Today's lesson for Windows Users:

Preparing a photo to upload to the Collector Forums.

1. Open "My Computer" locate a folder that contains an image you want to share with your friends on the Collector Forums.

2. Right click on the image and choose "Open With". Look for a program "Microsoft Photo Editor" Choose that program.

3. When the program opens, click on VIEW and choose "Measurement units". Select PIXELS

4. Click on FILE and choose "Properties" Click in the little window labeled "Resolution" and replace whatever number is there with "72" (no quotes).

5. Click on IMAGE and choose "Resize". Make the longest dimension 500 (pixels) The other number will change automatically to keep the picture in proportion.

OPTIONAL: If your picture becomes so small you can't make it out, drag a corner of the picture to make the space larger, then click on the magnifying glass in the menu bar to make the picture fill that larger space. (This step is NOT necessary, however, just helpful to see your picture.)

OPTIONAL: You MAY be able to improve your picture by clicking on IMAGE and choosing "Autobalance". If you don't like the effect, click on EDIT and choose "Undo..."

6. Click on FILE and choose "Save As".

IMPORTANT: choose a NEW NAME for the file and put it into a folder where you'll be able to find it later. Give it a short name and write the name and extension in all lower case.

Example: my_first_picture.jpg (note the underscores NEVER use spaces)

You are done with today's lesson. Write yourself a note as to the file's exact name and where it is in your computer.

TOMORROW: Uploading your picture

DAY AFTER TOMORROW: Including your picture in a post.

Uploading a photo

Refer to the online instructions. :

The object here is to REMEMBER where the image is located so that you can provide the EXACT URL for the image so it will display in your posting.

1. Be consistent in typing your email address. It is this address that creates a folder in which to place your images. If you already have uploaded in the past, but are not consistent in using the same email address, typed in the same way, the images will be hard to find.

myName@myDomain.net
myname@myDomain.net
myname@mydomain.net

the above examples used on 3 different uploads will put the pictures into 3 different folders.

Best practice here is to always use lowercase for everything. (BTW, email addresses are NOT case sensitive on the Internet.)

Click on the link at the top of this posting, review the steps and then click on the link to upload your first picture.

Displaying a photo

And the final step.

Create a New Post or add to an existing one.

At the point where you want to place your image, click on the "IMAGE" button below the text box(under the heading Instant UBB Code) A pop-up window will appear with the first part of the link "http://" move the cursor to after the second forward-slash and type the location of your picture.

The location starts with "http://www.lighthousekeepers.com/uploads/files/" then add your email address "myname@mydomain.com/" another forward slash to end the email address and the exact name of the picture file "mypicture.jpg"

When you have it all typed in, click the "OK" button on the pop-up window and click on "Preview Post" when you are done with your message.

You should see your message complete with your picture.

Remember, no spaces within that entire string!

Now go down there and give it a try!

I have been unable to find a program called Microsoft Photo Editor on my computer. The closest I can come is "Paint" When I look on the internet I find that it was a part of Office '97.

Photo Editor was a part of Office 1997, 2000, and XP. Picture Manager is the current program included with Office.

I have yet to purchase a scanner, ink jet printer or digital camera that did not come with some version of photo editing software.

There is no way we can address every question about every possible software program that might be in use by one of our members. Resizing a photo is one of the most basic components of each of these programs and is generally pretty easy to do. Once you have opened the photo in the software you are using look under the "picture" or "image" menu for something concerning resizing. (These menus are a fairly standard location for these options.) Use the 500 pixel maximum on the longest dimension. Be sure that the choice to keep the image proportional is checked.

I've heard this works well.

Thanks, Jim. Looks like a decent, easy to use program that appears to be free. Advertises 'free download' but doesn't really come right out and say free to use in what I quickly browsed thru.

Do you use this program?

