How to Post a Photo to the Forums

[Steven Otte]

Whenever someone new joins the Forums, they often have trouble figuring out how to post a photo. Here's how.

Step 1: Prepare your photo. It should be saved in JPG or GIF format, and no more than 1 megapixel in size (approx. 1000x1000 pixels).

Step 2: Upload your photo elsewhere. You can't actually post a photo in a Forum message. What you can do is post a link in your message that calls a photo posted elsewhere. So you'll have to put your photo somewhere on the Web that's publicly viewable. Many Forum members use Imgur, Flickr, or their personal websites. [EDIT 6/30/2017: You can no longer use Photobucket for "third-party hosting" without paying for a premium account. This is a Photobucket decision, not ours. Please don't complain to us. –SWO] Whatever hosting site you use, make sure your settings allow your photo to be viewed by anyone, or all you'll get is a broken-image icon. The Model Railroader User Gallery won't work, because it requires you to be logged in. Any site that requires a login won't work, even if visibility is set to Public. That includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the like.

Step 3: Copy the address. Right-click (or on a Mac, control-click) to view the image by itself, not embedded in a web page. Copy the address of the photo from the address bar at the top. If it doesn't end in ".jpg" or ".gif", you're still looking at the picture on a web page, not the picture itself. Some photo hosting websites have a button allowing you to copy the photo URL to the clipboard; if so, use that.

Step 4: Start your post. Create a new post on the Forum as usual, using either the Reply function on an existing thread or the blue "Create a new discussion topic" button in the Forum list view.

Step 5: Insert your picture. Click the "Insert/edit image" button above the message window. It looks like a picture of a mountain and the sun. Click it and paste the image URL you copied into the "Source" box in the window that comes up. Then click OK. Repeat and add text as necessary. Then post as usual.

I hope this helps!

[rrinker]

 Whatever code it uses for that middle block that includes the picture posting icon is often blocked by IE and Chrome. IE it sometimes can be fixed by adding the site to the compatibility view, in which case it works for a while and then goes away. Then taking the site out of the compatibility list and it works again, for a while. Similar results with Chrome, it will initially work and then the icons once again disappear. There is something very wrong with the forum software in this version. I haven't tried lately, is bbcode back on? That was the always-work method, no icon needed.

<img>http://www.readingeastpenn.com/images/construction2/couplerpaint.jpg</img>

and boom, your picture was inserted.

         --Randy

[tstage]

Gotta ask, John: How fast is your internet service?

I have high-speed internet (12Mbps) and use RailImages.com and it only takes a few seconds to upload a photo of <1MB.  If you already have high-speed internet then go with another photo-hosting website.  I've been relatively happy with RailImages.com and don't pay a cent.

Tom

[tstage]

Tim,

Yes, you can.  That's why I recommended it.  (FYI: RailImages is part of TrainBoard.com)

After you sign up:

1. Log into your account at the top right of the page
2. Click on "RailImages" in the upper manu bar then "Your Media" under the Media Navigation heading on the left side of the page
3. Click on the "Add Media" button in the upper right of the page
4. Click the "A Site Category" radio button
5. Pick "RailImages Member Galleries" from the pull-down menu
6. Click the "Upload Image" button to upload your photos from your computer
7. After the image has uploaded, left click on the photo
8. Right click on the larger photo and choose "Copy Image Location"
9. Click the "Reply" button in the thread you want to post in
10. Click the "Insert/edit image" icon (bottom row, to the right of the chain icon) above the text box
11. Paste your photo URL in the "Source" text box
12. Click the OK button - Your photo will now be displayed in your text box, like the one below
    

    

13. Click the "Submit Your Reply" button to add your post to your thread

That's it!  I find that right clicking on the photo is the quickest way to copy the URL of the photo.

Hope that helps, Tim...

Tom

[BroadwayLion]

tstage

Right click on the larger photo and choose "Copy Image Location"

Yes, you can do this with any image that you can see on the web. BUT... You must discover that you are really looking at the image on not the page that the image is on. For example, if you go to Google Images, you are looking at a web page and not the actual photo. You will have to click on the photo to open it so that you are looking at the real location of the photo and not a database notation of the photo. Sometime you will need to go to the site on which the photo actually appears to get the real location of the photo.

Y use this all of the time, even if I am copying the photo from my own server.

 

ROAR

[tstage]

Lion,

Yes, I understand that.  I've found that if I do NOT go to the source of a photo then I usually get one of reduced size - i.e. too small to view.  If the orignal photo size, however, has a high resolution and is huge, I drop back one layer and click on that photo for the URL.

Tom