Image Capture, Resizing and Posting

[Mike Sibley]

For help with including an image in your post, see my reply below.

All images posted to this forum must not exceed 1MB in size or be physically HUGE! The maximum width is 1000 pixels, with no height restriction.

There are a number of ways to achieve this in almost any imaging software such as Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, GIMP, even the program that was supplied with your camera, or sometimes even your scanner. Or you can use ResizeImage.net.

FOR BEST RESULTS:
Scanners will almost always produce better results than your digital camera. Cameras will automatically read white as a light grey and the light (daylight or artificial) will cause a colour-cast to appear.

Scan your artwork at 300ppi (pixels per inch) and in COLOUR:
COLOUR scans at 32 bits per pixel
GREYSCALE scans at 8 bits per pixel
so you will capture more information about your image by scanning in colour.

Now open your scan in Photoshop (or whatever program you use) and set about resizing it:

RESIZING:
Currently, you are restricted here at DWM to a maximum width of 1000 pixels and a maximum file size of 1MB. Follow these simple steps:

1: If necessary, crop away anything that is not your image, such as the paper's margins.

2: If you used a camera, the resolution will probably be 72ppi, which is OK. If you scanned your image at 300ppi (you should!), now reduce the resolution to 72ppi. That's monitor resolution - you will not gain any advantage by using a larger resolution. Also, 300ppi is the commercial printing resolution - if someone steals your image online, do you really want to make it commercially usable?

3: If your image is larger than 1000 pixels wide, resize its width to 1000 pixels or less.

4: If your image is a graphite or charcoal pencil drawing, or any medium that doesn't contain colour, you can now slash your file size by up to two-thirds by removing the colour information from it. You scanned in colour... right? You did that to capture the greatest amount of information, but now you have it you no longer need to save all those values in colour.

In Photoshop simply go to the top menu > Image > Mode > Greyscale - then click OK. That is not the same as "desaturating" (CTRL+SHIFT+U). Desaturating removes the colour but needlessly retains the 32 bits of information, so your file size remains as big as it was previously. Use the greyscale function.

Now check your new image data - the file size should be below 1MB. Our system will refuse to accept your image if it is larger.

MORE STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
Do not save your resized image to overwrite your original image! I suggest you create a folder for these resized images to keep them separate from the larger originals (assuming you want to keep them). Simply save your smaller image into that folder and preferably using a new name, such as "ThisTitle_small.jpg".

Your image is now ready for uploading to your DWM post!

Do NOT embed your images in PDF files or any similar file systems. Post them as raw JPGs.

Do NOT embed external links to your work (such as Pinterest or PhotoBucket) in your post. We understand you're busy - we're busy too - we don't have time to go look for it. Physically load it into your post.

If you have any problems or don't understand something, try the FAQ page in the menu above. Or contact Admin by clicking the CONTACT link at the bottom of this page - it's on the right. Scroll all the way down. That's it. That one there...

[LizzyT]

Hi Mike.. I’m stupid with downloads/uploads and such!! In the show your image forum, I clicked the picture image, then what!
How do I link to my Picture gallery, to get the image I want to show you! (Bobby!)

[Mike Sibley]

Understood... so let me walk you through it:

Using NEW TOPIC or REPLY - the layout is the same.

If using REPLY, choose "Full Editor and Preview" and not Quick Reply, which doesn't offer facilities for image uploads.

Write whatever you want to in the text box

There are two methods you can use to add one or more images:

1:
Locate your image in your computer. Arrange things so you can see that image's thumbnail and the DWM text box. Now simply drag the image into the box with your text. That opens the ADD FILES facility and adds your file to it. Now go to 3 below...

2:
Scroll down and you'll see two (or three) tabs. One is OPTIONS, the other is ATTACHMENTS. Click ATTACHMENTS. Click the ADD FILES button. Navigate to your image in your computer. Click on the image and then the OPEN button, or SAVE, or whatever your system asks for. Alternatively, you can usually just double-click the image.

3:
Either method places your image into the ADD FILES area. There you can delete the file, or add an optional description in the text box (this will not appear as visible text). Then click PLACE INLINE. The image will appear in your text wherever you've positioned the insertion point (aka cursor). It looks like this:

Code: Select all

[attachment=0]poster_ds021_500.jpg[/attachment]

and if you click PREVIEW, you'll see the actual image displayed in your post.

poster_ds021_500.jpg

If everything is looking good.... click SUBMIT and you're done