I have an older version of Office than 1997. It is perfectly true that most cameras etc come with some kind of software. Most of it is a PITA to use. I have Kodak Easy Share, and If I could figure out how to ditch it and still get the images out of my camera I would. I hate it (although I like the camera).

In any case, if you are writing step by step directions for easy posting of photos, some indication needs to be made for a less computer literate person such as myself that the program Photo Editor is just one of a variety of programs which could be used, and is not the only one that should be used.

Interpreting this new thread to mean that this quote (John C. posted it on 4/02/07) from the previous thread on this subject no longer applies:

I sent John an email with an attached picture yesterday per those instructions. Am assuming that email and attachment has been dumped in favor of these new instructions. If that is not the case, please let me know.

Thanks,

Sandy

The 386x140 size is for people submitting photos for consideration of being used as the forum banner. I would presume the other thread you are referring to is the one discussing that topic.

For photos being posted within a thread we have always asked that size not exceed 600 pixels on the long side, with a preferred max of 500 pixels on the long side. This is to not only keep the images to a workable size, but to also keep folks from having to scroll up/down or side to side to see the image.

Since 72dpi is the resolution of your computer monitor this is the resolution that should be used.

For those looking to expand their computer skills, most libraries offer free or very inexpensive courses dealing with a variety of software. Many local colleges also offer courses that are considered continuing education that are very helpful.

Sandy - got your photo and it was sized for the banner voting.

You can certainly post smaller pictures on the CF, but the software we have for uploading images won't accept an image where one dimension is longer than 500 pixels.

John

I LOVE PICASA.

I've tried many things to do my editing. I've used the programmes that came with my cameras, from Fuji to Canon to Nikon (best). I've used the standard Windows photo uploader, which is great except for that it's a big pain to select large numbers of photos while leaving large numbers behind, especially on a card of 500 photos. Photoshop is the best for editing, but for some simpler tasks, it's a bit of a pain.

Picasa, though, is absolutely the best for basic photo work, as everything coming out of Google seems to be.

It's a smooth, seamless interface. When I want to upload photos, I simply click on the "Import" button. It accesses the camera, reads the card, and scans its library (which is EVERY SINGLE IMAGE in your My Docs area - good and bad) for what it already has. Then, you just click and imports everything new and files it away.

It's easy to organise. And there's some basic, very easy-to-use effects.

The only thing it doesn't do is resize.

For that, I use the Image Resizer PowerToy for Windows from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

If you use this, you can go into My Docs/Explorer and right click on any image. When the Resizer is downloaded, you get a new menu option, to "Resize Pictures." Click the "Small" radio button, OK, and you've got a new picture at the perfect size for CF uploading. Easy as 1-2-3!

Between these two, I no longer have to turn to the more complicated programmes for simple tasks. I'll still go into PS for any serious work, but for the simple stuff, Picasa and Image Resizer are the way to go.

And yes, they both are 100%, no-questions-asked, gosh-darnit FREE!

Greg,

You are absolutely correct. I downloaded Picasa and there was no charge. AND MY COMPUTER DIDN'T START TO SMOKE OR EVEN BLOW UP! It found all the photos from wherever and presented them to me in a nice ordered arrangement.

That's as far as I got. And you are right -- it doesn't resize. But it's a lot nicer to work with for a computer dummy like me.
bobo

What John left out of his blurb about uploading images is the one thing that is the single largest problem people have uploading - they try to override what the system wants to do.

What do I mean? The upload page has you 'browse' to the image and double click on it. When you double click on it the location of that image on YOUR computer is put into the box to the left of the browse button. LEAVE THIS INFORMATION ALONE! ! ! People go in and erase everything but the file name. The result is that when you then click on the 'upload files' button the uploader can't find the image on your computer since you erased all the path information telling it where specifically the image was. It will upload an empty file and send you a note that your file was uploaded. You try and link to the image and get the dreaded red x since the file you are linking to has a size of 0 (yes, zero, nada, nothing, zip).

