Taking Pictures to Attach to your post

[Richard King]

HI everyone, as I was writing a welcome to a new member I was thinking some of them might not own a digital camera and know how simple it is to attach a picture to their post. I know I had (still learning) a learning curve to digital cameras so I bet some of the other do to. I went to Target and bought a Sony Cyber-shot They also sold me a 8 GB stick (all new terms for me) and I turned on the camera and it said I had 4000 pictures left....lol...

Then I read the directions on downloading them to my laptop and the camera must have had some program stored in it, so it automatically added a area to my laptop so when I take a few pictures I can plug it in and hit a button and they go right in. Then I had another learning curve to attach pictures to my posts.
Could some of you who know more, help and explain how to do it or tell us what is a "good enough" camera. I still have problems with the flash and macro pctures. My son said I need to make a light box?? I think I paid $100.00 or so for my camera. Thanks

 

[CluelessNewB]

The flash on most point and shoot cameras is weak at best, they are typically ok for a range of 4 to 10 feet, no good up close and no good far away. For close up work (small parts, tools etc) a desk lamp or two can help a bunch. I'm not sure how close your lens can focus but the newer point and shoots have gotten much better, my first digital camera could barely focus 3 feet away, many new ones can do 3 inches. You can probably get results good enough for posting on the web with the camera you have and some additional light. Daylight works well also. If your camera has a way to set the ISO you can try a higher number. The higher you set the ISO the less light you will need but you also get more noise so there is a trade off.

One of the nice things about a digital camera is it basically costs nothing to try different things. If it didn't work out delete the picture!

 

[JimSchroeder]

Richard let me add my two cents to the subject. First off I tend to shy away from "photo management" s/w. The trend is to be too much in terms of controlling the process. Taking pictures to put on Facebook is one thing, documenting a process is something much different. Most computers now days have a slot that will accept SD cards or Micro SD cards (this is what stores your pictures in digital format, usually Jpeg3). Rather than connecting the camera to the computer I remove the SD card and insert it into the slot on the computer. The SD card looks like another disk storage device to the computer and you can access via a number of utilities.

For viewing and changing a photo I use Irfanview which is a free utility that has been around for ever. It is simple and very straight forward to use. I usually review the photos that I have taken for a project and select the ones I intend to use then reduce them to a lower pixel count which reduces the file size as well as the displayed size. I use Panasonic Lumix ZS7 which a great camera and produces 14 mega byte photos, I usually reduce them them to 800 x 600 pixels or in some cases 1024 x 768 pixels. Irfanview makes this a two step process, control R brings up the resizing menu where you select the size you want. Then control S brings up the save menu, I usually save the photo to the desk top and them add them into a folder when I have them all re sized and saved.

You can find a download link for Irfanview here:

http://www.irfanview.com/main_download_engl.htm


I never use flash for shop projects, it usually produces erratic results depending on the other lighting that is in the shop, the distance to the object and the surface type of the object. I find that natural and shop light (I have two sky lights) give the best results. I only run into trouble when trying to do very close focus macro takes. The lens on the Panasonic which a great zoom lens for scenery and such does not focus well at less than four inches. So, if you would like to show a close up of a 2 x 56 nut you would first have to take a picture at the closest focus point you could that provides a nice sharp image and then zoom and save it in Irfanview as part of the edit process.

One of the first problems you will run across is how to manage hundreds, no make that thousands of photos. You may think that all you have to do is name each one but that quickly turns into a full time job and many of the photos you do not want to keep. I keep a folder for each project and put the photos in the folder along with the Word doc that describes the how-to part. I also keep a couple of catch-all folders for general purpose photos that I may use to illustrate a point but are not related to a particular project. And then about once every three months I archive everything on the SD card and then erase the card. After four years I believe that I have gone into the archive once, maybe twice.

You don't need Photoshop and other photo management software, just a good utility to display the photos and perform some basic editing which most will easily do. I always stick with one product that does the job and not try and keep up with all of the latest and greatest products that arrive. Some of the photo products such as Photoshop can be very complex and intimidating to a new user. Keep it simple.

