make pictures smaller, RESIZE THEM, without noticing significant changes. However when you enlarge them they loose more quality.

What software do you use for editing your photos. I use Photoshop myself. What I usually do is CROP down, if necessary, a picture to reframe or center a photo... remove unwanted parts of the image or centralize on a specific portion... Once I have a full size, or largest size possible, image that I am happy with I save that to my Hard Drive. Then, for whatever use I have, I will RESIZE the photo for that use. For posting on boards like this, for example, I usually limit the width of any photo to 640 pixels. That would be 640x480 etc. That allows a viewer to see the whole photo without having to pan accross the screen.

http://members.aol.com/wmas1960/WebPosts/ElementLeaves2-640.jpg

Also, by limiting the size you save file size that helps the viewer load the photo into their computer quicker. Also, it saves bandwidth and storage space on the website, if you are using the group to host your photos. Keep in mind that some people have screens that are 1024 x 768 or smaller. Also that some viewers of these posts may still be using dial up. Thus limiting the size of your photos is helpful. Also, use .jpg photos when possible. When asked about the compression or image quality use medium. In Photoshop, it asks me on a scale of 12. I usually save at 5 or 6. My picture above is about 75K and is 640x480. Compare that to maybe as much as 2 meg for a 1024 image at 12 for the quality selection. That is a pretty good savings of space.

Also, while they provide some space to store photos on the site here, as you posted yourself, I usually save my photos on my own FTP site (AOL). AOL allows me a certain amount of storage space per screen name. I put the photos there and then post the link in my posts. I then highlight the link and click the IMG button, in the post editor(???).

My recommendation is: max size 800x600, but 640x480 is preferable. The most important number is, of course, the first one, the width.

Also, use jpg format and set it to medium to medium-high compression, unless there are reasons photo quality is very important for technical reasons (wiring, etc.) not just desirable for prettiness.

-brendan

Thanks Wmas1960 and Brendon for the advice. My sister in law helped me with posting. She has photo shop and compression was self explanatary. However she showed me at her house in Huntsville when I got home 2.5 hours later my memory had failed me somewhat. I am using I Photo on my IMac. The photo I posted was 3.2 megapixles obviously in retrospect too large to post. I photo does'nt have a compression feature it uses 5x7 8x10 etc. I suppose in the future I will set my camera to 640x480 for any pics I plan on posting.

Don't reduce your camera's quality settings just for the site! :)

I bet iphoto has some setting that allows you to reduce the resolution and "Save As" a highly-compressed JPG. Any other mac/iphoto users out there willing to lend keckhanded a, uh, hand? Colin?

-brendan

Here's a smaller version I'm hosting in my webspace...grab it and replace the huge one on the EOC...if you're not sure how to...just ask! :wink:

http://www.jessekelber.com/keckse.jpg

jesse

I would second not changing the setting on the camera. It is always best to take pictures with the highest quality you can get. Your decision, in that respect, should be based on how much memory you have on a card, or on several memory cards, and how much capacity you need. Or, your use of the photos. In that respect, consider not only the one use, like posting on the net, but what size prints are you going to want for your family album, an ad in the paper, or how big of an enlargment do you want to frame... I have a 3 mpxl Nikon Coolpix 990 that I bought some time ago. When I first got it, I used it at full resolution as much as I could but then, with a 128meg card costing several hundred dollars, I had to settle for the 64 that I had along with a 32 and the 16 that came with the camera. Therefore, when going on a trip, say to Las Vegas, 3mpxls wouldn't allow me many photos. So, I had to come to some compromise to allow me to take a reasonable number of photos for the week without having access to my computer to back up. So, in that situation, I reset the camera to 1024x768. Again, that was because I needed to conserve space so I could take a couple hundred photos on the space that I had available. Now, cards aren't as expensive and a 256 or couple 128s are affordable enough to take tons of 3mpxl images.

Anyways, to the subject at hand. Try saving postable copies of your pictures as a 5x7s. I just checked in Photoshop and at 72 ppi a 640x480 is approx, 6.5x9. So, 5x7 would be close enough. I am not familiar with IPhoto so perhaps someone will chime in with more information. Incidentally, 72 ppi (pixels/inch) is all you need for the internet. Your screen has a limited resolution so anything more would just be wasted.

Keckhanded: when you've picked a photo in your iPhoto library, select it and choose the "email" button. When it's composed, you have the choice of sizes "small, medium or large" with their corresponding pixel proportions. Choose either small or medium and email it to yourself. It will usually result in just the right size for posting here. :wink:

First let me apologize for the width of this thread. second let me thank you for your help. And lastly I tried your shortcut with E-mail Hownowcb it worked! but I was reminded that I need to call Apple for some tech. assistance with my apple E-mail. I have been using Yahoo since i got this machine. This will be the fire that get's me moving. :)