[Captain Trips]

How do many members send picture files compressed and when clicked on, become full pictures. Is this possible using Adobe Dimension, a program i'm just learning, or seperate program ? Thanks drock

[Slugman]

I don't know about the Adobe thing, but I do mine by using the "add an attachment " area at the bottom of the screen when you post. Just click on "browse", and then search your folders for the picture you want to upload. Just follow the prompts, and there you have it. Your picture will appear already thumbnailed. I use Olympus Cammedia Master for my pictures, because it is the best among the free ones I have, which include Microsoft Picture-it! Express 7.0, MGI PhotoSuiteIII, Corel Photo-Paint 8, and Kodak Imaging for Windows. The Cammedia came with my digital camera, the other four came free with my computer. The Cammedia is best because it is quick and easy, as well as having the best quality large thumbnail previews and a great slideshow format where there is no border or other distractions, the picture taking up the whole screen. I know Photoshop is the best, or so I hear, but it costs money! The nerve. Remember, Tom asks that pictures be the smallest file size that still looks right, so you will want to resize them to 600x450 or at most 800x600 for especially nice images. The J-peg compression should also be set to "high" if the measure is compression, or "low" if the measure is quality. This is why I like the Cammedia, since it makes these chores a snap.

[Tom]

DROCK, are you talking about posting pictures here or sending pictures via email?

[Captain Trips]

Sorry for the confusing message - actually I'm confusing two different issues. When I send an e-mail attachment, the picture shows fully not compressed, slowing the transmission of the e-mail. A solution would be to post links to pictures from an online database. I haven't posted pictures for some time, so I forgot that the attachments work better on NWhikers. Just send it as a attachment. The stress of learning the G3 and Adobe Dimension at the same time. DROCK

[Tom]

Your G3 comes with photoshop LE. That's all you really need to resize things and distribute on the web. Always shoot at the highest (4 MP) resolution (2272x1704 = 4 million pixels). This is necessary for good prints, but there are plenty of other good reasons. For distributing via email or on the web: 1) Pull up the 4MP original in Photoshop LE 2) Resize it to 640x480 or 800x600 3) Apply unsharp mask with parameters 150-175, 0.3, 2 (necessary to bring out the sharpness after resizing) 4) "Save as" a different file name (never overwrite your original) 5) People don't realize it but this is the most critical step - when you "save as", save with jpeg quality 5 or 6 (never higher than 6, but sometimes you can go as low as 3 or 4 if you want to minimize the file size and aren't worried about a little artifacting). If you have a version of photoshop that has the "save for web" feature it is slightly better than doing the "save as" I described in steps 4-5 above but selecting the proper jpeg compression is still the most critical step for reducing file size. If you want to distribute thumbnails in an email with a link to a larger picture it is possible, but you'll need to know html and you'll need to host the pictures somewhere. Personally I think it's better to just get a photo host (or create a web page with pictures on them) and send a link if you plan to do this since many people do not have html compatible email.

[Captain Trips]

Thanks for the info Tom. If you could offer your expertise one more time.. I did sign up for Shutterfly photo service, because it was free, but was disappointed with the lack of photo quality. I do like your Fototime as the service accepts different file types and the pictures can be larger, as i see it. I'm not adverse to paying for a better service. Do you run above the minimum storage amt ever ? Thanks, DROCK

[Tom]

Yes, I have the basic plan. I don't post my originals (I resize everything to 640x480, apply unsharp mask, then save with jpeg quality 6 in photoshop before uploading). Fotoalbum has an automated resize utility to do this but I find the quality is better much better if I do it in photoshop. All my photos use less than the 250MB of storage (which is plenty of storage if you don't upload originals and very reasonable for $24/yr). The main nit I have with fototime is page loads can be slow if you have 75+ albums like me due to all the html overhead to create the album links, but you should be fine. Sooner or later I plan to roll my own but for a photo host, you can't go wrong with fototime.

[Captain Trips]

Good info, I'll be signing up with them versus Shutterfly. I do like the fototime format. Thanks again, Drock