Photography Latest Topics

Posting Images

Thu, 21 Apr 2005 23:55:53 +0000

How do I post images on the forums.
By Cichlids_au
Using graphics
There are a number of factors to take into account when using graphics. This is to ensure that your images download quickly.
Image size
Although everyone wants to use as many pictures and animations as possible, this causes one major problem - the more graphics you include in a page, the longer it takes for the page to download. To make a image download in a minimal amount of time you will have to consider the size of the image in terms of memory and download requirements.
An average image should be around 10 - 30 Kilobytes in size. This may not mean much but, the average download speed for a person connecting to the Internet using a modem and phone line is 2 - 4 kilobits per second, depending upon the modem connect speed and phone line quality. You then have to remember that a post that consists of more than just one image. Adding more than one image will see the download times increase, possibly to the stage where a member will abandon your post because it takes too long to download. Most members will abandon a post if it takes more than 30 - 40 seconds to download.
The way to make sure that your images download quickly is to optimise them to reduce memory requirements (file size). You need to select the correct file format in which to save the image to make it as small as possible. An image that is saved in the wrong format can make downloading painfully slow and, may degrade the quality of the image.
Format types
There are two main formats used to publish images on the World Wide Web. The first type of image format is called JPEG, short for Joint Photographic Experts Group. This format is used for images that have many thousands of colours, particularly colours that blend and fade into one another. Photographs and intricate images that have many shades of colour are best suited to the JPEG format (.jpg is file extension).
If, on the other hand your image has flat colour fields, such as illustrations, it would be best saved as a GIF file. GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. This format works very well for images that do not have blended shades of colours, as there are in photographs. As an example, all the images in the set-up guides for this helpdesk are saved in the GIF format, as there is no blending of colours or, multiple shades of colours (.gif is file extension).
Optimising images
In order to optimise images you will need an image-editing program to open your images and save them in the correct format. There are numerous image-editing programs available, some of which are for free while others are available for a trial period, after which you will need to pay the full purchase price to keep using them.
Web Graphics Programs
Adobe Illustrator
Jasc Paintshop Pro
LView Pro
Ulead Photo Impact
You will need to experiment with your chosen graphics program to achieve the effect(s) you want as each program has its own particular way of optimising and converting image format types.
Uploading to your web space
Now that you have completed the resizing and adjustments of your images, it is time to upload them to your web space for the world to see. Using a file transfer protocol program, also known as an FTP program does this. Most HTML editors have FTP functions built in, however many people prefer to use stand-alone purpose designed FTP programs. I use FTP Voyager.
To load your files into your web space, you must first of all configure your particular FTP program to access your web space.
Free Personal Webspace
The server name used for your personal web space, otherwise known as the FTP host address, is given by your ISP, with OptusNet it is members.optusnet.com.au. You will also need to enter your username and password details. These are the same ones that you normally use to connect to your ISP for browsing and email access. Finally, a port number may be required - Check this with your ISP.
Paid Web Hosting
The server name used for your Web Hosting web space is your domain name (eg. mycompany.com.au). You will also need to enter your username and password details. These would have been provided in a letter sent to you confirming your Website details. Again, a is port number may be required - Check with your Web Hosting company.
The way that you configure these settings varies from one FTP program to another, you will need to consult the instructions for your particular FTP program for configuring.
Once you have configured your FTP program, you are ready to upload your images to your web space. This involves:
* Opening your FTP program and logging into your web space using the profile you have configured in the program.
* Selecting the folder/directory on your computer where you have stored the image files you wish to upload.
* Clicking the appropriate button that will start the upload process to your web space.
* Testing your web site by opening your web browser and entering the address (URL) for your web space.
You should now be able to view your images through your browser.
File Transfer Programs
Please note, some of the programs listed here are available for a trial period. After the trial period you may be required to register and pay for the program to continue using it.
File Transfer Programs (FTP) & Operating System
Interarchy (formerly Anarchie) Macintosh
Cute FTP Windows 98/ME/NT4/2000
Fetch FTPFetch FTP Macintosh
FTP Explorer Windows 98/ME/NT4/2000
WS_FTP Windows 98/ME/NT4/2000/XP
FTP Voyager Windows 98/ME/NT4/2000
Posting your images
There are three different posting screens available . We will be dealing with the first two.
The add reply button allows you to add a new reply onto that particular topic. The new topic button allows you to add a new topic to that particular forum.
When you are in the post screen you will have several formatting options available.
For posting images we use the IMG button . If you have not been able to optimise your image you can use the http:// button . When you click one of these buttons you will be presented with a dialogue box.
The IMG dialogue box will allow you to past your image URL, this will add the code required to display the image for you directly into your post like this
.
The http:// button will allow you to post a link to your image that will cause the image to appear in a new window, once you have pasted the URL into the dialogue box and press enter, you will be presented with another dialogue box. This second box will determine what text will appear in your post, like this
My M. chipokae
When you have completed editing your post you will see these buttons at the bottom of the screen.
The Preview Post button will allow you to view your post before it is added to the forum, this will give you the opportunity to make any corrections you may need.
When you are happy with your post the Add Reply button will cause the post to the forum for all the members to see.
Editing Posts
If you find that you have made a mistake in your post after you have posted your images you can alter the original post using the edit button in this button group.
The edit button allows you to re-enter the post to make your amendments.

