TUTORIAL
Uploading and posting photos on LE can sometimes be confusing, as I recently learned by helping someone out. So to help anyone else who wants it, here are these simple instructions as a tutorial. (Hopefully I've included all of the search terms that someone might use to try to find this information.)
Assuming that you already know how to upload your digital photos on to your computer, but they appear very large both in physical size on your monitor and in file size, we can use a simple photo editing program (it’s free) to change your large photos to fit the parameters of uploading and posting to LE.
The free program is called Irfanview, and it is available for free download at
http://www.tucows.com/preview/194967 . This photo editing program is fast, simple, and intuitive – I have and use Photoshop, yet I always use Irfanview for quick photo editing for web posting.
First, we have to understand that there are restrictions that LE places on images to be uploaded and posted in order to manage their bandwidth, so they limit the files in two ways: 1) pixel height x pixel width, and 2) file size.
You must comply with both sets of restrictions.
The first issue (pixel height x pixel width) gives you the dimensions that the photo will show up when posted on this site (LE). The second issue (file size) gives you the amount of resolution or detail that the image is exhibiting on this site (LE).
In the step by step following, you will be able to address both 1) and 2).
1) Open your image in Irfanview, choose from the "Image" drop-down menu "Resize/Resample" so that the largest dimension (whether it is height or width for your particular photo) is 640. This will give you the appropriate pixel dimensions for you to be able to post on LE,
but not necessarily a small enough file size to comply -- that is why we have to go to step 2.
2) Then you go to the "File" drop-down menu and select "Save as". It will open two new boxes, one of which will be labeled "Jpeg/GIF save options" -- go to the slider bar at the top of the box that says "Save quality", and slide the bar to 75. (Choosing 75 will lower the detail/resolution of your image, resulting in a smaller file size. 75 should not compromise what we actually see when you post your photo. You may be able to use a higher value, like 90 even, and get your file small enough to comply – you just have to try and see.)
If, after the second step, you still have a file size over LE limit (jpeg limit is 78.1 KB), then you need to go back and lower the resolution until the file size is 78.1 KB or less. The great thing about Irfanview is that it shows both the pixel x pixel size AND the file size at the bottom in the grey line below the photo (when you have the program open with the photo image on it). (The first number marked "KB" is the compressed size -- it is the smaller of the two numbers.)
You should now be able to post photos at the limit size for "Manage Attachments". (The limit for "Uploaded Images Manager" is just a tiny bit larger file-size wise, at 80 KB, but the pixel x pixel limit is still 640 x 640.)
If you want to know more about resolution and compression of files, here’s a link to an article with photos that can help explain:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question289.htm
The photo editing program Irfanview can be used to do a lot more things than just resizing files. It’s great, simple software that allows you to easily crop, adjust, and even sharpen images.
Hopefully this short tutorial will help you upload and post your images on LE, and maybe let you know why sometimes a picture can be the right size “pixel-dimension-wise” but still not upload.