Getting my feet wet

Growing up, I had always been intrigued by photographers; just seeing a 'perfect' photograph always made me wonder how they do it so well... and how would I ever find a way to do it too? Since I never had access to much more than disposable cameras, as soon as phones came equipped with decent cameras, I always had to own a phone with "the best" camera available just as a rudimentary way to capture moments! After some years i purchased a GoPro Hero III which we all know is very limited in it's overall abilities beyond an action camera. But boy, I would use that go pro as if it were the nicest camera money could buy! After about a year, I found a man willing to trade an Olympus Pen E-P2 for my GoPro and a few hundred dollars worth of attachments and mounts, pelican box cases, etc. Now that I owned an actual camera, I quickly realized that I knew absolutely NOTHING about photography beyond pointing and shooting in automatic exposure. But I became even more fascinated by the art of it all, if you will... and even more devoted to learning how to manipulate the camera to capture moments the way I see them. I carried that camera with me EVERYWHERE.
In time, my passion only grew and in order to feed the fire - this past January I purchased a Canon Rebel T6i. I did a ton of research and (there is an overwhelming amount of cameras on the market) made my decision based on the "bang for your buck" that the Rebel series offers. Honestly I couldn't have been happier with it! I know what the camera is capable of and I still have a ton to learn about this equipment but I am trying my very best! My addictions are to the small and minute details in nature. Being a perfectionist doesn't help me with much, but I'm thankful for it in photography because it does keep me motivated to continue to learn and develop my knowledge and skill with my equipment
It is safe to say that I've fallen down the rabbit hole with this passion of mine and I know I am not alone... I have been keeping up with this page since I was 14 years old, and I admire so many of the members on here. I've always been afraid of sharing my pictures simply because I'm an amateur but I finally realized that the one thing I really would like is some feedback. Many of you have inspired me for years, so tear me apart, give pointers, shame, praise - I will humbly take any and all feedback
I am no writer, no real photographer, just a 20 year old who found another way to enjoy God's creations... I just wanted to share a little bit about what it's been like for me getting my feet wet.

Thanks for fueling my fire,

Eli

one thing... I absolutely dread getting uploaded photos on here - I always get an error message. And when i finally get around to downsizing the images enough to upload successfully it seems they are all grainy and very small. this is the problem i am having now. I've been denied my last 7 attempts in getting pictures to upload.

Welcome to the addiction...

If we can help in any way, just yell.

What program are you trying to save your images with?

I typically don't use the "save for web" feature in the photo editing programs, but choose to resize the image manually to give me more control.

Here is how I resize to make my images the correct size to upload on here:

1. I use the crop tool to crop to 4" x 6" at 300 dpi. Since my images are already the 4:6 ratio, sometimes that means grabbing the whole image - basically, I am just using the crop tool to initially resize my image.

2. Then I go into the resizing tool & make the longest side 1200 pixels long & change the dpi to 1200.

3. Then I use the sharpen tool TWICE. This should result in an oversharpened image.

4. Then I resize the image to where it is 640 pixels on the longest side (which takes away the oversharpness (usually) and leaves crisp edges). (Yes, I know the forum has allowed 1,000 pixels on the longest side for a few years now, but I'm a creature of habit).

5. Then I put a black frame around it and a watermark on it and save it.

That should fit the size restrictions (width/height and megapixel limits) for the forum with no problem, and it keeps an automated program from making decisions about how the image looks (this works on the forum and on the dreaded Facebook).

Hope that helps. Can't wait to see some of your shots.

Good info Robert. Need to try the sharpen twice trick.
I usually save my shots from photoshop to my computer and then resize them in paint as a copy.
Post'em up Triggerfinger 4 - my first entry here was with a little Sony point and shoot but the folks here have really encouraged me to learn more.

rip18 said:

Welcome to the addiction...

If we can help in any way, just yell.

What program are you trying to save your images with?

I typically don't use the "save for web" feature in the photo editing programs, but choose to resize the image manually to give me more control.

Here is how I resize to make my images the correct size to upload on here:

1. I use the crop tool to crop to 4" x 6" at 300 dpi. Since my images are already the 4:6 ratio, sometimes that means grabbing the whole image - basically, I am just using the crop tool to initially resize my image.

2. Then I go into the resizing tool & make the longest side 1200 pixels long & change the dpi to 1200.

3. Then I use the sharpen tool TWICE. This should result in an oversharpened image.

4. Then I resize the image to where it is 640 pixels on the longest side (which takes away the oversharpness (usually) and leaves crisp edges). (Yes, I know the forum has allowed 1,000 pixels on the longest side for a few years now, but I'm a creature of habit).

5. Then I put a black frame around it and a watermark on it and save it.

That should fit the size restrictions (width/height and megapixel limits) for the forum with no problem, and it keeps an automated program from making decisions about how the image looks (this works on the forum and on the dreaded Facebook).

Hope that helps. Can't wait to see some of your shots.

Click to expand...

I'm on a macbook pro. the software preinstalled in PHOTOS doesnt help with anything beyond minor adjustments and i cannot find a way to adjust the size AND megapixels. Pixlr online is what i have used in the past and i have the same issue. Maybe I just don't know what i'm doing? Windows was so much easier for me to run...

Gotta love learning new software...

See step 4 of this iPhoto resizing tutorial for where to change resolution (pixels per inch) and size (length and width in pixels): http://osxdaily.com/2016/09/05/how-to-resize-photo-mac/

And one more place with a couple of other methods:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easy-ways-resize-photos-mac/

I use all PC-based software, but most of my photo friends run Apple products. It's always interesting to see different ways of doing things...

What size in KB do most of your photos end up? my original are 7.6 MB as 6000 X 4000 photos and after following your steps end up around 100 or so KB, which looks tiny to me but maybe I just need to test the upload?

If you can't tell, I've never been one to edit. I hate it. Hate the thought of it. So I've neglected even giving it a try as one who is not tech savvy.

Triggerfinger_4 said:

What size in KB do most of your photos end up? my original are 7.6 MB as 6000 X 4000 photos and after following your steps end up around 100 or so KB, which looks tiny to me but maybe I just need to test the upload?

Click to expand...

After I prepare mine for the web, they are typically 100 to 400 kb depending on much detail/colors are in the image. But that is all that would be seen at that resolution. Most image monitors are 72 to 90 dpi - sharing something that is 300 dpi (at the same measurements in inches height & width) means that the computer has to pick some pixels to show & some to discard, which results in all the "fuzz" and "poor images" everyone talks about on Facebook & the some forums. If you size it for display from the beginning, the image display algorithms don't have to decide what to show & what to keep. And those smaller images are great for e-mailing as well - no more complaints about large file sizes...

First I want to say welcome to the hobby. I started off with a Canon S5 IS that I still have and pull out from time to time. That was before they had these great phones. If you're not shooting in RAW yet let me tell you it opens a lot of options to get that image looking better. The ride starts a little bumpy but will smooth out with time and effort. Can't wait to see your images and then the progress.

This link applies to Photoshop ... But the resize/resample information applies to most every photo editor programs ...

Figure out how it works in your program ...

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/essentials/resizing-vs-resampling/

I have also been using a hosting web site called PostImage to take the place of Photobucket ... so far it is working well ... here is a test image just to see ...by the way this is a cell phone photo ...

I use Flickr to upload images. Just copy the BB code (i believe) and past it on the tread you started. Works every time!!