One unfortunate consequence from more and more people owning and using digital cameras, is that images are being misused in e-mails and on the web. By “misused” I here mean the following:

• Take a picture using your fancy digital SLR camera (or any digital camera).
• Transfer that picture to your computer.
• Send the picture by e-mail or upload it to your website.

This might sound like a good idea – but trust me – it isn’t!

The “size” problem of today’s cameras

Using a modern, digital SLR might produce images anywhere between 10 and 15 mega pixels (MP) in size (or even larger). For instance, a 10,1 MP camera might generate images with a resolution of 3888 x 2592 pixels. By comparison, the average mid-range laptop today has a resolution of 1366 pixels in width. You see the problem? You now have an image about three times the width of your screen. Obviously, it is a bad idea to simply put it on your website, or send it via e-mail to a friend, before first doing a simple resizing exercise. Not only is the original image huge in physical size (resolution, or pixels), it is also a massive piece of data in terms of physical file size (megabytes). Moving this chuck of data (together with twenty other images) across the Internet not only puts a massive load on servers across your network, but it might also prevent your e-mails from being received on the other end. And if you put such an image on your website, it will make your website respond very slowly (and eventually piss off all your visitors).

For your own sake – and for the sake of friends and anyone else, please follow my advice on how to prepare your images for use in e-mails and on the web!

Resizing made easy

Resizing your photos is not hard. There are numerous online services you can use, however, I would recommend resizing your images using an application on your computer. Such applications are freely available for you to download. Based on my own experiences, I would recommend VSO Image Resizer from VSO Software.

Here is a video from VSO Software which explains the basic functions of VSO Image Resizer.

Don’t do this

There are numerous examples on websites not doing image resizing properly. One example is Jæren Kabelnett – they are notoriously bad at it and use  3072 x 2304 pixel 2.1 MB images as thumbnails on their website! That is no good and disappointingly unprofessional by an established, regional Internet Service Provider (I feel a strong urge to throw shit their way since they have shown no interest at all in listening to my advice on this).

Take a look at judge for yourself: www.jkn.no (in Norwegian)

Final notes on resizing

Here are some important things to remember when resizing your images.

• Remember backup. You should treat your “digital negatives” with caution, and make it a habit to always make copies to an external hard drive, CD or DVD before you go ahead to work on your images. In fact, your should always do it as the very first thing you do after transferring image from your camera to your computer.
• Note that resolution and file size can be reduced quite drastically without the image losing a lot of quality (I challenge you to note the difference!).
• When resizing, make copies. It is always better to make copies when you resize, don’t resize the originals. Take this from someone with years of experience – better safe than sorry!

Good luck with your image resizing!

I recently felt the urge to do a little Christmas shopping. More specifically, I wanted to expand my collection of photo equipment. I think of myself as a rather knowledgeable Internet shopper, however the things I was looking for was not to be found in any of my favorite, Norwegian stores.

About a year ago, I did my first purchase with the world renowned B&H Photo Video in New York. It is considered one of the best shops for anyone involved with photo, video, audio and visuals. Again I turned to B&H Photo Video, and I must say – they are good!

Although they do have thousands of products, finding exactly what you are looking for is really easy. The shopping cart is also very user friendly, and it keeps you as a customer in total control during the “aisle browsing”.

What I find most appealing is the efficiency. I placed my order at about 20.00 Norwegian time, which equals to about  13.00 New York time. After a short break from the computer, I came back to check the status of my order about 45 minutes later. The 7 items I ordered had already been picked and were ready for packaging.

When I checked again the day after, the package was already shipped, and tonight I found my shipment to have arrived in Germany. During the next few days, my Christmas gift should be arriving. The only question remaining now is whether or not the Norwegian Customs will agree with my sense of humor. In order not to have to pay the import duties on my goods, I asked the guys at B&H Photo Video to add this little gift note on the package:

Merry Christmas! Here’s a gift all the way from B&H Photo in New York, US. Let’s hope the friendly folks at the Norwegian Customs won’t charge you any extra import duties for the items this time! Merry Christmas to the Norwegian Customs too!

Welcome to EdgarStokka.NET! After having maintained my own website for a number of years, I have now taken a great leap forward and altered my website into a WordPress blog. By doing so, I hope the website will become more “alive” (I have to realize it has been lying dead for a few years now).

As of today, this is indeed “work in progress”, and he official launch will have to wait yet another few days.