A thread for photo numpties. (31)

Valan_SDM wrote: Gimp isn't bad for a freebie and you can mess about with the contrast, etc and make those photies even sexier Tons of tutorials online (including video tutorials) of how to use the program, just do a search in Google for what you want to do with what software, you'll come across loads of tutorial sites. Photoshop really is the bo***x though! Can't recommend it enough!

You choose photoshop if:

(1) You use Windows or Mac (2) Have £600 to spare (3) Have a few hundred more for a course (or lots of time & patience) to learn to use it properly.

Basically if your job is photography it makes sense, otherwise GIMP will do 99% of all you ever need for free.

And yes, some will find a "free" version of photoshop on some file-sharing site, but first ask anyone who has to administer the periodic system-wide enemas for infested PCs just where the majority of crap comes from!

People commonly use statistics like a drunk uses a lamp post, for support rather than illumination.

Own a Mac so never had any problems with viruses when downloading stuff. I actually bought (well me and my ex went halves) on PS6 years ago, he's a comic illustrator and photography is just an enjoyable hobby for me. I'd never spend that kind of money again though, especially when software updates so regularly. Most of my interests are for my own enjoyment, not for profit, so I'm sticking to being a dirty downloader

Oh and I don't agree you have to pay out for courses to learn to use PS, a couple of good books like: Photoshop for Photographers (Martin Evening) a little patience and checking out some tutorials online will get most people off to a good start!

Edited 12 Jul 10, 11:20 PM by Valan_SDM

Been around forever, has a batch setting (very useful) with its add in package will convert anything from anything to anything while doing anything to it Is best thing for viewing pictures in folders. is very very simple yet hugely powerful, can optimise, filter, slideshow etc etc

It is not an editing program, but the dogs bollocks when it comes to manipulating formats and sizes. Supports 99.99% of formats including the raw ones.

can be found here.

http://www.irfanview.com/

- Wulfy

My, what sharp teeth I have.

Edited 13 Jul 10, 1:14 AM by BadWulf

Less well known is that the 'Open Office' suite also comes bundled with a easy to use graphics editor, again it's a freebie without any limits.

Download this (assuming you have windows 7 or vista) and then right click on the picture and you can resize the picture to any size.

you can spend your time alone redigesting past regrets
or you can come to terms and realize
you're the only one who cannot forgive yourself
makes much more sense to live in the present tense

Edited 13 Jul 10, 1:35 AM by patchworkpants

• Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder with the image file you want to work on.
• Normally you'd double left click and Windows Picture and Fax Viewer application opens and displays the image in the file.
• Instead, single right click and Windows XP's Explorer's context menu opens with a "Send To" option which allows you to put a copy of the file somewhere else.
• Mouse-over "Send To" in the context menu to expand the "Send To" sub-menu. Mouse-over & highlight "Mail recipient" in that sub-menu and left click to select it.
• A small window titled "Send Pictures via E-mail" opens with 2 radio-button options: make smaller (default) or keep original size. In the bottom left hand corner of the window is link-like text saying "Show more options ...". Click this link and the window expands to allow you to specify the final image dimensions in pixels 640x480; 800x600; 1024x768 (VGA, SVGA, XGA screen sizes respectively). The default is the smallest.
• Choose the size you want & click "OK". Your email application opens with a new email drafted for you with the resized photo as an attachment.
• Send the email to yourself and when you get it back detach or save the file to your upload folder.
• Sign in to IC and upload the photo.

NOTE :: You can do batch image resizing in XP via Microsoft's PowerToy for XP free package. Details and download here

Windows Vista, Windows 7 (all editions)

• Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder with the image file(s) you want to work on.
• Normally you'd double left click and Windows Photo Gallery application opens and displays the image in the file.
• Instead, highlight as many files as you want to work with (combine left click, with SHIFT and CTRL keys) then single right click and Windows Explorer's context menu opens with a "Send To" option which allows you to put a copy of the file(s) somewhere else.
• Mouse-over "Send To" in the context menu to expand the "Send To" sub-menu. Mouse-over & highlight "Mail recipient" in that sub-menu and left click to select it.
• The "Attach Files" dialog box opens. Choose a size for your pictures from the drop-down menu in pixels 640x480; 800x600; 1024x768 (VGA, SVGA, XGA screen sizes respectively) as well as original and click "Attach". Your email application opens with a new email drafted for you with the resized photo as an attachment.
• Send the email to yourself and when you get it back detach or save the file to your upload folder.
• Sign in to IC and upload the photo.

NOTE :: Here's Microsoft's online 1-page guide for Photo Gallery which includes how to resize images (almost at the bottom of the guide).

"Fork handles?" "No, not 'fork handles' ... four candles."

IC always recompresses the image, so ideally you should upload something that's a bit bigger than 600 pixels in the smallest dimension to give that recompression some "elbow room." You lose quality in that recompression but you get some back from giving it those extra pixels to work with.

Why should it be 600+ plus for the shorter dimension? For example, if you force a 600x600 square image to fit within 640x480, you're uploading something that's only 480x480 when you could have uploaded something 600x600.

IC does this recompression for security reasons (it makes it harder for people to upload evil JPEGs that exploit bugs in JPEG display code in web browsers) and to ensure faster downloading for viewers by enforcing decent compression ratios and progressive encoding.

Regards,

Admin

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