Picture Size To Post In Threads

[Chuck G.]

I shoot all my pictures in VGA mode. That's 480 X 640 pixils.

However, when I go to upload a pic here, they're too big, and I have to downsize them, which is a pain, and probably discourages many from posting pictures. It sure discourages me.

Why the size restriction? Why can't we post "standard" VGA format pics here without downsizing?

Other forums allow it.

Chuck

[Rob M.]

Re: Picture Size To Post In Threads

There is no real restriction; currently just a choise been made to set it on 100k per pic. max and a max size of 640x480. This is currently selected to limit the size of the attachment table (currently app. 700MB) to ensure performance is acceptable now and in the near future. I'll discuss with John if this choise is still acceptable. What is the avarage size of your pictures (in kB) you are experiencing. Are you using any compression factor (e.g. when using jpg format)?

greetings,
Rob.

[Chuck G.]

Re: Picture Size To Post In Threads

Hi Rob.

Thanks for the help.

As an example, I recently posted 2 pix in the Eaton spring thread. Both were 640 X 480 in size.

One original pic was 152 KB, the other original pic was 137 KB. Both were "too big" to upload, so I went to a website "shrinkpictures.com", and reduced them.

http://www.shrinkpictures.com/

I've found that to be true with a LOT of my VGA pix....... too big to upload.

I shoot in "very fine" mode on my camera, which probably gives more pixils per unit than if I shot in a less fine mode.

Chuck

[John W.]

Re: Picture Size To Post In Threads

Chuck,

Typically your vga mode in Fine Detail is probably 600 dpi or higher. The most that a typical web browser displays is 72 dpi. The higher resolution is great for printing and even as a download to print, but for web based use it is just a waste of hard drive space. If you leave your picture at 640 pixels by 480 pixels and reduce the dpi to 72 you should have a size that will upload easily here.

Your camera or your printer or both probably came with a basic image editing program that will reduce the image in size or resolution. You can also reduce the colors from 16 million colors to 256 colors to reduce the file size. For web display that will work fine.

[Chuck G.]

Re: Picture Size To Post In Threads

Chuck,

Typically your vga mode in Fine Detail is probably 600 dpi or higher. The most that a typical web browser displays is 72 dpi. The higher resolution is great for printing and even as a download to print, but for web based use it is just a waste of hard drive space. If you leave your picture at 640 pixels by 480 pixels and reduce the dpi to 72 you should have a size that will upload easily here.

Your camera or your printer or both probably came with a basic image editing program that will reduce the image in size or resolution. You can also reduce the colors from 16 million colors to 256 colors to reduce the file size. For web display that will work fine.

Thanks, John. I'll give that a try.

I do print a lot of my pictures, especially the grandkids.

I'll have to remember to "re-adjust" my camera when I'm shooting "car stuff".

Chuck

[Jack H.]

Re: Picture Size To Post In Threads

You don't have to change the camera, Chuck. Most popular photoeditors (Photoshop, Photo Mechanic, Etc.) give you full control of post-shoot adjustments (X-Y dimensional crop, color balance, brightness, saturation, Etc.) along with a repertoire of trick stuff.

Many who've invested in a digital camera simply use it as a point-and-shoot taking their picture files to a third party for printing. They're missing the dynamic range of what can be done with the camera!

You simply bring up the photo editor of your choice, lay in a crop template, define X-Y dimensions (either in cm/inches or in pixels) and then change the resolution density as required (rachet it down from 200-300 dpi to 72 dpi) and that'll drop the file size like a boat anchor!

Next, there's typically a choice of SAVE or SAVE AS in the editing software. When you pick SAVE AS and define the format as JPEG (there are other photo formats like TIFF, RAW, Mfgr Specific, BMP, GIF, Etc. each with its own set of feature functions) you can generally move a slider bar to specify the amount of compression that's performed on the file. Typically, JPEG files run in 10% increments of compression and the more you compress the more distortion you invoke.

But, that's how you shoot in one mode and adjust the resulting picture files to meet your objective (bare bones internet use, high resolution suitable for 4-color separation magazine publication, Etc.).

[Nick M.]

Re: Picture Size To Post In Threads

Jack

I followed your suggested methodology for posting pictures and it worked perfectly for me. I was having some difficulty on the resizing issue as well. Thanks a bunch for the pointers.

[Rob M.]

Re: Picture Size To Post In Threads

Microsoft is offering a very easy tool with their Office suite. You can find it under your Start button (XP or Vista) under Office Tools: Micorsoft Office Picture Manager. It let you resize, crop, adjust, etc. etc. your pictures quite easy.

If you want to batch proces your images (e.g. resize, or reduce quality) programs like Adobe PhotoShop can do wonderful things...

greetings,
Rop

[Timothy B.]

Re: Picture Size To Post In Threads

Another option for the web site managers to consider is to put process of resizing the photo on the server side. That way, if a person tries to upload a photo that is, say 178K, the processor would resize it automatically to what you guys decide. I don't know what software is required to do that, but I know other sites do this. Just a thought.

[Jack H.]

Re: Picture Size To Post In Threads

Yes, picture reformatting engines DO exist and sites like eBay employ them to maintain order/decorum/file storage capacity. BUT, that's another expense item for NCRS and these engines are NOT without drawback(s)....

There's a limit to how 'smart' a picture processor can be. YOU know where the subject lies in your picture and software has to 'guess'. Plus, does the picture processor conserve X-Y dimensions or 'disort' the picture to fit a pre-defined template?

Then, what's the tradeoff issue between X-Y cropping, pixel density (resolution) and picture file compression? An automatic utility can 'guess' but I guarantee you it'll muck up from time to time resulting in posted pictures being so distorted and fuzzy that posters will complain! (Years back that was a frequent complaint at eBay).

Bottom line, with increased flexibility comes the burden of increased complexity. That's a fact of life in high tech...

[Gerard Q.]

Re: Picture Size To Post In Threads

If you have win/xp, ms has a handy pic resizer. Dwn load it, then whenever you right click on a picture it allows you to resize it. Scroll down on the right hand side & look for imageresizer.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx