Photos too Big

[kid a]

Hey I need suggestions! My new camera takes pictures to big to upload to the site. I set up a flicker account but todays pictures are more than my monthly limit. What to do for the rest of the month??? Do you know how I can upload large files or use another free service? I know I can make a smaller copy of each picture with my camera but would that cut down on the deatail? Maybe that would be a better solution? Is there a way to mass resize a bunch of pictures? Sorry if this sounds silly but I went from 3.2 megapixels to 8 megapixels.

[jay]

You might be able to resize the photos in whatever photo viewing program you are using. I use iPhoto for the mac and this option is available when I export a photo. Use the help menu of the program you use to find resizing photos or exporting to web.

[kid a]

Ok, thanks Jay. I have a program that came with the Nikon camera so I will see if that is an option. I hadn't thought to look for that! LOL.

[patticake]

My son installed photoshop on my computer, and I crop & save with that to my computer. I post from the sized pictures. I don't really understand what I'm doing, I just do what he showed me. I'm computer challenged. I know that photoshop is expensive. Some computers have it already installed. Good luck. I wish I could be more help.

[Orchidementia]

Originally Posted by kid a

Hey I need suggestions! My new camera takes pictures to big to upload to the site. I set up a flicker account but todays pictures are more than my monthly limit. What to do for the rest of the month??? Do you know how I can upload large files or use another free service? I know I can make a smaller copy of each picture with my camera but would that cut down on the deatail? Maybe that would be a better solution? Is there a way to mass resize a bunch of pictures? Sorry if this sounds silly but I went from 3.2 megapixels to 8 megapixels.

I have Photoshop and iPhoto; if you need help with either to resize feel free to PM me!

[exasperatus2002]

I use Irfanview to resize my pics. It was a free download.

[kmarch]

kid_a, are you a Mac user? If so you can download your photos into iPhoto (which can be configured to do this automatically when you plug your camera in). Then, when you re-export the photos you can specify the size you want them to be wither in terms of file size or in terms of dimensions. You can do this with images individually or as a whole group. iPhoto is part of the standard iLife install which all Macs come with. This is how I do all of the photos I post and it's super fast. If you use a PC....maybe someone else can help.

[Anton]

Everyone has missed the point.

If you don't have editing software, go to the Resolution Settings in your cameras Menu.

Drop the setting down to something like 640 X 480 if you want to take images for the forum, and return it when you want to take your family snaps.

As mentioned, most camera manufactures include software to reduce resolution size as well.

[kmarch]

I like my originals to be large and high-res which then gives me flexibility to do what I want with the photos later.

[kid a]

I like the high res after using my old camera for so long the high res is amazing! Unfortunately I am not a mac user. My classes specify that I can't use a mac for all the applications I have to have for my business degree. But someone told me you can run windows on a mac. I'll be buying a new laptop soon but I think I'm gonna go with the artist edition HP. I might see if someone I know has photoshop I can install. Or maybe just create a copy of each picture smaller on my camera and use those for the forum and the regular ones for other things. I just don't like the idea of using the extra space on my sd card.

[jay]

I think it was PC World magazine or some other PC magazine did a test on Windows Vista to see what kind of machine (HP, Dell, etc.) could run Vista the most efficiently and error free. Anyone want to guess what machine did the best job? That's right . . . a Mac! I wish I could find the article that had this. If I can find it I will post a link.

Macs can run Windows in a variety of different ways. They also have several programs that can read and write to Windows based counterparts. Mac is the way to go. But that is my opinion.

[Anton]

Photoshop elements is a lite version of Photoshop and a good alternative to those who can't afford the full blown version, or who wouldn't use it to it's capacity.

I don't have an argument with full res images then size them down, but I personally "de res" my images for the forum then change back.

Digital "film" is cheap. so you can always redo the shots you want at high res for your own use.

I am just trying to give alternatives to those without the knowledge, or who don't have the resources (including financial) to do what most of us can.

Quite often those who are experienced in photography forget the big picture and forget that there are a lot of people who don't have the same knowledge as us and my suggestions are aimed at them.

Remember the KISS principal !

[Orchidementia]

There's also a free, scaled-down version of Photoshop available on-line at https://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by kid a

My classes specify that I can't use a mac for all the applications I have to have for my business degree.

Really!?!?!?! That's pretty obnoxious. One wonders if they also tell you what kind of car you can drive or what brand of briefcase you must carry. Or maybe I'm misunderstanding and what they're saying is "the makers of this software are to lazy to make their software usable by everyone."

Sheesh.....

[kid a]

Anton what is KISS? I was going to take a photography class in high school but was basically forced to withdraw from school on my second day,of the class, I was crushed! I know alot about art but not much about photography.

Orchidementia, thanks for the link. I might try that. My stepdad said he has a pirated version I could put on my machine but I don't know if I really want to do that, although I do love photoshop I don't know that I would be able to remember how to use all the features. I used it alot when I went to a vocational school for commercial art but it was so long ago. Actually I think I will down load that and if I think need more to it I'll just use part of my student loan money. Thanks!

Jay I love macs I used one in all my art classes they are amazingly wonderful for that kind of stuff! But I also unfortunately have to use my machine for work too and our software is not mac compatible yet. But that is interesting that macs are better with vista. I am actually kind of weary of vista because we have a lot of problems with our clients who have vista on their machines and we have run into all kinds of problems and errors and compatibility issues with some of the tools from other companies we use to remote connect. But my machine is too old and slow and it drives me nuts but they don't make them that come with XP anymore.

[kid a]

Kevin
I think its because they want all the students to use the same programs. It really sucks because I am supposed to have word 2007 for my math class because of the equation editor but I have office 2008 on my machine so my documents have to be made in compatibility mode which makes it so I can't use all the features. I think it's kind of silly to be a college that offers online courses and they don't have the instructors use office 2008 applications.

