Official Luthiers Forum!

Can anyone help a newbie learn to post photos of a build I am presently involved in. I am not very tech savy.
thanks

In my browser, I see a reply field under a bar labeld "Quick Reply." Under the field, I see two options: "Submit" and "Full Editor". Click "Full Editor."

Now I can scroll down past another bar labeled "Upload attachment". There, I see a prompting button labeled "Choose File". Click it and navigate to the file you want to upload. Click the file and watch its title appear in the box.

Then click "Add the file" and watch it upload.

Now click "Preview" to make sure your picture is appearing in your reply. Then click "Submit".

Note:

Do all of this ONLY after you have reduced the weight (the file size) of your attachment with a photo editing software of some sort. I use Photoshop, but there are several applications that will do it for you. I reduce my photos to about five inches wide physically and to anywhere from 72 to 150 dpi. I usually go to 150 dpi in Photoshop and then click "Save for web and devices", which reduces the file weight tremendously but still maintains a clear view on the screen.

For example, here's a small file size image:

Another way that allows you to not only post to this forum but almost any where else as well as "send" a link via e-mail (not the actual photo) is to upload your photo to a hosting site. I use Photobucket - its free (you have to put up with some ads). Create an account, then upload your pictures. I create folders on Photobucket just like you would have on your hard drive.

Once you have the photos hosted there will a little icon that looks like three horizontal bars - click on that and select "share". Click on that and select "direct", it will say "copied". You now have the URL of that photo in your clip board. Go to this site (or almost any other discussion group), type whatever text you want to say and then start a new line with [img](paste%20your%20copied%20URL)[/img]

The [img]...[/img] is pretty much universally used to show pictures - there are other ways to get there from the full editor but I don't try to remember how each site works.

I usually have two sessions of IE open while I'm doing this - one with Photobucket, one with OLF so I can copy from one and paste to the other. Sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is.

One reason I like doing it this way rather than uploading directly from my computer is that it is the same procedure that you use to link to music, videos or similar stuff. Also, Photobucket seems to do the resizing for you, at least I never have to and my pictures fill the frame here nicely.



If you right click on that photo and select "properties" it will show you the link to the Photobucket site. If I wanted to e-mail that photo to you I could just send the URL - you would be able to view it at Photobucket but there wouldn't be the large bandwidth requirement of sending the actual picture.

I would recommend posting the actual photo if possible and not a link. The disadvantage of using Photo Bucket or other web hosting sites is that the links often become useless over time. I've gone through the archives many times and couldn't view a photo because of that.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Thanks guys for your help in posting pics. Sorry I did not respond sooner. I really appreciate your taking the time. I have now successfully posted a couple of pics and will hopefully get er done