Poll: Do you use CT's album feature

I loaded photos before the autoshrinking feature and wanted to do more but never spent the time to learn how to get around having tiny photos.

 

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Possibly due to the area I live in, any advertising of what a person has in the way of values is just not smart. Sort of like placing a sign on your front door saying here is what I've got, need some?

 

Well I would upload all my photos, BUT I have to resize every single last one to upload it to the album, that is just a hassle.
Only thing I have in there right now are my toned jeffersons.

 

Maybe you just unlocked the mystery. Good info. I know on most sites when considering avatar material, you have to meet both size criteria (KB and pixels), as you have presented. Or it simply won't let you use the pic.

 

There is more to it than that. I have had some of those pictures up there for some time and they were normal size. Now they are not.

 

From another thread

From another thread~didn't you say you had the free download of IrfanView?

There is a way you can batch convert with it.

 

I just recently started using the feature just to see the results. I was fairly satisfied with the results and will probably upload some more items......

 

If we are on the same page, I know the thread of which you speak. I used GIMP and currently use Photoscape.
I saw IrfanView and I ignored that, simply because I don't know what in the heck that is.
Can you please tell me what it is? And how I can use it to shrink all my photos? (If needed)

 

Someday perhaps, when I can find a little free time.

 

I am so glad that I found it confusing when I first join this forum a little over 1 month ago , otherwise I would have been uploading a picture of every coin I thought was special just because I didn't know any better. Now that I am starting to learn a little more , I think I will continue to limit mine to individual messages as visual aids and to solicit feedback from the pros here !:hatch:

 

Thanks to everyone who voted so far. I have to move my vote up one as I finally got an album going. I did get around the tiny photos. I have to give T-money credit for helping me figure it out. Here's how:

Once you have your pics on your computer all edited and ready to upload, you have to take one more step. You have to compress them for web pages. You can do this by downloading Microsoft Office Picture Manager. Side note: (When I downloaded it, it did not automatically put a shortcut on my desktop so I had to search for the shortcut and drag it to the desktop.)

Once you find the icon, now you go in there, find your album with the pics, select it and select one of the pics in the window. The pic is now outlined in yellow. Now go up to the top and click on "Compress". Then, go to the right side of screen and click the radio button for "web pages."

Now, just move the cursor down and click the "ok" button. Then go back up to File, Save As, re- name it and put it in a different folder. Just upload that new, compressed pic and the photo will be large sized when you click on it in the album. When you close out of the Picture Manager, it will ask if you want to save the changes. Be sure to click "Don't save changes" because you probably don't want the originals to be compressed!!!!!

I know it sounds like a lot of hassle but this was the easiest part for me. I could delete an old pic, go compress it, save it and upload it again in about a minute. Not as bad as it sounds, but definitely more hassle than it should be!

 

i uploaded a few but it's too much of a hassle to resize my photos small enough to be allowed here. Also, it's extremely difficult to have them display in the order i'd like them and CT would frequently shuffle the photos for no apparent reason. I gave up on adding coins to my album and instead just put a link to my Registry set in my signature line which allows much better quality photos.

 

I use it but sparingly. It shrinks everything down so much, I feel, why bother? Especially when I have unlimited space on my own website that shrinks nothing!

If I didn't have that, I probably would use this system more.

 

If you guys read my post, two posts back, I showed you how to get them back to normal size. Mine aren't shrunk down. They're original size. Lehigh's aren't shrunk down. T-money's aren't shrunk down. It just takes that extra step. If you want to do it.

I'm just saying, it's doable if you want to use it for something. We aren't powerless against it.

 

Cool find Vess. Honestly I just read the opening post and then hit reply, not reading any of the replies:kewl:

 

I will definately use it once I get some coins to put in it. LOL
I have really enjoyed looking through the albums of other members and was wondering what everyone uses to make the pictures uch good quality. Is it the camera, the computer software to size the pics, is it shadow boxes. I have never taken pictures of things this small and would like to learn. I also dont want to spend a fortune on equipment. I would rather spend it on coins

 

Cameras are one of those things where primarily, you get what you pay for. There's cheap ones, slightly better ones and then a large gap up to the really good ones. Luckily, used cameras are everywhere. Like computers, what was state of the art two years ago is now old news and theres always people looking to dump them for the latest and greatest. Well, the older ones are still really nice!

The key is lighting, a good camera and copy stand. My pics aren't that great because I'm lacking in two of those areas. I use a Canon S3 with a macro lens attachment. Without the macro lens attachment, you cannot get it to focus well enough on closeups. This is why a lot of people complain that they can only get blurry close-up pics with their camera. Many cameras physically can't adjust and need the help.

For lighting, you really want 2 to 3 lights that are all the same, that you can adjust, move around and diffuse if necessary. I try to get by with one. A tensor light. But I need more. Then you use a copy stand to hold the camera straight above what you're shooting. This is where a good camera is needed because you need to keep it away out of the light and zoom in. Setting the custom white balance is important too. That way you get true to life colors instead of distorted ones. You have to set it under each different type of light or it won't work. Then you never want to mix two different kinds of any light if you can help it. The camera can only adjust for one type at a time.

Numismatic photography by Mark Goodman is an excellent book if you're interested. A camera is a good investment because they do come in handy for many other aspects of life. IMO, the more ajustability the camera has the better. If it's cheap,basic and simple, that sounds good but you won't be able to get it to do what you want and you will probably end up frustrated.

For software, somebody introduced me to Photoscape last week. It's a free download and is very user friendly if you're used to computers. You want to crop and adjust a pic, click the edit tab. You want to combine an obverse and reverse photo, click the combine tab. Drag and drop the pics in and adjust the size. It goes quick once you learn the sequence of the steps.

 

Thanks Vess. LOL. Not only do I have a lot to learn about collecting coins. Now I have a lot more about taking quality pictures. I definately want to be able to show you guys my finds. I guess I am going to have to get that book and do some more reading on the subject so I can have some pictures to be proud of.
Thanks again

 

Thanks for the advice on photo resizing, Vess. That worked out well.

 

:thumb: Your albums are looking great. The pics are big now. That's a real nice collection you've got going there.