I think the college is too lazy to make their instructors be able to accept different formats, I have had one instructor tell me I can't submit .docx documents. Their tech support is horrible too

[exasperatus2002]

When I was in high school, according to my Marine corp. ansi in NJROTC, Master Seargent Borlan, KISS was an acromyn for "keep it simple stupid". The more bells & whistles something has, the more likely something will go wrong either mechanically or you'll have id 10 t errors.

Originally Posted by kid a

Anton what is KISS? I was going to take a photography class in high school but was basically forced to withdraw from school on my second day,of the class, I was crushed! I know alot about art but not much about photography.

Orchidementia, thanks for the link. I might try that. My stepdad said he has a pirated version I could put on my machine but I don't know if I really want to do that, although I do love photoshop I don't know that I would be able to remember how to use all the features. I used it alot when I went to a vocational school for commercial art but it was so long ago. Actually I think I will down load that and if I think need more to it I'll just use part of my student loan money. Thanks!

Jay I love macs I used one in all my art classes they are amazingly wonderful for that kind of stuff! But I also unfortunately have to use my machine for work too and our software is not mac compatible yet. But that is interesting that macs are better with vista. I am actually kind of weary of vista because we have a lot of problems with our clients who have vista on their machines and we have run into all kinds of problems and errors and compatibility issues with some of the tools from other companies we use to remote connect. But my machine is too old and slow and it drives me nuts but they don't make them that come with XP anymore.

[kid a]

Okay, lol! I was thinking it was some kind of technique thing or something. I might be better of following that since I couldn't even figure that out!

[Anton]

It is a common term in Graphic Arts, and as exasperatus2002 said it simply means Keep It Simple Stupid.

Sometimes people get bogged down with all the intricacies and end up losing the plot with what the original task was. Simple is often times the best policy, and agai n I agree with exasperatus2002, there is less chance to botch something up if you keep the process simple.

MOST Colleges and Universities are Masc orientated, I think this one needs to come out from THE DARK SIDE and see the light. Oh well, you CAN run Windoze on a Mac as a worse case scenario !!!!

[kid a]

Lol! I think I figured out a soloution! bkim said you can do [img]....[/img] and put the photo url in it. I found 2g of free online storage that came with the camera with something called my picture town.

[brookn]

Good pic!! I use the HP Image Zone that came with my printer to resize if that helps.

[myxoma]

The award-winning GIMP photo-editing software is one of the best available. It is free and open source. (this means it is free of malicious sofware because it is constantly reviewed by many independent volunteer programmers)

It has very minimal RAM memory requirements (a benefit over something like photoshop)
And it is easy to use.

GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program

[fred]

photoshop is a good program
you could also re size your pics in photobucket thats also free to use ( image host )
I have been taught photoshop by a close friend and honestly its great to use.
just drop Anton a PM I am sure he will help out with any image problems.

[myxoma]

Photoshop is a great program, but for the casual user who just wants to crop, resize, adjust color balance, it is unnecessarily heavy on the RAM use(and if you want to get it legally it costs a few hundred dollars). There are a lot of great programs out there that take care of all those basic needs and more, for free, and low memory use.

[NicC]

just a quick hint. It is great to take high resolution/big pictures with your camera and save them that way. When you need a smaller image go to one of the programs mentioned and shrink it to your needs. At that point be sure to save it to a discrete file (such as myphotosmall) so you don't lose your basic image. You may want to make a very large print some day.
Nick

[articuno75]

Kortney~ Have you been able to go into the menu of the camera and resize from there? My camera has that feature. Also you can reduce the resolution from the menu. This sometimes also will reduce the size of the pic. Down side is that it will down grade the quality of the pic some.

[PhalPal]

Kid a if you really want to keep it simple, try using the software that came with your new camera. Put an end to Photoshop, Photobucket, Flicker and all the other lengthy crud that is out there that makes it more difficult than what we need on this forum. I bought a new camera six months ago and went from HATING to post pictures (It took too much time!!) to resizing in no more that 15 seconds. It's GREAT!!! In addition, I still have a high resolution shot if I want to print it later.

BTW - Beautiful picture above!!! Nice camera!

[kid a]

I love photoshop bu just don't have the money to purchase it. I have been using the built in function on my camera to crop and magnify. I have made them smaller a few time but would rather use my computer to do that so I can save more room on my sd cards. I go through a 1g card real quick, lol! I need to get some larger sd cards, lol! Well I downloaded that irfanview that exasperatus was talking about and has worked great so far! Easy to use and I love it. One thing to look forward to is today is the 31st and tomorrow is a new month so I can flickr again too and paste the images in a larger size once I run out of my monthly limit for the free space I will use the irfanview again. Thanks for asking though guys!

[Witchypoo]

I have Vista and I use Paint Shop Pro [PSP], I take the photos high res. and save it then I copy and crop and resize it if I am posting to forums. My avatar is one I have resized in PSP.
WP

[rl42]

I use Irfanview. Easy to use.

Ray

[dtje2000]

The KISS principle is directly for people like me. Here's what I do, and maybe your photo editing/managing software allows the same - I COPY everything I want to resize to a specific folder. This allows me to retain the original at that lovely, massive resolution. From within my new folder I open my editing software (mine is Office Picture Manager - bundled with the Microsoft Office package). I click edit, resize, and pick a % that will work for the entire mass of photos...usually 25% to 30% for me, but you can play with that to get where you need to be. Then I select all (CTRL-a) so that when I resize, I'm doing all of them at once. One at a time? Only in certain cases...otherwise lazy wins! After selecting all, I click the OK button and then save the entire wad.

Not all softwares allow for a mass edit like that, but if yours does it sure is a time saver.

Good luck!