Uploading images: Some are too large!

[manual63]

I know not everyone has knowledge about how to manage images for the web, but I will try to explain this the best I can.

Most digital cameras, especially newer ones, take images at very high resolution. Resolution is basically the height and width of an image in pixels. My screen size is set to 1024 x 768, which is 1024 pixels wide and 768 pixels high. My camera takes images at more than double that. So if I was to post an image right off of my camera in the gallery, the gallery would create the smaller image so people can see it. But if they clicked on it, it would take forever to load and only one small chunk of the image shows. The user must scroll to see parts of the image. To see the whole thing, you can only view the small image that is created by the forum engine.

So what I do when I upload images to the gallery is that I resize the image to 600 pixels wide......and the height is auto adjusted. It will load faster and give viewers a decent blow up size so they can see more detail.

So do 1 of two things when you are going to put pictures in the Gallery. Either set your camera so they are taken at 600 x 450 or resize them with some sort of photo editing software after you take higher resolution images. Most cameras come with decent and easy to use software for this.

You don't have to do this, but it would certainly make it nicer for people who want to view the larger image and see more detail. Some of them that I click on are so big.....I stop it from loading and never see the detailed image.....what's the point if I can only see 1/6th of the image at a time....:banghead:

This is only for images that you are loading into the gallery. Images put in posts are now resized by the forum engine so they don't show up too big for the screen.

[manual63]

An example of a good size image.

http://www.morcmtb.org/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=4998

Click on image to see larger picture at a viewable size

An example of too large of an image.

http://www.morcmtb.org/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=4544

Click on image to see a huge image that you can only see 1 small piece of at a time.

[Trevize1138]

Question for John L:

Is there a way with the forums software to limit the size of photo uploads? It already creates two different sizes: thumbnail and smaller. I know it's possible to do the same for "full size." If it's possible that might be a great way to prevent using up a whole lot of disk space.

[Thewavebb]

shad, you just love to go pick fights now don't you. :D

[gopherhockey]

Question for John L:

Is there a way with the forums software to limit the size of photo uploads? It already creates two different sizes: thumbnail and smaller. I know it's possible to do the same for "full size." If it's possible that might be a great way to prevent using up a whole lot of disk space.

Here is the deal. The size in pixels has been increased, because the forum software will shrink automatically. (although I don't thinkI have it set 100% correct right now) Size as far as space goes can also be limited, in fact if a picture is too large (1 megabyte or larger) often the gallery cannot handle it in memory and just ignores your attempt to upload the photo (without a warning).

My monitor runs at 2560x1600 (Dell 30" flat screen) so I don't mind (some of) the larger images. :D 1024x768 is a good size for most random shots though. Some of the better ones I like to see in higher res tho.

[gopherhockey]

An example of too large of an image.

http://www.morcmtb.org/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=4544

Click on image to see a huge image that you can only see 1 small piece of at a time.

One problem with many of these type of images is that the larger image is actually no more clearer than a smaller one. In fact, this example I believe expands it too much and it becomes unclear vs. being at more of a 1024x768 size.

Now that we're getting picky... LABEL YOUR PHOTOS! Please, if you are using the gallery (which I wish more people would..) please take the time to at least give your photo a caption and some search terms. It makes it so much easier later on if someone wants to come back around and find images from "Trail X" or "event Y".

[steef]

I'd use the Gallery more often, but I tend to post photos on multiple web sites. I don't want to be using MORC bandwidth to pimp my stuff elsewhere.

I usually resize my pics to 650 width before uploading them anywhere.

[gopherhockey]

I'd use the Gallery more often, but I tend to post photos on multiple web sites. I don't want to be using MORC bandwidth to pimp my stuff elsewhere.



Actually storage space and bandwidth is not a concern for us. We have gigabytes of free space to store photos.. soon we'll be able to host videos as well as images.

One nice thing about putting images on MORC is that we have a permanent and searchable collection here in one place. Lots of people have their personal image galleries online and thats cool, but if its an image that might benefit MORC - trail photos, group rides, events, other random cool images... its nice to have them here where we can always go back and search.

I often grab photos for things like trail reviews. I'll do my search in the gallery. Images out on the general internet as they relate to MORC are too tough to seek out.

At the very least it would be cool for every user to share at least their top dozen or so (at least semi-bike related) photos. It makes the gallery way more interesting to have more than just the top 5 posting images.

Thats my plea for using the gallery ;)

[Shorty]

If the pic is low res, and then the larger size is worthless.

But, I like having the ability to see the details when I click to see the larger image.

[jeffgude]

I've noticed that if I try to load a photo of any significant size, the upload fails.

[gopherhockey]

I've noticed that if I try to load a photo of any significant size, the upload fails.

Yup, again, this has more to do with size of the file (i.e. 1 meg or bigger) The server just can't handle the larger images in memory to process, so it pukes with no warning.