http://www.cichlids-aust.com/posting-images.html

How do I post images on the forums.
BY Vis
For those not too sure how to post pics:
Most people have allocated webspace that comes with an internet account. This ranges from around 10MB to 50MB in most cases. You can use this space to store websites or simply a bunch of pictures.
For the purpose of this explanation, our username is "username", our ISP is called "internetcompany" and the picture we want to upload from our computer is called "picture1".
First of all you will probably need to use an image program to resize your picture to stay inline with the image pixel size and memory size stated in the post above this one. There are plenty of free ones including:
Microsoft paint
Microsoft photo editor (both these should already be on your PC if you are running windows)
Fastone photo resizer
Google search of other image resizer programs
Alternatively there are plenty of good illustration / photo programs about including photoshop, corel draw, paintshop pro etc.
Once you can manipulate images so they can be viewed easily on the internet, it's time to upload them. The program I recommend is WS_FTP, which you can download free here, to trial it, but most PC magazines have a shareware version in their free CD's. Alternatively, there is Cute_FTP, FTP Commander etc, all of which you can download here. Using a file transfer program is easy. Just have a read of their help files and you'll be an expert in 30 minutes.
Your ISP provided webspace will most likely look like this:
http://www.internetcompany.com.au/username
You should either see the ISP homepage or ring them to confirm what your webspace address will look like.
You can upload pictures directly into the public_html folder in your FTP program (which will be the default folder once you log into your account through your FTP program) and the address of your picture will be:
http://www.internetcompany.com.au/username/picture1.jpg
Alternatively you can create different folders on your computer and upload entire folders via FTP. Say you wanted to track all your photos easily, you could create a folder on your computer called "fish" and another called "family" (and so on). Then simply upload the entire folder into the public_html folder and each time simply add future pics to the appropriate folder via FTP.
If you had your picture in your "fish" folder, your url for that pic will now be:
http://www.internetcompany.com.au/username/fish/picture1.jpg
Copy the url to the clipboard.
If you don't have personal webspace, the best online space is probably Photobucket. Create a free account and upload your pictures as described in their website.
Once you upload your pics, view the one you want to post on this forum, right click on it and select "properties". Highlight the url text and copy it to clipboard.
Photobucket is easy to use, but having the pics on personal webspace is still preferable, as it is "your" space which you can use as you see fit, and you can't create websites on photobucket down the track with those photos.
Ok! Now posting the picture once you have the url is the easy bit. You now have a url of the picture you want to post on your clipboard. When you want to insert it into your post, simply click on the "IMG" button above the window where you are typing in your post. A popup window will appear and you paste the url into the space provided.
A BBcode line should appear similar to this (but not in bold):
http://www.internetcompany.com.au/username/fish/picture1.jpg[ /IMG]
Once you submit the post, the picture should appear in the post.
Get posting!

http://ace.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=15842

How can I upload pictures instead of the links

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 01:58:50 +0000

How can I upload pictures instead of the links? Can anybody tell me?

