Including pictures, scans, photos in posts

[JohnB]

OK - so I should know how to do this - but after reading the online help for the forum I still couldn't see the instructions on how to properly include pictures, inline into posts.

I think I've seen instructions posted to this forum and I did a search, but didn't find what I was looking for. So, links to those postings or to online instructions could be posted as a reply to this please?

[ideasguy]

Yes you may have seen it recently in this topic:
http://www.flowergenie.co.uk/ideas/forum/index.php/topic,1318.msg8970.html#msg8970

Your photos for posting on the forum have to be less that 125kb - per posting (1x125, 2 x 62kb max etc)
This method allows you to make rezized copies of selected photos so they are "forum ready"
Your originals are untouched

Heres an extract

Make a folder called temp (or whatever) on your computer
Use Tools-> Resize program GA051 in Ideas Genie Pro
Point Location for Originals to where your photos are
Point Location for Reduced copies to temp
Set the values of Max Height and Max width to 600
Select photos to be resized and click do selected

Then when you got to post a message, click Additional options, click the Browse button and locate the images in temp
That will fill the field in Attach
Do one image at a time per posting

[JohnB]

I'm activating an old thread around how to post pictures. Earlier today I tried to reply to a posting and attach 4 photos to that posting.

I followed the instructions below - except I used Photoshop Elements to produce the reduced size photos - they are now 640x480 jpg's each around 110kbytes

When I created the post, I received an error that said the file-sizes were too large. I thought perhaps that there was something wrong with doing all four, so I tried again to post just one.

This time I received an error saying there was already a posting with a file of the same name attached -- when I know that posting failed.

I'm going to post this text plain, so it actually gets onto the forum thread. Then will follow up with another attempt at posting a picture - which I've renamed.

[JohnB]

So hopefully this gets posted with a picture - if it works - I guess I've joined the ranks of the real forum users!

[JohnB]

Aha, so it did work. My question now then is the limit

a) maximum of 4 photo's where each photo can be up to 128kb in size, or
b) maximum of 4 photo's where the aggregate size of the posting is 128k?

if it's the former, then I'd swear that what I tried before, but had a failure...

[NightHawk]

Congratulations on successfully uploading your photo John.  Eric will definitely be impressed with the architectural nature of the photo 

If you upload your photos to your own web space, and link to them from there, then there certainly is no limit to the amount of photos you can post on the Forum.

However, I notice that you are using George's web space at flowergenie.co.uk.  This could be where you may have run into a problem.  I'm not aware of what that would be so we'll need to wait for George to come in on this one and give an explanation.

Great effort though.

Laurie.

[ideasguy]

Thanks for resurrecting this topic John, and thanks Laurie for posting that reply on Jan 31st 2010 (gosh, doesn't time fly!)
Your instructions are perfect

By right clicking, I can see that the image John posted is 800x600.
The file size is less that 125kb so that will work just fine.
When 800 wide, a horizontal scroll bar appears. The user has to scroll to see the right side of the image.
By using the program GA051 in Ideas Genie Pro, with a setting of 600, the program makes the image a more "friendly" size for the forum, so no scrolling is necessary. It also resizes the images to less than 125kb.
GA051 preserves the image width to height ratio, so the copies made are resized yet do not lose their aspect ration and are not distorted.
The program makes the biggest dimension of the copy 600 pixels.
Thus, if a landscape image, the width will be 600 (height will be less).
If a portrait image, the height will be 600 (width will be less).
It produces a decent size image.
Post one photo per posting.
Give it a try John and let me know how you get on with using the program.

[JohnB]

Thanks for the additional information, George. I've just tried using GA051 and it does work just as you say. For me, it's a little more cumbersome that using Photoshop Elements 9 - since I have everything cataloged and tagged - but it certainly works well. I may experiment a little further with PSE9 as the export function provides a lot of control over the quality and size of the output image. I probably need to just size it down one more notch. It also retains the tags and metadata.

Here's a photo of our rockery that I reduced using GA051 using your parameters

[ideasguy]

Thats a nicely proportioned photo John - its good to know you've mastered GA051. Its an extra tool to add to your arsenal.
Love that garden photo Was it taken this year? Your garden is immaculate!
If you have time, I'd be very interested to know the names of the plants in that photo. Is that a Salix standard? Do I see Penstemon? Nepeta?

How many hours do you spend on it each week?

[JohnB]

Hi George,
You can see a higher resolution picture at: http://johnandkathb.smugmug.com/Gardening/2011-Garden-Gallery/i-WmbLNGR/0/XL/IMG1132-XL.jpg

The plants I can identify are:
Salix integra 'Hakuro Nishiki' that has been trained into a standard with annual to bi-annual pollarding.
Eryngium planum 'Jade Frost' (just in front and to the right of the willow)
Potentilla (center foreground) - I seem to have lost the details on this
Penstemon heterophyllus 'Electric Blue'
Centranthus ruber
Oreganum leavigatum 'Hopley's Purple' (to right front not yet in flower)

There are a few other plants that are not visible in this picture

[Eric Hardy]

Hi John, as Laurie said, I am impressed with your shot of Truro Cathedral  . Is there a way of sending your shots in SmugBug straight to the forum. I use Flickr and I can click on a tab that lets me share the link and I choose BB Code. There is a lot of unnecessary stuff but in the middle there is img in square brackets and /img in square brackets which I copy and paste. It lets you choose what size you wish to copy. Keeping to the looking up the tower theme, here is one of St Cross, Winchester 

[ideasguy]

Thanks for the ID on the plants John. I did a Google on Centranthus ruber and find its common name is Red Valerian. Does it behave itself in your garden? It seems to be part of the natural flora over here. I have to say it makes a fine sight when seen en-masse.
Your garden really is stunning. Ive commented before and have to say it again - I love stones and rocks, and yours are something really special. Gorgeous.

Thanks for posting that photo Eric. I'm with you on the appreciation of good old (very old!) architecture.
A bit coincidental - my daughter is home for a holiday to celebrate her birthday. She has her laptop and showed us photos she took on a recent visit to Rome, Italy. The Colosseum is breathtaking. The Basilica is simply incredible. Have any of our members been there?
Since we are on a roll, a few photos here would be very welcome.

[JohnB]

Eric - thanks for the hint about using the /img tag. From what I can tell, I can embed the Smugmug URL withing image tags and it should work. The good thing is Smugmug provides many different links for each picture so that you can fix the size of the picture. Lets see if that works with this post.

If a picture appears, it worked!



Above should be a picture of one of the back garden beds. In preview it looks fine.

[JohnB]

Eric - your instructions worked great and that will certainly help going forward. I realize now this is what Laurie was trying to tell me too.

[ideasguy]

Well done John, and thanks also to Laurie and Eric!

There is another nice advantage, John. When I post a reply in this topic, I can now see the latest images when I scroll down to read over previous postings Makes it easier to ask questions about the details in the photo

I can see the rockery in the background to your latest photo. I'm enjoying the tour!
What is that bed called in the Ideas Genie database you sent me?

[JohnB]

The whole area with the red lava rock pathways is called the Mediterranean Garden. In it, there's the "Rockery", then the bed in the photo is the 'North Bed'. In the database you have, it has all the plants from 2007, most of which I removed (or nature removed) this past winter. I'm doing a major refresh of the database now. I will send you an update.

[ideasguy]

Nature has a way of doing these things, doesn't it
The plants in that photo look very mature John. They have grown well in 2 years!
Thanks for the detail of the names of the garden areas and I look forward to the update.
(I still have to refresh that Master Database download for you - haven't forgot - being sociable this week - my daughter is home on holidays)