What I need to do is find where that failure point is and set a limit, then it would at least give an error.

One thing I notice is that many cameras are horrible at compressing their files. I can load and safe a .jpg from a camera and compress it by like 90% without re-sizing it just by opening it and closing it in a paint program. I've seen some go from 3+ megabytes to less than half a meg.

Many may also not realize they can set their digtal cameras to a lower resolution to save from having to re-size.

[martini]

I love Picasa. Way easy to manage pictures. Easy editing. Easy to do artsy fartsy stuff like B/w, sepia, color tones...plus the online web albums are a cinch.
You can upload in one of four sizes:
144 thumbnail:
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/martini.ss/BighweelBallyhoo/photo#5080585167798471714"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/martini.ss/RoHdSsG_DCI/AAAAAAAAAoY/SOlFzisAQ_Q/s144/DSC_6626.JPG" /></a>
288 pxl:
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/martini.ss/BighweelBallyhoo/photo#5080588741211262946"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/martini.ss/RoHgisG_D-I/AAAAAAAAAv8/YHR5MFLrfQw/s288/DSC_6844.JPG" /></a>

400pxl(I added a link to the album here):
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/martini.ss/BighweelBallyhoo/photo#5080586735461535266"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/martini.ss/RoHet8G_DiI/AAAAAAAAAsY/xB3ZP8vhtbc/s400/DSC_6748.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/martini.ss/BighweelBallyhoo">Bighweel Ball...</a></td></tr></table>

And the big boy, 800pxl. This bike rocks btw. No its not mine. Demo from the Big wheel ballyhoo in Decorah.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/martini.ss/BighweelBallyhoo/photo#5080586615202450946"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/martini.ss/RoHem8G_DgI/AAAAAAAAAsI/2kuamjaPErc/s800/DSC_6741.JPG" /></a>

I understand John's search thing above for the trails. But with services like Picasa available, I find it hard to justify spending time uploading, mayybe uploading to here, when its SOOOO easy to do it there. Plus I find navigating galleries like these(MORCs) kind of a pain. There's too many steps to take.

I strongly urge anyone to take a look at Picasa. Even over flickr.

[gopherhockey]

Plus I find navigating galleries like these(MORCs) kind of a pain. There's too many steps to take. .

Too many steps? My 4 year old nephew can browse our gallery with no compalins. :eyeroll: ;) Its also not rocket science to upload here or to find photos... search keywords are a big help toward making it even easier.

Might not be quite as easy as some, but its the best we have, at least for now... not much out there that will integrate into vBulletin like our gallery software does. It puts the images here in our home, withour posts, where we can all enjoy them in one place. Nobody is trying to replace personal online photo albums here, thats for a non-biking topic, not a thread based on making our little area of the Internet better.

I appreciate anyone who takes the time to use the gallery. Its just another way to contribute to the content of the site and to the club as a whole.

[martini]

uh, where'd my post go?

<table style="width: auto;"><tbody><tr><td>http://lh6.google.com/martini.ss/RjVb5EVMHFI/AAAAAAAAAZs/_N6wFli_X_s/s400/DSC_5629.JPG (http://picasaweb.google.com/martini.ss/TransIowa/photo#5059050792393907282)</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;">From TransIowa (http://picasaweb.google.com/martini.ss/TransIowa)</td></tr></tbody></table>Before my 'speech' was 'edited', my suggestion was to use Picasa. I'll say it again too. Its waaaay easier to use for file storage, photo editing(this from a photoshop user), AND browsing, as well as photo posting. Follow the linked image to find more about it.

[gopherhockey]

uh, where'd my post go?

Before my 'speech' was 'edited', my suggestion was to use Picasa. I'll say it again too. Its waaaay easier to use for file storage, photo editing(this from a photoshop user), AND browsing, as well as photo posting. Follow the linked image to find more about it.

Nobody has edited anything of yours that I can see.

Again, good suggestion (I like just about all of Googles offerings). Wish it interfaced to vbulletin, but it looks like it would be another good place to fix photos prior to putting them in the MORC gallery... and definitely a good personal gallery.

I typically use the XP power tool "image resizer" prior to my uploads here. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

[martini]

Huh, weird. I must've hit preview or something then. I think I've done that before. I'm very happy with Picasa. I used to use Photochop all the time for photo editing, but Google just made it so damned easy to do that I rarely use Photoshop anymore.

[gopherhockey]

Huh, weird. I must've hit preview or something then. I think I've done that before. I'm very happy with Picasa. I used to use Photochop all the time for photo editing, but Google just made it so damned easy to do that I rarely use Photoshop anymore.

I actually use Paint Shop Pro rather than photoshop... not sure why, guess I kinda grew up using it so I know it more. I actually use an older Jaesc software version 7 quite a bit, its not so bulky with features I can't use.

[TB0NE]

Huh....I was always told size didn't matter.....:banghead: