Help posting pictures ?

GrayBeard · Mar 21, 2004

Bear with me while I expose my computer illiteracy.
I've got a Kodak digital cam. and software.
I'd like to post a pic. or two but I guess they are to large (ie:938kb). They are stored as a jpg. file on disc.
Given the size limits for pics. here (100,000); how do I reduce them ?
I've never tried to post one because I thought it may be a problem.
Thanks,
GrayBeard

RoyJackson · Mar 21, 2004

Your camera is taking pictures at it's highest resolution...which is good. You want the best quality for a picture you may print or save.
However, posting a pic on this website doesn't require that high quality. It uses too much band width...

The software you got with your camera should be able to reduce the resolution (size). Use the program's help if you need to.

Otherwise, go to www.irfanview.com and download their program. Once downloaded and installed, open your image using Irfanview, click on Image and then Resize/Resample. You can reduce the resolution then.
MAKE SURE YOU SAVE THE IMAGE (PIC) AS A DIFFERENT NAME. Otherwise, you may overwrite your original high quality image.

938Kb is pretty big for a .jpg file...are you sure it's not a .tif or .bmp?

Anyway, try Irfanview and practice a bit with it...you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly.

Harv · Mar 21, 2004

GrayBeard -

Your camera probably came with some kind of software for resizing, cropping and touching up your pictures. Try sizing an image to something like 640 x 480 pixels and then select Save As... from the file menu. Choose JPEG (jpg) as the file format, if it isn't already selected, and somewhere along the line you should be offered some compression settings. Medium compression will probably get you under the 100K limit.

Now, that's all very general advice based on how most image software works these days. Hope it makes sense to you. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

GrayBeard · Mar 21, 2004

Thanks for the prompt responses.
Let's slow down for a minute, when I was in school "puters" were coal fired . (lol)
My cam. does have settings for good, better, best picture quality. I've never tried any at anything other than "best" settings.
Do you suppose for pics. I want to post, "good" would be small enough ?
Yes, they are 938kb on a jpg.
Who knows , maybe I get this...
GrayBeard

shoppintractors · Mar 21, 2004

I have a Kodak DC260. It also has the good, better, best settings. I use the "better" setting. My shortcut is I email them to myself. The emailing process automatically resizes the photo for the web. I copy the file from my email and paste it into the attachment window here at TBN. I don't know if this works for all camera's but it works for me.

Don

Harv · Mar 21, 2004

( Do you suppose for pics. I want to post, "good" would be small enough ? )

I suspect they would still be over 100K, but you can find out easily enough with a couple of test shots.

Everybody probably goes about this their own way, but my choice is to shoot high or very high quality pictures, just in case I get a real wall-hanger. You want the highest resolution for your 8 x 10 glossies. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif The exception, for me, is when I'm doing a whole lot of shooting specifically for the web. I shot hundreds of pictures of sushi, for example, for a sushi web site, and it was a lot faster and easier to handle and manipulate the smaller files.

Keep in mind that you can always reduce the size and/or resolution of an image with no quality loss, but going the other direction produces poor results.

Don't be afraid of the software for editing your pictures. Cropping, resizing and basic enhancements are surprisingly easy. Even Bird got the hang of it. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif And that's not an insult to Bird. He's gone through similar computer challenges and has emerged victorious. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

California · Mar 22, 2004

GrayBeard,

I agree with Harv and Roy. Leave the camera set on 'best'. Then after you have downloaded your photos from the camera to the computer, use some kind of photo edit software to make a smaller copy from one of your pictures. I like Irfanview for this, and perhaps the Kodak software you use for downloading has a photo edit component.

Irfanview is simple. Start Irfanview, and drag your photo into it.

The variables to make a smaller copy are:

*Size. You're probably reading this on a 1024 x 768 pixel (dot) display. A copy to share with us might look good at 2/3 of a screen wide, so 640 x 480 would be a good size to make your copy. This copy will have a smaller filesize than your original, perhaps 1/4 of 938k. If you choose an even smaller size I'm sure you can get it under 100k.

*Resolution (quality). If your copy looks good at 2/3 screen width (640 x 480) but is still over 100k filesize, look for 'jpeg compression ratio' in the software and make another copy that is more compressed. The magic of jpeg compression is that it discards much of the original data yet the copy still looks good.

And repeating Roy's advice,
MAKE SURE YOU SAVE THE IMAGE (PIC) AS A DIFFERENT NAME.
You may make and discard several small copies before you are satisfied. Be sure you name them differently so the original is unharmed. Aside from that gotcha, you can try dozens of different copies to get one you like. You might practice the unfamiliar software by editing a junk photo, and then apply your new skill to a nice one to share with us. Enjoy!

Gatorboy · Mar 22, 2004

( 938Kb is pretty big for a .jpg file...are you sure it's not a .tif or .bmp? )

That number is not high at all for a high resolution picture. The pictures I take are closer to 2 MB, and that is not even at it's highest resolution.

GrayBeard · Mar 22, 2004

As soon as I get a little time , I'll try a couple tests.
Thanks for the tips. I'll do some experimenting.
GrayBeard

Bird · Mar 22, 2004

( Even Bird got the hang of it. )

Yeah, but only with a lot of help from folks on this forum. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif I use both Camedia Master (which came with the Olympus camera) and Microsoft Picture It! Publishing (which came with Microsoft Works). Each will do some things the other won't (or at least that I haven't figured out how to do with the other). /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

And for posting pictures on here, as has already been said, I "copy" the photo I want to mess with to another folder (still have the original if I mess it up), then open it with Camedia Master, and "resize" to 640 x 480, and that usually works just fine.