Moral of this story: When the browse function inserts information into the box LEAVE IT ALONE.

And, be sure you write down the name of the file you upload, letter for letter. Case makes a difference, just as it does when you list the email address on the upload page. When you name your files, no spaces or punctuation other than a " - " or " _ " are allowed.

If you goof up the file name that is easy to fix. Whether you can do it or I have to depends on where the goof occured. And, if you forget the names all you have to do is ask - I get a report from the uploader every time someone uploads. (Don't ask, I have no idea why you don't get a report listing the names of the files you uploaded.)

Ahh, Greg, you are right about Picassa on most counts. It does resize images. The ability is just not one that is easy to find (not in a logical place at all). I used the help / search help last night for 'resize' and found the info. A rather convoluted way to do things.

Sounds as if your Windows Explorer add on is a handy little gadget to have. Will have to look at it. However, a word of caution here - be sure you don't do this to the only copy of an image you have unless the program saves the changed file under a new name. Once you have downsized and saved you are not going to successfully upsize the file back to its original size. But, this also plays into the admonition to NEVER work on the original copy of the file, but always on a backup copy.

Fortunately, it does save it under a new name. If I saved an image that was, say, "seagirtphoto" it would make the resized image "seagirtphoto (Small)", "seagirtphoto (Large)", etc.

Will have to look at the Picasa help - the Google people are great, but sometimes, they get a little flukey.

After downloading images from your camera, open the folder on the hard drive, select all the images (CTRL-A,) right click and and choose "properties" then click the box "Read-Only".

This will prevent you from overwriting your original images.

All three parts to my instructions are now completed as the first three messages in this thread.

I'm going to use Kat's recent posting about her Hawaii trip to help folks with the process. Kat's first pass didn't work for a couple of reasons. One was a misspelled word, the other an ommission in the posting information.

There is an easy way to avoid something like this: cheat! Yes, cheat.

How do you cheat? You start with the email that is returned to you when you upload images to the storage space that is made available on the lighthousekeepers server. The last line of the email is:

* Copy everything from the http: to the / after files to the clipboard. (highlight the text to copy, right click the mouse and select 'copy' or highlight the text to be copied and hold down the CTRL key while also pressing the C)

* When you are ready to post the image, wherever you want to place the image insert your [ img ] (without the spaces, of course)

* Then paste the text you copied to the clipboard into the post (right click, paste or CTRL V).

* Add your email address, the / and the file name, including the extension. Remember that exact case match is required.

* Add the ending tag, the [ /img ], again without the spaces.

If you plan to post more images, you could continue the cheat by copying the entire image link to the clipboard and pasting it in where you want the next image to appear. All you need to do is overwrite the file name.

It has taken me longer to write this out than the actual process takes. I have tried to explain how to do each step so those not that comfortable with the behind the scenes working of Windows will hopefully be able to follow the process.

The only way you will learn is to try. Go to the Test Pad Forum and see how you do. If you have problems, be patient. Someone will come along and help you out.

Another handy tip I learned from a fellow Forum friend:

I have posted the upload info, sizing requirements, and the url location address in the "Tools" section of my email program. I titled it, "Upload Images on CF".

Then, when I want to post an image here, all info is quickly and easily accessible.

If I'm posting more than one image, I copy and paste, and then I only need to change the name of the image.

Judy

I read a review on photo programs somewhere (maybe in the paper), and it said that Picata had a function for straightening pictures (so that the horizon is level for instance). That seems to be the biggest problem I have with taking pictures - the camera isn't quite straight. Usually happens when I am snapping photos out of the car as we are speeding by.

Anyway. I downloaded the program and it does in fact do that.

Normally when I put photos up on the internet, I use Photoworks, but I know that if I put them up there, I can't use the URL for the photo to post in the forums because the photo will disappear after a short time.

I haven't tried uploading from Picata. Does anyone know if that is true of Picata also?

to surface this thread.

to surface it yet again