Size guidelines for posting images

[Steve Foss]

Hey all:

This topic has come up now and then, we have developed some guidelines that seem appropriate.

Please remember, these are guidelines, not sizes that are set in stone. These guidelines are meant to strike a balance — to make things easiest for the largest number of viewers while not discouraging the showcasing of people's talents.

It would be best if horizontal images are kept to 600-700 pixels wide. Much bigger than that and they bump out too wide for a lot of people with 15-inch screens. It's better for photographers themselves (and the images) if an image can be viewed all at once on a single screen, rather than forcing the viewer to scroll around. People with larger screens have less of a problem viewing larger images, but it makes the most sense not to penalize people with smaller monitors. When a thread gets "bumped out" in that way, it also forces people to scroll side-to-side to read every single post on that thread, another irritation.

For vertical images, 400-450 pixels wide is a pretty good guideline. If they're wider than than, they tend to extend far enough down the screen that you have to scroll down to see the rest of the image.

For resolution, 72 dpi is standard for computer monitors. There are monitors out there with higher resolution, but the huge majority use 72 dpi.

Keeping images within these guidelines will also keep file sizes down, and that will help folks who still use dial-up Internet access look at our photos without having to wait 10 minutes for a thread to load. I loaded one of the threads most full of pics at work not long ago (old dial-up system there), and it took 15 minutes.

Again, these are simply guidelines, not laws. Photographers often like others to see their work as large as possible. Large images can have large impacts. So it's up to each individual to weigh whether the advantages to posting a large image outweigh the disadvantages.

There's a lot of excellent photographic work being posted here and on the "bird watching" board. It's talent worth encouraging and cherishing, as is the great attitude most have toward each other's work.

For those who haven't yet posted an image and would like to find out how, look for the how-to sticky post right here toward the top of the board. For those who don't have programs to resize digital images, the site I use, afreeimagehost, has a free stripped-down image sizing program for download that takes up little space and allows you to resize pics in batches, if you want to.

If you have other questions not answered in these guidelines, or about photography in general, post your topic here or feel free to e-mail me.

Thanks, and good shooting!

[MinnesotaMuskie]

Hey everyone....this will really help those of us who are forced to use the dreaeded dial up connections. I have been unable to enjoy most of your photos as it is just to slow to load them.

Steve...thanks for all your efforts in making everyones photos avaiable to all of us:)

Good luck everyone:)