This document examines different ways you can put digital photos on the Web.
Introduction
Putting your photos on the Web is one of the easiest ways to share
them effeciently and inexpensivelywith a large group of people. You can
include them either on your currently existing site or perhaps build a
Web site to showcase your photos. Another option is to use one of the
various online photo services.
Common Terms
Resolution: This refers to the dpi (or dots per inch) of an
image. The higher the resolution, or in other words more dots per inch,
means a higher quality image. For images viewed on the web, the photo
should have no more than 72 dpi to keep the file size small, while a
printed graphic should have a higher resolution depending on how nice
the printer is. Generally, 150 or more is suitable for printing a
quality photo.
Your Own Site
The first method you can use to put your images on the Internet is
to include them on an existing website (assuming you have one). This is
perhaps the easiest method. Posting photos on your own site also gives
you unlimited freedom and creativity. You can specify what size you
want each photo to be, you can determine the layout of the Web page,
you can even include whatever descriptive text you may want to
accompany each photo.
There are things to take into consideration if you are going to
exhibit your photos yourself. The main thing is the file size of each
photo. Optimum resolution for an image online is 72 dpi (dots per
inch). Anything higher than that is overkill and won't improve the
quality of the photo on the web page. However, if you want to have a
higher resolution photo online that people can print out, you should
dedicate one page per high resolution photo. This keeps the user from
getting frustrated if they have to wait for fifteen large images to
download. Instead, have a page with smaller 72 dpi thumbnail images. If
the user wants to print out that particular photo or see it enlarged
they can click on the thumbnail image and it will take them to the
higher resolution image on a separate page. You can figure out the
resolution of an image with any image editing software like Adobe
Photoshop or one of the sharware programs mentioned below.
If you don't feel like dealing with the hassle of creating your own
Web photo albums, you can always use freeware or shareware programs
such as Albumatic, Web Album Generator,or JAlbum.
Just drag-and-drop (click and drag the photo) the photos you want to
display into the program and it will make the thumbnail images,
generate a slide show, and give you the ability to create a custom look
for your album.
Online Photo Services
Online photo services can also be used to put your photos online.
Such services, most of them offering free photo posting, also offer
additional services. You can make your photo album private, viewable
only to those you specify. This saves you the time and effort of having
to set up permissions on your own website. You can create prints from
your photos or print your photos on cards, mugs, t-shirts, etc. Other
services include scanning photographic prints, saving your photos to
CD, and even developing film. Some popularservice providers include: Kodak Gallery, Yahoo! Photos, Shutterfly, and Snapfish. |
