Resizing pictures for forum posts

[Gary_Ash]

Xander W just posted a large number of photos but could only put one per post because of the file size of each photo.  Rather than hijack his post, here is some info on resizing photos for the Forum.

 

Forum rules allow only 9.77MB per post and modern mobile phones and digital cameras can easily make pictures of 5-10 MB size.  A full width photo on this forum need only be about 1024 pixels wide.  That usually gives a height of 768 pixels.  This is much less data than the 3264 x 2448 images that my iPhone 6 generates.  Scaled down to 31% of both width and height gives a file size of less than 10% of the original.  Scaling down to 900x600 still produces a viewable photo with even smaller file size.  An 80 KB to 200 KB photo file is usually good enough quality to post here.  This allows more photos per post and faster downloads for Forum members.  It also means Forum members using mobile devices for reading don't burn up their data allocation.

 

While you can use some of the built-in apps on Windows 10, Photoshop, or other purchased software, an excellent, FREE app is "Image Resizer for Windows".  It installs as part of  Windows File Explorer, does not have viruses or other crap software to put in your system.  Once installed, just choose one picture or a bunch of pictures in File Explorer with Shift-click or CTRL-click using the left button on your mouse.  Once the photos are selected, click the right button and choose Resize Pictures.  The app will open in a small window, let you choose what size the results will be, and then it generates a new, smaller file for each photo.  The new files have a name that includes the original file name plus an appended size notation in parentheses.  Your original file remains untouched.  It's really handy for resizing a batch of photos in one go.  One wonders why Microsoft didn't build this feature into Windows.

 

You can download the software here:  http://www.bricelam.net/ImageResizer/

 

[MochetVelo]

I use a free online resizer which is pretty quick and simple: http://www.imageoptimizer.net/Pages/Home.aspx

 

 

 

Phil

[John_S_in_Penna]

I took some pictures of my Buick with my

digital camera, and the pictures turned out to be

2.87 megabytes in size.  I loaded two onto our

forum, and I believe the forum software automatically

resized the pictures.  Does the forum do so?

 

I saw a big disadvantage to that process, however.

The original pictures, when displayed on my

computer screen, are large and sharp.  The

result on our forum looked a bit fuzzy, lacking

the clear and sharp outlines of the original.

 

I had been thinking that people must not have

good cameras, because many (but not all) posted

pictures are a bit fuzzy.  How disappointing!  Now

I realize that the forum itself is causing the lower quality.

 

Naturally, we want to see cars pictured in all their glory!

 

Edited November 12, 2019 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[Billy Kingsley]

I use my own website, which I've maintained since 2004. I can post as many pictures as I want, and they are sized properly for the forum. It's not free...my website costs me $96 a year...but it's so worth it. If anyone has a passion for photography like I do, it's a must.

 

[39BuickEight]

We have this problem at work.  They just got us new phones (we get new ones every couple of years), but our software won't allow the large photos, and Apple wont let you tell the phone to take smaller photos.  A large part of my job is uploading photos for various reports.  Poor planning and/or vision by my company.  They don't want me spending half my day resizing photos.  I'm not in the photography business lol.

[Xander Wildeisen]

Thanks Gary_Ash, great info. You can hijack any post I do. That is what makes conversations interesting. Because of the light level in the room, my flash did not go off. I think John_S_in_Penna is right. So many people around the world will never get to go and see those cars. I do not want to change the picture quality. That way people get a good look at some cars they may never see again. 

[Guest]

Gary_Ash, I used paint on my windows 10 and it works well but your Image Resizer for Windows takes fewer steps.  Thank You.

[mike6024]

I don't see how Xander's pictures could have been too big, because when I clicked on them they did not enlarge much at all.

 

Bernie posts pictures but they are hosted on another server, not actually uploaded. If you hover your mouse over this photo below and right click you can open it in a new tab, or copy it's link and paste it somewhere else. So that is another way to do it. Upload them all somewhere else, and copy the links and put those links in your post here.

 

[wldavis]

Mike,

 

When I clicked on Xander's photos on my PC, they became "full frame" top to bottom, so they could not have been any larger to be able to see the complete photo,

unless one would want to enlarge a certain section to see a detail.

[1937hd45]

On 11/12/2019 at 11:06 AM, Xander Wildeisen said:

Thanks Gary_Ash, great info. You can hijack any post I do. That is what makes conversations interesting. Because of the light level in the room, my flash did not go off. I think John_S_in_Penna is right. So many people around the world will never get to go and see those cars. I do not want to change the picture quality. That way people get a good look at some cars they may never see again. 

LOVED YOUR PHOTOS! The size was perfect, don't change a thing. Bob