Fish Photography 2

Tue, 21 Jun 2005 22:45:37 +0000

Using Digital Cameras

Author: Cichlid Boy

Hi all,

I am by no means a photography expert but have borrowed a digital camera from a friend. I have taken a few phots, some of which came out okay, others not. I have a few questions:

1) Most of the photos seem too bright, stripping colour from the image. Do other people always use a flash or rely on tank lighting and/or perhaps brighten the image using software on the PC? (Also, the flash makes it impossible to take pics at right-angles to the glass, if you know what I mean, because of the reflection.)

2) The camera is on autofocus and this seems to cause the camera focus depth problems because of the aquarium glass (and a serious delay in taking the pic) - do most people override this with a set distance-to-object ?

3) Is it better to get up close and not use as much zoom (given that the flash can reflect badly on the glass), or sit back a bit and zoom in on the fish?

4) Exposure? What setting for flash, what setting for no-flash?

Thanks for any help/advice.

Travis.

Replies »

Author: BlakeyBoyR

My advice is

1) Ive found if you put the lens of the camera pretty much straight on the glass then you dont get the flash flare in the photo

AND

2) Putting the camera IN the tank to get a closer shot is never a good idea

Author: griffin

Hi Travis,

some ideas that might help -

*itdepends on what type of digicam you have - they're all different in what you can do with them. Play around with the different settings. On my camera (Olympus C3040) I use the macro setting because the flash is not as strong (so the fish doesn't get washed out by strong flash) and it will focus quite well on close objects. It doesn't do well when the fish is at the back of the tank as it will not focus on the fish then.

*if you don't use flash you will get more natural/realistic colours on the fish but there is usually not enough light in the tank for you to get a fast enough shutter speed to capture a sharp image of a moving fish. Some people will set up lamps to get more light in the tank, but you have to position them carefully to avoid them causing reflections on the tank glass.

*I just leave the camera on auto for the exposure/aperture settings when taking photos of fish as there's too much else to think about when taking photos of moving objects! Some people find using manual focus is best as in many cameras the autofocus won't work well through tank glass and water.

*what it boils down to is....take lots of photos! Take hundreds! That's the beauty of digital - if the photo doesn't turn out, you're not paying for it to be developed, just delete it! There are so many factors that need to come into place to get a great photo of your fish - lighting, angle, flash/no flash, position of fish in tank (usually works better if fish is at the front), is the fish showing off, what pose is it in etc., etc. So you're going to have to take heaps of photos to get the one you really want.

Hope this helps.

Jess

Author: Cichlid Boy

Thanks Blake, I hadn't thought of putting the camera against the glass.

And thanks Jess for all your suggestions, I will continue to muck around with the settings and take lots of photos. Unfortunately I only have the camera for 2 days...

Travis.

Author: ducksta

The best advice is dont get dis-heartened!!! Even the guys who post extraordinary pics regularly delete at least 5 times more crap ones than they keep. And dont let anyone tell you different!!

You have to be VERY patient, and not expect every shot to turn out

Author: Craig Douglas

I reckon taking fish pics is a numbers game!! Take plenty pics and U'll get some good ones. Trial and error was the way I did it. What you do need though is some bitmap editing software. Some pics that are unviewable before editing can come up really good after a little manipulation. Photoshop is the king of this stuff but www.tudogs.com offer several free packages which are quiet useable. Email me if I can help you?

Craig.

Author: Cichlid Boy

Thanks Ducksta and Craig.

Yes I do have Photoshop - great program - so I'll just take as many pics as possible and sort through / spruce them up later.

By the way, is it normal for these cameras to REALLY chew batteries? I used brand new alkalines and they lasted less than 5 mintues! I've switched to rechargables now.

Cheers,

Travis.

