program to work with pic

[Quebecnewf]

is there a program that I can download that will let me get my pic ready to upload to my gallery. Something simple would be nice

Quebecnewf

[Jeff]

www.xat.com  free download image optimizer http://www.xat.com/io/index.html 

[Quebecnewf]

is this the program you use to get your pic forum ready. I see lots of times pic that are bigger than any I can upload.

I have to make mine really small to get them to fit the limit

Quebecnewf

[Jeff]

Then your not doing it quite right. The the first step is to set your pixel width or hight size of your photo at around 400. Make sure 400 is the greatest dimension. After you have the photos physical size set, then compress the file using the optimizer down to no more then 30k.   You can do both steps with the image optimizer /

[Slabs]

I like Irfanview.  Free download,  composed by Irfan Skiljan in Austria just for those of us that don't know how to stroke computers.  Open program, load pic, select "image", resize/resample and choose about 320 pix for width.  "Save" the image with a slightly different filename and upload to image archive.  If this doesn't get the bit count you want, reload and try another figure on the pix count.

The modified image can be saved in many different formats. (.xxx etc.)

It's the easiest one I've found.

Good luck

[DanG]

Gotta disagree wit da Boss here. :D  The first step in the xat system is to crop.  That's the first option it gives you when you open the pic in xat.  To do this, just position the arrow(cursor) where you want one corner of the final pic to be, click and drag to where you want the opposite corner to be.  When you're satisfied with your new border, release the click button, then click "crop image" in the box.  Then, click "save as" up top, and assign a new name to your image.  Close the image, and then re-open the new image.  I try to rename the pic with a name starting with the letter "a".  That way, it shows up first in your file, and it's easier to find for the next step. ;)  When you re-open it, click on the re-size button on the left toolbar.  Use the "slides" in the box to reduce the longest side below 400 pixels.  Click on "save as" again, but don't choose a new name this time.  Close and re-open again and look at the image size.  Chances are, it will be below the 30k limit.  If not, use the "slide" again, and compress it until it is below 30k.  Do one final "save as" and you're done.

First time will take a few minutes.  Second one will be much quicker, and then it'll take about a minute per pic after that. ;)

[Furby]

DanG it DanG, you make an easy job hard!
WAAAAAAY to many extra steps there, waaaaaay to many. :-\
But hey, whatever works.

[thecfarm]

Qebecnewf,right below,Show New Replies is a Help button.Click on to that and look for Tutorial,how to post pictures.This will bring you to the post that has everything you need to know.Copy it and it will be alot easy.I have only just started to post pictures.It's alot at first,but I did about 10 in half the time it use to take me.Ask if you need help and someone will get you going again.

[Jeff]

I didn't include crop because its not necessary unless you want only part of the photo.

[pigman]

Since several of you are in a disagreeable mood, I would like to disagree with one thing. Instead of stopping at the 30k  file size, keep on reducing until the picture starts to distort and then increase just enough to make the picture sharp. Some of the sharpest pictures on the forum are only 12 to 15k  in file size and are a lot quicker for us slow dial up people to download.   


Slow Bob

[Furby]

Slow Bob,
I've been doing more and more of that myself these days........ just for you.

[DanG]

Ok, I'm up for a bit of bickering. ;D  What extra steps, Furb?  Might could skip the second close and re-open, but it's too easy to compress the image that hasn't been resized.  First one's necessary, or you'll lose your original.

Jeff, I rarely find a pic that couldn't stand to lose a little flab around the edges.  If you just take 20% off the long side(s), you prune it 20% less with the resize, and the result is a 20% bigger pic without compromising quality.  The process that reduces clarity the most is compressing.  I usually can avoid that part with some judicious cropping.

[Brad_S.]

OK DanG, I'll spar a round with you! ;D

The original resides in either the camera or "my photos", so anything in XAT is replaceable. I open, crop, then resize. That puts my new, sized photo on top of the one I opened with and I now am working with that image and dis-regard the one underneath. I then knock the file size down to 17K (I didn't even know we were up to 30K! allowance) and then save it to a folder on my desktop called "ff optimized", which is what I look for when I go to upload them here. Only one save, and that is when I'm all done with manipulating the image. Only takes about 30 seconds to do the whole process.

[pigman]

I am back in an agreeable mood. ;D  DanG's last paragraph is exactly correct. Not only on the forum, but also in print photos, I was taught to get everything you wanted in the photo and nothing else. If a forest is wanted, put the forest in the picture, but if only the chainsaw is wanted to be pictured, crop the forest out. That is what I like so much about digital photography, it is so easy to crop to get just what you want. I know, some of you are so good at framing photos that cropping is not necessary, but some of us are just not that good. ;)

Bob

[Furby]

I'm with Brad, DanG.
Only one save is needed.
No closing and reopening.
I KNOW that it takes well under that 30 seconds Brad talked about to do a pic and I've never lost one to optimizing, ever.
As long as you do that one save at the end using "save as" and either give it a new name OR location, the original is never touched.
Besides, when you overwrite a pic, you get a pop up that warns you and asks if you want to.
That's even more steps.

[Tom]

It' s real easy.  Just think of the picture like a pig.

You gotta make him small enough to go in the pot.  Then you cook him long enough to get the lard out.  Then he's fit for the plate.

Tom the piggy farmer consultant.

[DanG]

Brad and Furby, I used to do it that way, and it works well, but I kept getting confused as to which pic I was working with.  That's why I save between steps.  Sometimes us oldsters need a little handrail, if not a walker or wheelchair. :-\ :D :D :D

Bob, most of the pics I post were taken just to post here.  I try to leave plenty of background to crop out so I don't have to compress.  I just find that it works out better for me.

[Jeff]

I guess thats where I differ, probably because of the way I take photos. I tend to be critical of how I am framing the photo to begin with. With the digital I delete photos I dont like as I take them. I also take series of photos for my close ups so I have a close up taken with the optics, not because I cropped a photo and blew it up electronically. Sure, there are lots of photos I have cropped, but I have even more that I composed on the camera and leave as is. I dont add the step in directions because who am I to tell someone that their composition is flawed and they must crop it when I aint even seen it.

I only save once as well, in a folder on my desktop where I put all the photos I upload to the forum.

[Brad_S.]

Furby,
Didn't mean to steal your thunder, it's just that I had to show off my newly aquired Senior Member X2 status!  :D

[Furby]

I guess my point was that you make the process intimidating to folks when they see all those steps involved.
When I walk someone through the process, I try to do it as simple as possible for that person to understand.
Not cropping is one less step as well.
Like I said before, whatever works.


Jeff, I take pics same as you.

All's good Brad, and congrats! 8)

[DanG]

Congrats Brad! Welcome to the Blabbermouth Club! 8) 8)

I frame pics carefully on the camera, too.  I just leave some extra border on the ones that are for the Forum because I get a better result that way.  Try it sometime.  I tried turning down the resolution on the camera, and optimizing by compression, and I just find that cropping is the most effective way for me to post good pics.  Y'all are posting good pics, too, so there is validity to your argument, but I'll just keep doing it my way. ;)

[Gary_C]

Disagreeable in January?  :

They used to call it "cabin fever." Now it's something like Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD. There are treatments available.   ;D

[DanG]

I wuz just enjoying a debate about something other than politics. ;D :D :D

[Furby]

Yup Gary!
Mine is laying on the beach on Big Pine Key...........
Warm sun beating down, nice breeze coming in off the ocean, good looking women in bikinis walking by................ smiley_bandana

[Gary_C]

That is certainly better than a Time Out and having to sit in the "Naughty Corner."  :D