Posting photos in the forum

JackAndRob

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Most photos taken by cameras and phones are way too big to post on the forum, so it is necessary to reduce their original size to 30% or less. At that size they are still perfectly usable and details are still clear. In fact, most photos cannot be viewed in their full resolution on most computer monitors or TV screens (unless they are really high-end), so reducing the size (and resolution) has little impact on their quality, unless you intend to print them.

I can describe a quick and easy method of reducing photos on Windows PC. I'd be grateful if someone else can do the same for Macs as I don't use them. There may be apps on phones that can do this too, but I do not use them either.

You may wish to use the following procedure on a copy of the photo so that you retain the original photo with its original size and detail. If you want to use a copy, just click on a photo, use Ctrl-C then Ctrl-V. A new file will be produced and you can use that one to practice on.

Resizing photos

On a Windows PC, right-click the photo and then click Edit. This will load the photo in Paint.
Select Resize near the top-left. A dialogue is shown. Ensure that "By Percentage" is selected and "Maintain aspect ratio" is ticked.
Now change the Horizontal value from 100 to somewhere between 20 and 30 - the Vertical value should automatically change to the same value.
Now click Ok.

If you don't like the new size of the photo, use Ctrl-Z to undo the change, then select Resize again and try a different value.

Save the image using Ctrl-S and close Paint.

This will reduce the size of the file considerably, and hopefully allow you to add it to the forum. If not, you may need to reduce the size a little more.

Cropping photos

If you have a photo with lots of unwanted space around the subject, you can crop it to reduce the file size. This is actually best done before you resize the photo - it is only necessary to resize the photo if it still too big after cropping.

Load the photo into Paint again.
Press Ctrl-A to select everything in the image and then use your mouse to drag the image upwards and to the left to reduce the margins on those sides.
Click outside the borders of the moved area to fix its position.
Now go to the lower-right of the photo where you'll see a tiny white square. You might need to use the scroll bars on the right and bottom to find the lower-right corner of the image.
When you mouse pointer moves over the tiny white square, it will change to a double-headed arrow. Hold down your mouse button and drag the corner of the photo up and to the left to eliminate any unwanted space in the image.
Save the photo.

These edits are very quick and simple once they have been practiced a few times. Resizing and cropping can often be achieved in less than a minute.

Posting photos on the forum

Above the space where you type text to add a message, there is a small icon that looks like a small landscape photo (It is the the left of the smiley face). A small message "Insert image(Ctrl-P)" will be shown when you move your mouse pointer over it. Click it and a box will be displayed that says "Insert image". Drag and drop your photo into this box, or you can click it where a dialogue will be shown that allows you to browse to the folder that contains your photo. Double-click your photo to add it.
 
editing photos in windows using Paint, I never use percentages, you should use Pixels, a typical photo will use 5000 - 3000 pixels. now pixels are the size of the dots that form the photo, if you change the amount of pixels down to 1000 - 1800 you will find that the photo still looks as good as our eyes will not know the difference there is no need to crop the photo or lose any noticeable even printers can not print to the quality of the original photo. save the changes. this will bring the photo down to 300-400 kb
 
Some versions of windows may try to load the 3D paint program, this is no good to resize the photo pixel's, the slandered Paint program is loaded as a normal windows accessary, I have found it better to place the paint program on the bottom tool bar, this way if you are trying to load a photo that is too big while on this site you can simply open up paint and load the photo edit it and save , close the program and then re attach the photo for loading with out the need to close this site. @JackAndRob
 
Yes, or course, work with pixels if you prefer. I guess it is a case of experimenting and seeing what works best for you - it is percentages for me.

On Windows 10, Edit will use Paint. "Edit with Paint 3D" is a separate option on the pop-up menu.
 
IMG_0468 per cent.jpgIMG_0468 pixel.jpg
there is little to chose from between the two methods and both ways have the same results, top is 50% bottom pixel. both from a photo just over two Meg. My windows 10 will go straight to paint 3D if I go to edit it,
 
Your default program is different to mine then. Easy enough to load from the menu though.

A lot of people seem to be unaware of the general process of reducing the size of photos, in terms of resolution and file size. Tools are already available on their PCs to do this, they are not difficult to use and the process is quick and easy. I have other (paid for) imaging software, but it is way over the top for this simple task.
 
Thanks for this @JackAndRob brilliant and very informative post I will pin it so we don't loose it and can easily direct members to it who have difficulty
I can add that we do have a size limitation in place for attachments on the software nothing over 1536kb
 
The forum's server storage would get max'd out very quickly if full sized files were permitted. At home, our media files are on a 4TB NAS drive and it is already over 75% full. It is backed up to a duplicate drive overnight. Granted, we save everything and rarely remove anything. I could probably delete thousands of poorly taken photos to free up space but I keep putting it off :rolleyes:

Another way to cut the file size of JPEGs is to lower the quality (or increase the compression ratio), however this requires software that is not normally provided as standard on Windows PCs and it is not as straightforward as simply cropping and reducing - Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro being among the more popular ones.
 
Yeah, it was easier to upsize the drives than sifting through everything and deleting the rubbish. It would probably take days :rolleyes:
 
Any ideas why lately if I reduce a pic on my iPhone it’s flips it sideways ?

C701F325-7EEF-470C-9AB2-6C5109A15DCE.jpegC832853B-BADA-49C2-B397-0D47FADEEA72.jpeg

top one was small enough, bottom posted a medium to get it within forum size, anytime i reduce size the forum flips it sideways ?
 
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Hmm if you load it and leave thumbnail ticked then it's dinky i just changed the above by tapping view full image not sure why picture is rotated i know if I take a phone picture and hold my phone sideways or vertical that alters the way forum loads it....
 
See you've already cracked it :thumbsup:
Ignore me if you're really lucky I will stop blithering and go away :risas3: don't hold your breath though!
 
@A.A.A. Have a read of this thread on how to post photos

See you've already cracked it :thumbsup:
Ignore me if you're really lucky I will stop blithering and go away :risas3: don't hold your breath though!

I use Microsoft PowerPoint instead of paint, crop, resize & compress on the picture editing menu, then right click & "save as photo" to save it as a different file.
I used to be able to edit them on Adobe Photoshop but the software became subscription only and I don't want to pay huge prices every year when I get free access to Microsoft office with work (they let you add personal devices to their business account subscription).
 
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