My two cents and I still have a penny left over.

Jim

 

[jworman]

Richard let me add my two cents to the subject. First off I tend to shy away from "photo management" s/w. The trend is to be too much in terms of controlling the process. Taking pictures to put on Facebook is one thing, documenting a process is something much different. Most computers now days have a slot that will accept SD cards or Micro SD cards (this is what stores your pictures in digital format, usually Jpeg3). Rather than connecting the camera to the computer I remove the SD card and insert it into the slot on the computer. The SD card looks like another disk storage device to the computer and you can access via a number of utilities.

For viewing and changing a photo I use Irfanview which is a free utility that has been around for ever. It is simple and very straight forward to use. I usually review the photos that I have taken for a project and select the ones I intend to use then reduce them to a lower pixel count which reduces the file size as well as the displayed size. I use Panasonic Lumix ZS7 which a great camera and produces 14 mega byte photos, I usually reduce them them to 800 x 600 pixels or in some cases 1024 x 768 pixels. Irfanview makes this a two step process, control R brings up the resizing menu where you select the size you want. Then control S brings up the save menu, I usually save the photo to the desk top and them add them into a folder when I have them all re sized and saved.

You can find a download link for Irfanview here:

http://www.irfanview.com/main_download_engl.htm

My two cents and I still have a penny left over.

Jim

I do believe that irfanview is the king of the free photo programs. I don't use it much, but I always know it's there and it will do a lot. Big kudos to irfanview!

Something for your consideration is a photo program I use a lot called Faststone Viewer. It is free, but they appreciate donations. This program is very very good, in my opinion, for moving photos from your camera to your computer. When it does so, it makes a folder for each day from the photo date stamp. You then have a tree of year - month - date. It is very easy to move photos from one folder to another, and I think you can override this filing system. I like it, so I just use it as it is.

It is very easy to email photos from within the program. You can resize the photos as you get ready to send them. It has a large range of sizes or you can specify your own size (and quality).

It does have some editing and drawing capabilities.

All and all, I like the heck out of it, but I realize it's not for everybody.



www.faststone.org

 

[DMS]

I mostly use the camera that's part of my phone, and it works out pretty well. Even really low end cameras can take decent pictures these days. Most people get "point and shoot" cameras. They work great, in "auto" mode, where the camera handles most of the details for you. To improve things, make sure you have good lighting, you don't want a spotlight, cause that will cause glare. My kitchen and my garage both have good lighting, so I tend to take photos there. Putting the items on top of a neutral background also helps. Something non-shiny that is of a different color than the part you are photographing helps. I like that grippy shelf liner, or a piece of foam board. A light box would be great (it gives you a neutral background and helps to reduce glare) but is not strictly necessary. Mainly, play around with things. Try different settings; remember, you don't have to pay for film, just the electricity to charge the battery.

 

[GaryK]

One tip I can offer is to take a lot of pictures. They are free
Pick the best ones out of the lot and then re-format your camera to delete them all after you have downloaded them. It's typically the fastest way to delete everything.

Try pictures far away and zoom in, flash on and flash off. Close up flash on and off...

Just take a lot of pictures of your subject and one will be the one you are looking for.

You will just learn over time what works and what doesn't and can narrow down your method.

The best way to learn is just to take a lot of pictures. It only takes a minute to take 30-40 pictures.

Gary

Did I mention take lots of pictures?

 

[GK1918]

I aggree Rich, easy to att. to a post, my problem is to get pics out of the camara. It once was easy, now
it takes a good 2hrs. I admit I am only a visitor in the century I dont belong here. If I were a programer
It would be like this take a pic plug camara to a usb plug, screen pops up select photo aquire photo,
where do you want to put it. Now that, even I can understand, but this thing, I aquire a photo put it
into my doc / my pictures and it goes into the bowels of the computor meaning hours of where it went.
and then If do it again it says photos already in there do you want to replace it. A lot of machining we
do It took longer to attach the photo (here) that to machine the part. I like this a Cannon, takes very
clear photos & has that if I shake while I snap It fixes that. What a bear to get pics out.