I've tried to post a few pics over the course of the last week and have had no luck. I KNOW they aren't too big simply because the pics I posted earlier this month were the same size and I had no problems. I've resized them so they would fit but I've still had NO luck...help...o No: o No:
Usually there is an error message associated with a failed picture post. It might be that it's too wide or too long or too many kilobytes. Send them to me bill@buickstreet.com and I'll check and resize them if needed.
Bill, If the fact that there are too many kilobites is the case, is it possible to reduce the amount? I'm using Microsoft "Paint" to resize the pics and as I've stated before, this is the second time this month I've had trouble posting pics...any suggestions??
The message I'm getting is "the file you're trying to attach is too big and should be no bigger than 153600 bytes"... o No: o No: o No:
I'm not sure what's going on with your end but the iamges you sent me are the ones I used. They were perfect. ************** Quick Steps: Open your bitmap (.bmp) using "MS Photo editor" (photoed.exe) and adjust the size to suit your application (I use 500 wide for V8Buick) 1) Choose "Save as..." command (File --> Save as...). 2) Change the "Save as type" drop down box to .jpg. 3) Adjust the quality to about 85-90% quality (10-15% compression). ************** Image Editing 101 Lesson one. I don't know how much you know about computers so I'll just pretend that you know 'a bit' and know how to use programs and menus...etc I've been doing this for years now and can still remember the frustration of trying to understand picture files so I'll dump a heap of info here in case it does anyone any good. Q. Why do we want to reduce the size of a picture? A. Because some types of files are too big. Too big to transmit over the internet (and that includes viewing them on a website - which is a form of downloading - which takes more time the bigger the files are) so we have to find a way of transmiting these same files from computer to computer in a reasonably quick time. The problem begins when because some of these file types have special qualities and have been produced using different programs with different features. The pictures themselves carry around this information. For example, image.psd opens up (natively) in Photoshop and can contain many different layers. All of which have a size of their own and when the file is saved if you add up all the individual layers of information you end up with a really large file. Bitmaps and tiffs are know for their quality and other special properties. But there's a special type of image file that is very small by virtue of it's special properties and that is the jpg (eg. image.jpg), Pronounced "jay-peg". The jpeg has the ability to control file size by removing all unecessary information (using a form of compression). It also has the ability to be saved in varying quality levels. Different programs have different ways of allowing you to adjust the quality (level of 'compression' or more acurately quality loss) of the picture but most of them use a slider which you can use to adjust the level of quality. This usually happens when you are saving the file. If you can save your bitmaps (image.bmp) as jpegs (image.jpg) using MSPaint (MSPAINT.EXE) then you most probably have Photo Editor installed as well because when Photo Editor is installed it allows MSPaint to be able to save bitmaps as jpegs. MSPaint on it's own can not save a bitmap as a jpeg, it needs the extra 'feature' that becomes available after Phot Editor is installed. This is good news because if you have Photo Editor installed then you should be using that instead. It offers more control than MSPaint and allows you to adjust the quality whereas MSPaint doesn't. It also allows you to make basic changes such as resizing, brightness, contrast and even some special effects. Hint: Nearly all images that come from a digital camera or scanner will look much better with a little more brightness and half that amount of contrast. Try it and you'll be pleasantly surprised. The key is in moderation.
Save As... This is what the "Save As..." box looks like. See the quality control slider? 85% is a good medium.
Quick Steps: Open your bitmap (.bmp) using "MS Photo editor" (photoed.exe) and adjust the size to suit your application (I use 500 wide for V8Buick) 1) Choose "Save as..." command (File --> Save as...). 2) Change the "Save as type" drop down box to .jpg. 3) Adjust the quality to about 85-90% quality (10-15% compression). Bill, I know I'm going to figure this out and it's probably staring me right in the face!!! How do I open my bitmap? I'm using Windows XP, if that makes any difference....
No probs. First you find your program. Look on the start menu for a program called Phot Editor. It might be hanging around with the Office tools or programs. If you can't find it then do a search for a file called photoed.exe Open that program and use the "File --> Open" menu to browse to your picture. If you don't have Photo Editor then you will have to use any program that will open it apart from Paint (unless you can control the level of quality in Paint on XP - I don't know I run win98).
