AboutScott Valentine Expertise Most anything about digital post processing (Photoshop, etc), effects, and image restoration, some technical information about digital imaging systems, light and electron microscopy, optical physics and image analysis. I can help with shooting basics, lighting setups, and getting the most out of your digital camera. I am also an 'expert' here for Photoshop (Computers/Technology > Software > Graphics Software > Photoshop).
Experience I've been an image analyst and advanced amateur photographer for over 6 years. I run an Adobe user group, focusing on digital media, and have lectured on digital image capture systems. Currently, I am an administrator for a rather large instructional Photoshop forum
Organizations Adobe User Groups, National Association of Photoshop Professionals, Advanced Imaging Specialists
Education/Credentials Bachelor of Physics, University of California, San Diego
Awards and Honors Winner: Best in Show and several category first place awards - Imaging Professionals of the Southwest Print Competition (multiple years)
Expert: Scott Valentine Date: 10/9/2007 Subject: reducing image size
Question QUESTION: I want to send an attachment but don't want to send a large photo file. How do I
resize the photo to make a small jpeg?
ANSWER: Thanks for your question, Walter. There are a handful of ways to get your images small enough to email. Picasa (http://picasa.google.com) is a free image browser and media management system provided by Google. It has a number of basic editing features, including cropping and resizing. It also offers some online sharing capabilities, which brings up the next point; hosting your pictures.
If you like, you can set up a free gallery at many sites, including Flickr.com and photobucket.com among others. These sites allow you to upload and organize your images, and some offer basic editing capabilities, including resizing. The advantage here is that you can simply upload your entire image (up to the allowed size by each site), then send a link via email. This reduces bandwidth, and when your visitor gets to your site, they can see all of your galleries or sets in a variety of sizes. Some even allow viewers to purchase prints.
Another option is to check your camera software to see if it has some built-in sharing capabilities. Nikon and Canon both have software that not only helps organize your photos, but it can help you with automated email functions that will resize your chosen pictures to something suitable for email.
So, here are three different ways to share your photos. Each has some advantage and disadvantage over others. I particularly like Flickr.com, though Picasa looks to have some great features and has both online and desktop functionality.
Keep in mind that you also have a handful of ways to resize - you can crop or physically cut out the areas of an image that aren't useful; you can save at a much lower resolution; you can resize the actual image (e.g., shrink it); or you can do a combination of all three. It can be a balancing act, but the simple solution is to find an image host you like and just send out links.
If you have further questions, or would like some clarification, please don't hesitate to ask!
-Scott
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Do I need to watermark my image first in photoshop to insure that it will not be
copied or manipulated? Are images used from these sites without the users
permission?
Walter
Answer Excellent question, Walter. Yes, images are downloaded/used/stolen all the time. If your images are personal, and you will only share with people you know personally, use a provider that has some kind of privacy settings. You should be able to give out a link or invitation to specific people, or set up a password for folks you wish to allow.
If you are a professional, or want to be able to display your images to the public, you can apply a watermark but do it after you resize. There are many approaches and philosophies about this, but in the end if someone sees an image online, they can steal it and even remove watermarks. You can make it difficult, and post all kinds of restrictions, but thieves will be thieves. It depends on how badly they want the image, and in what quality.
Bear in mind that theft of intellectual property (e.g., images) is tough to detect and pursue. Flickr.com has a nice system that allows you to include certain copyright restrictions, and has some privacy tools. It is also a good way to prove ownership because it will have the upload dates embedded with the file information. One trick I typically use is to crop the outer edge of every photo (just a little), but keep the original intact. That way, if there's ever a dispute, I can prove that I had the original source image - it's incredibly difficult to 'fake' more of an image, especially if there is complex detail like foliage or building.
This can be a very long discussion, so if you'd like to talk further, send me your email via private question and I'll give you more information.
