American Baptist Churches of the Great Rivers Region

Preparing Your Digital Pictures for the Web

The increasing popularity of the digital photo camera is being seen in the number of cameras being bought as Christmas gifts this year. When these new digital photographers start sharing their pictures many will opt to use the web. This will include more and more churches who will be improving the quality of their church web sites by posting pictures on their web sites and communicating with their members by emailing pictures in their online newsletters.

When digital cameras were in the range of less than 2 Megapixel quality (maximum quality size was 4 x 6 print out) preparation was not as important. Sure, the picture was sent and received more efficiently (speed and quality), but one could get by without doing so if one was willing to wait for the upload to complete and the recipient was willing to wait for the download. However, now that the cameras range from 3 megapixels up to professional level of 15 (15 = 35mm quality) megapixels, preparation of your picture for transmission and use on the web is no longer optional. Preparation is mandatory. The alternative will be poor quality images, no pictures sent and/or received, and frustration for sender, recipient, and webpage viewer.

Each picture needs to be prepared for the web.

There are several issues to consider when preparing a picture to be posted on the web or sent to others via email. These issues include:

1. Is the picture just to be posted on a web page?
2. Is the picture to be sent in an email or as an attachment?
3. Is the picture to be posted or sent only to be seen on an electronic screen, that is a computer monitor or television?
4. Is the picture to be able to be printed out in a good quality by the one receiving it?
5. Does the sender have software that will allow her/him to prepare it for the web?
6. Does the person receiving the picture have the software to be able to view and/or print it?
7. If the picture is to be sent by email, does the sender's email box have enough room to do so? Does the sender's Internet Service Provider have restrictions that would limit what is sent?
8. Does the recipient's email box have restrictions as to individual file size and/or total amount of space in the mailbox? Remember, yours is not the only email that your friend and/or relative will receive.
9. How much of a chance do you have of annoying your friend/relative with too large a file to download?
10. Are there privacy issues? Does the sender and/or receiver give permission for the picture to be posted and/or sent in an unsecured (read: everybody on the web could possibly see it) setting?

    Note: Always get permission from people to post their pictures on the web or circulate in any emailed newsletters. Never publish the name of a child (minor) even when you have permission to publish the picture.

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