Bill, I did a search and came up empty. I don't understand why all of a sudden, pictures I save INCREASE in byte size. Of all those pictures I sent you, not ONE of them was over 89 bytes in size. Yet when I save them to a folder, they almost TRIPLE in byte size. It's frustrating because this wasn't an issue before. I just bought a new printer/scanner/copier last week and it seems that's when the problems started. Let me ask you this, do you think the scanner settings could be affecting the way pictures are being saved on my computer?? Does that make sense? I mean one of those pics I sent you, was close to 70 bytes in size but when I save it it increases to close to 220 bytes... As far as MSPaint goes, it doesn't seem to offer any help in the increase/decrease of byte size. However, I do have MSDigital Image Pro 7.0 here that I've yet to install. I could always do that, right? I'm just reluctant to install anything without actually finding out why the hell this all of a sudden doesn't work, you know what I mean? Thanks again for your helpful insight...
You're welcome Brett. Though I've never used MSDigital Image Pro 7.0 I'm sure it will do the job we need it to do. It sounds like the type of program that you can adjust the quality of the image. Saving an open image isn't enough, you have to save it as a fresh image in order to reap the quality control benefits. One other thing I forgot to mention was that you should always work from an original as if you keep saving the same file over and over again it will actually get worse without you doing anything but saving it. This is because jpegs are in what's called a "Lossy" format which means that everytime they are saved they loose a little quality.
Finally!!! Bill, After messing around with this thing ALL DAY and talking to 2 different tech people who didn't know what the hell they were talking about, I FINALLY figured out what my problem was... Thanks for all your help.
Don't keep us in suspence Brett. What was the problem? Here is a sample of what adding a little bit of brightness and contrast can do for a picture. Below I have the original pic...
...and here is that same pic but this time I increased the brightness a little bit and the contrast a little bit (but less than the increase in brightness. Too much brightness or contrast can ruin a picture but if you are careful it can make a difference. The effect is subtle but for some reason they just look better.
Windows XP, "working out the bugs"... Using the Windows XP OS, pictures are viewed via the "windows picture and fax viewer". At the bottom there are options you can click on such as, zoom in/out, print, rotate, etc...also included is the option to copy the picture to a folder, or wherever you want to put it. Now, it CLAIMS to save it as a .jpg but what I think it does is save it as a much larger (file size) .bmp pic. The pictures LOOK the same size, yet the file size increases, thus causing the problem I encountered. After messing around with it, I figured out that the only way (that I found) to save a pic without it's file size increasing was the good old, HIGHLIGHT, RIGHT CLICK, SAVE AS, and then send it where you want. So those pics I sent you to post (thanks again) could have very easily been posted right here, by me, had I just saved them the old fashioned way. I also found out that XP uses "Paint" as a photo editor as opposed to what you're using, which is somewhat misleading if you ask me...ou:
It sure is. That's why I still use win98 (plain original edition). As a PC Tech people come up to me and tell me that they want to upgrade to XP. When I ask them why they usually say "because it's the latest, it's new and I want it". To which I reply "Just because a car is newer doesn't make it better - does it?" Most of my clients get machines built on win98 and until I can convince myself that XP is better for the average user that's what they'll continue t get with new machines. Unfortunately, Photoshop is the best picture editor out there. I say unfortunately because it's very expensive. I was fortunate enough to be given a copy of Photoshop by someone who bought it and then lost interest because it was too complicated (it can be) which is why I offer to manipulate images for anyone that asks. So if anyone wants any images re-sized, backgrounds removed, asphalt cleaned up, spots eliminated, rust fixed or color changed I'll do my best to accomodate them. Especially if they own a Buick.
Since it looks like you're the expert, need to ask a simple, simple question. I've tried to put a pic. in a thread but don't know how. I've put them in as an attachment but you have to click it to open it. I want to be able to see it when you read the thread. Also, how do you get your avatar big like you've got yours. Like Bret said, mine seem bigger than they should be in byte size. I've only got computer access at work, so don't have time to play around with stuff. How can I get some pics. to you to "fix-up" for me? They're pics. of Buicks (including my poor looking avatar pic)!!!! Kind of computer illiterate here. Thanks! Dee
