Photos - my first try

[Mike Gilbert]

Okay, I\'ve been working to try and get photo\'s posted, as never have done that before.     I\'m finding the 35 KB max is a real obstacle for anything taken with our digital camera.
My software doesn\'t let me reduce KB\'s without significantly compromising the quality of the photo.   Any suggestions?
Below is a pair of blue-wheatens I\'m using as breeders this year, both are 2008 hatch.

[bryngyld]

I believe that the quality has to be compromised to get as small as it is allowed here.  Your two birds look good, though.  We can still see they\'re nice!

[John]

compromising the quality of the photo

All the photos on the forum are 35KB or less, so your photos are as good as the rest.
http://ameraucana.org/abcforum/index.php?a=topic&t=136
If you use a \"resize\" option to reduce the photos try doing a little at a time, like 90%.  That way you can keep reducing the resolution to get to just under 35KB.  If you start with 50% you may reduce the photo more than needed and that will affect the size and quality.

[Mike Gilbert]

Okay, here are two more shots - same birds.   The  cockerel photo is really grainy, and it was not like that to begin with.
I guess the lesson here is to take the pictures as close up as possible to avoid poor quality.

[Mike Gilbert]

Finally getting around to establishing our separate poultry website.     For more and better pictures of what we are doing, go to the following site and click on the photo gallery.
We are just getting started with it so don\'t expect too much at this point.   It was free, so anyone who wants to set up their own can go to www.freewebs.com .  

Visit our site at:   http://redstagacres.webs.com/\\

Don\'t forget to sign the guestbook!

[Mike Gilbert]

Okay, I took a lot more pictures today and added them to our new website.   Go to:  http://redstagacres.webs.com  for a look when you have time.     Quite a few of the Ameraucanas pictured were shown at the 2008 Ameraucana national meet.

[Tailfeathers]

Uh Mike, is that a Blue Wheaten cockerel or a Wheaten?  It looks awful dark in the photo.  Or are my birds too light colored?  

The pullet is gorgeous.  Beautiful color in the tail, nice overall color, beautiful conformation.  Golly, maybe I should just go out and kill all my birds and start over with some of yours!

 

Thanks for showing me just how much work I\'ve got ahead of me!       :p

God Bless,

[Mike Gilbert]

Yes, the cockerel is too dark a shade of blue.   If he was lighter the breast lacing would show up better.   Blue is quite variable and difficult to control, so I didn\'t consider that to be a major problem for the breeding pen.   I will be selecting lighter shades of blue for show prospects.   Thanks for commenting, and you are right on.   This particular bird finished second in a class of four at our 2008 national meet, and got beat by a full brother I had given to Bob Walchak.
But this guy has a nice clean hackle and personality plus.
I do have comments and/or critiques listed under each photograph on the website.    http://redstagacres.webs.com

[Tailfeathers]

Speaking of comments/critiques, I am going to try and take some pictures of my roosters this weekend if possible.  My hens are in terrible shape and I know I\'ve got a lot of work to do on both the Wheatens and Blue Wheatens but I would like your (and everyone elses too) critique of my roosters.  

God Bless,  

[Guest]

Dear Mike,

We have the same problems trying to get our gorgeous digital pics from our Nikon to downsize.  I found that the program from microsoft,  Picture It!  works really well.  We have the 1999 version,  there is an updated version available at Best

buy.. think it is called Picture It Express.. I don\'t like it as much as the older version.  Picture It is very easy to use and you get good results.

good luck..and ohhh...that hen sure is pretty!

barb

[Guest]

Grainy, quality issue or not, I find the birds lovely.  As for conformation to the standard, I am just happy to see the pics of the birds, too new to the breed to comment.   Blue Wheaton is, in my opinion, one of the prettiest varieties.  I was lucky enough to purchase a Bantam Blue Wheaton Rooster and a Wheaton hen this year, I consider them fine birds too!

Your website is nice as well, thank you for sharing.

[Guest]

2 methods for posting high-quality photos on the forum:

1. You can usually get the best possible photo quality for the smallest file size by using the \'Export: JPEG Optimizer\' command.
After using photo-editing softward to make adjustments to a photo, rather than clicking \'Save\' to save a copy of the photo, select \'Export: JPEG Optimizer\' or a command similar to that (It is usually located under the \'File\' menu). As you use this command to save a copy of your photo, it will let you adjust the compression which will adjust the file size, and will generally do the best possible job of creating the best quality appearance possible for that file size.

2. Upload your photos to a free web photo album account you can set up on photobucket.com, picasa.com (*BTW--You can download some nice, free photo editing software via this website*), or other websites.
You can then click the \'Generate Code\' button next to each photo to be given a line of text that you can paste into a message on the forum that will actually show up as a photo as soon as you post your message. The forum won\'t force require the photo\'s file size to be limited, because the photo isn\'t actually stored in the forum itself.

Another tip: Use the \'Sharpness\' commands (usually under the \'Adjust\' menu) in photo editing software to make photos more crisp.

Happy picturing!

[bryngyld]

Many of us that visit the forum while at work are blocked from sites like photobucket, youtube, etc.   Just another something to think about when posting photos.

[Guest]

you pic worked, beautiful birds, tina