Author: burundi 6 bar

Giday Travis

Best thing to do is just take as many pics as you can

Hopefully like a fine wine you will get better with age.

Cheers

Darryl

Author: ducksta

Mine also chews batteries alot quicker than I ever could have guessed. I pinched my mums pack of 20 Evereadys and used them all before I knew it. I am going to go get some rechargeables myself.

Author: o0XanaX0o

out of about 50 pics, I save 1 :/

best thing to do for digital cams, get newer good rechargeable batteries.

Author: Blue Acara

Buy the NiMH batteries. They are very good and do not have memory. Basically you can recharge it at any time, no need to discharge first like the NiCd. You'll need to buy the NiMH charger too. High Initial investment but last very long

Danny

Fish Photography

Sun, 10 Apr 2005 03:06:54 +0000

I Need some advice?

Author: finkfish

Since I discovered this site I have really been motivated to take my fish keeping more seriously. I thought I knew a thing or two but some people on this site are just amazing. A friend of mine gave me some African Cichlids afew weeks ago and I still don't know the correct name for them all. I want to take some good photos of the fish so that I may post them for ID. Can any one give me some tips on taking some quality photos of whats in my tank? My biggest problem is that the glass always gives off a nasty reflection from the flash when I shoot front on.

Replies »

Author: hungsta

Try not using the flash and see how you go.

Author: finkfish

Thanks Hungsta,

It's not to bad without a flash the only problem is that I can only get the fish when they are in the foreground. I was thinking of using a torch or something but which direction should I shine it from? I also wanted to know where I can get good quality aquatic plants from without paying a hell of alot for them? Weren't you selling some driftwood creations, do you have any left?

Author: hyperdive

Just make sure the glass is clean and shoot from slightly to the side and slightly above or below horizontal. You should not get any flash reflection that way.

Author: Mazimbwe

hmmm...as well as the advice you have already recieved, try shooting at night with all other lights('cept the tank you are shootin) turned off.

Try to light the tank as well as you can, from above, and if you can leave your camera on a tripod in front of the tank. I have found if I can do that for 12-24hrs B4 the photo session the fish are not so nervous of the new, brighter light....and the strange device on the face of 'the big thing with the food'.

Author: Link 2 Hell

Beware of reflection from tank lights and tanks

It looks funny with a sheet or towel over your head trying to take pics

Use macro if you have it on the camera rather than zoom

Budget Digital Camera

Tue, 18 Jan 2005 00:14:55 +0000

It has finally dawned on me that with the advent of digital technology, cameras are now used for communication not just record keeping and I am missing out by sticking to film.

What to buy?

I know there has been some good advise for those looking at >$1,500 cameras but what about something a little cheaper? Is anyone using a camera that didn't cost them an arm and a leg that takes great tank/fish shots and are happy to recommend?

What features should I be looking for to ensure I have sufficient control to get good fish shots? Do number of megapixels really matter?

Any advise gratefully accepted

Taking photos of fish

Thu, 30 Sep 2004 10:18:24 +0000

Just wondering what poeples preferred methods of taking fish photos are?

I personally use the macro setting and either use the camera really close to the glass to avoid reflection from the glass, or I use it about 1 foot or more away, still on macro though..

Anyone have some useful tips and hints on anything else I could give a try?

Thanks..

A question for the photographers

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 06:40:02 +0000

Righto, I need some help here, trying to get some reasonable shots of my fish, no luck. The shots generally come out blurry, too slow shutter speed maybe, or dark if I don't use the flash. What do you use to light your fish up? I had heard that you should not use flash, i have thrown a 150W and a 500W floodlight on the fish to try to get enough light on them to be able to raise the shutter speed a little but to no avail. 1/90 sec is as fast as I can go with or without flash, just the ones without are generally dark. I have a Canon Eos 500 camera, a 28 - 80mm lens, I use 100 speed film, I don't have an external flash unit, only the built in one. So where to from here?? HELP ME!!!!!

Wanted helpful hints

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 07:49:00 +0000

Any body have any good tips. I am useing a Canon IXUS 400. Any help would be much appreciated.