Trains.com

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

QUIK< what are the specs we need to place a photo on this forums?

1019 views
7 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
QUIK< what are the specs we need to place a photo on this forums?
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 3:39 PM
What are the specs of the pics to upload to THIS forums!
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 3:49 PM
Quick, you can't .

You need to have your own webspace or access to someone elses. You can only link to images.

Wayne
  • Member since
    November 2002
  • From: GB
  • 973 posts
Posted by steveblackledge on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 3:53 PM
you will require your own website/space or get a photo posting host, then you copy the image URL into the forum go to help at the top of the page and click on the link for images and smilies
if you get a red 'X' you have done somthing wrong
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 3:54 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by steveblackledge

you will require your own website/space or get a photo posting host, then you copy the image URL into the forum like this

and as if by magic your image will pop up, if you get a red 'X' you have done somthing wrong


A perfect example of doing something wrong!

Bob Boudreau
  • Member since
    November 2002
  • From: GB
  • 973 posts
Posted by steveblackledge on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 4:04 PM
Chears Bob, how the heck do you show how to enclose the picture URL to somebody without getting the red X, tried about five times but i gave up
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 4:22 PM
Here we go again:

Bob Boudreau

===================================

Trainnut1250 Posted: 27 Jan 2005

I have posted thie before. Thought if you haven't seen already seen it, maybe it could be be of help.

I decided to give a try at an explanation of web photo posting for other forum members who are interested in posting and haven’t had any experience with photos on the web. There are many points of view on this and I am trying to present a simple, straight-ahead explanation that is general enough to be understood and specific enough to be helpful.

First, a simple explanation of what happens when a photo is posted to the forum. Contrary to popular belief the photo is never actually stored on the forum. When a person views a photo in an online forum, the photo is sent from another web location (other than the forum) to the viewer’s computer. This means that in order to post photos in a forum they must be stored at another web site first. When pictures are stored at an online site, they are given a specific address. When a person posts the picture on the forum for others to view, he is actually giving the forum an address to the photo. The viewer’s computer uses this address to go out and get the photo.

The process of posting photos can be broken down into several categories:

1. Taking and editing the photo
2. setting up a web site to store photos and uploading them to the site
3. linking to your photos by using the correct codes and language to have your pictures appear in a forum.

1. Taking and editing the photo.

We will presume that you have taken photos of your super cool model railroad with good lighting and clear focus. We need to talk about photo size. Most good, clear digital photos are too big for the web. Generally speaking the larger the size, the better the resolution.

Size is measured in image area: given as a dimension (400x600) and in total file size (256kb). We are interested mostly in total file size. Photos can now be as big as 3 or 4 megs (megabyte) with a garden variety digital camera. We want sizes to stay at around 100-150kb. A megabyte is 1,000 kb. Why so small? Remember with a 56k modem (dial up connection speed) it takes around 10 minutes to download 1 meg. If you post very large pictures (even with DSL) it can take quite a while to download them and it is considered rude in cyberspace to do this.

To make the file size smaller, photos will have to be compressed. Compression removes part of the picture quality to make the file size smaller. Almost all web photos you see are compressed. Your camera came with software to do this on your PC. You can also crop the photos and otherwise improve contrast etc…When you compress a photo, you make a copy of it with less resolution. You then end up with several versions of the same photo: High resolution originals and compressed versions suitable for e-mail and web posting. After you have compressed your photos, we will presume that you have put them in a folder on your computer.

2. Storing Photos Online

Next we need a web site to store your photos. Your web provider may already offer you space as part of your service. Check out the rules carefully, many don’t like remote hosting, which is what we are doing. If you don’t get storage as part of your web provider package, You can pay for web space or you can use one of the photo hosting services that are free on the web. There are many of these free sites they include:
Railimages.com
Photobucket.com


We will presume that you are using a free photo hosting service. Sign up at the site and open an account. Next step is to follow the directions at the site to upload your photos to your space on the site. This is where having the folder with your pictures comes in handy because they are easy to find on your computer using the browse menu provided by the site.

After your photos are up loaded to your storage site each will be given a specific address. They might look something like this: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v377/trainnut1250/roomview2.jpg

You will want to make a list of these addresses by using the cut and paste feature in your browser or by writing them down by hand (terribly old fashioned).

3. Posting to the forum.

Armed with your addresses you might want to post a photo. To do this we need a special code to tell the forum to go get your photo this is usually the [IMG] [IMG] symbols. Always use the tags provided by the forum tool when posting photos. The address of the picture goes between the symbols like this:

original photo web address: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v377/trainnut1250/roomview2.jpg

forum photo address with tags (I altered these tags so you could see them):

[IMG]http://img.photobucket. com/albums/v377/trainnut1250/roomview2.jpg[/IMG

The forum viewer won’t see the tags or the address, the computer will read them and go get the photo. Different forums may have different ways of linking or tagging photos, but the principle is the same.

Note: photo addresses and tags are very sensitive, if there are any errors at all, they won’t work. I recommend learning to use the cut and paste feature for addresses to avoid exasperating errors. Most people who have problems with photos are messing up the addresses.

That’s it!!
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 4:24 PM
Here's an example:



(Click to enlarge)

Bob Boudreau
  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Rimrock, Arizona
  • 11,251 posts
Posted by SpaceMouse on Friday, April 15, 2005 11:27 AM
QUOTE: Originally posted by FundyNorthern

Here's an example:



(Click to enlarge)

Bob Boudreau


Hey Bob,

Can you send that over, I'm a little short on geared power right now. It would just be a loan. I'll be able to return it when CP renews it's lease with SP. Everything will be fine then. I just need that geared unit until it comes through.

Chip

Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Users Online

There are no community member online

Search the Community

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox!