# What resolution ?



## Greg O'Sherwood (Mar 20, 2009)

My tent and light kit came in the mail and I plan to open it up tonight and play. Couple questions before I begin:

What resolution do you take your pen pics at?

When posting them here, what do you resize to?

What online site is good to post my pen pics so that customers can see them? I'd like to be able to add descriptions to the pics. Free is good.

Thanks in advance!


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## Dario (Mar 20, 2009)

700 px wide x 500 px high x 72 px/inch for posting here (300+ px/inch for printing)

I take it at 2-4mp but can take it higher if needed.  I just can't see any difference since I crop it anyway and even for printing, I think 4mp is plenty (for me).

Try Photobucket.


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## Greg O'Sherwood (Mar 20, 2009)

Thanks Dario.

I am using Photobucket for the pics I post here, but it doesn't seem very professional for an album for sales. I was looking at Carbonmade.com, it is very professional looking and easy to use, but limited in images on the free plan.

What editing software do you use? I would like to stay under $50 on that, beginner editions.


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## Dario (Mar 20, 2009)

I use PhotoShop CS2...older but still has more bells and whistles than I could ever use.  Check eBay for older versions...they sell for cheap at times.

I use SiteKreator for my site...it is free and very easy to build.  Check it if you like it.


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## chuybregts (Mar 20, 2009)

Hey Greg,  If you want to keep the editing simple and easy, try google's Picasa.  I use to use photoshop but I found for all the tweaking i need, picasa provides enough tools. If you do need more editing power, and you don't want to pay for photoshop, gimp is a nice free tool and offers a ton of editing power.

As for hosting, I use flickr mainly because my family/friends know about it.  it's 25 bucks a year for unlimited storage.  It also has the added fact that a lot of magazines search flickr for photos and as such, my work has been exhibited in 2 magazines, one webzine and a text book.

Chris


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## marcruby (Mar 20, 2009)

Since I use the camera for a lot of other photography I just go at maximun resolution which is 4288x2848 with 12-bit color resolution (12.3mp).  I've got Photoshop on my Mac so I use the 'raw' images from the camera rather than taking a direct JPEG.  Then I simply create a reduction to fit whatever the target is.  The advantage of running at full resolution is that you have more image to work with when you're correcting color imbalances or cropping, etc. BUT the disadvantage is that you need to buy and learn new pieces of software.

All of that's easy when you do it a lot.  For practical purposes I still wind up with an image that is indistinguishable from the one Dario creates with half the effort.

Marc


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## OKLAHOMAN (Mar 20, 2009)

Try Piscasa3 it's free and for our use great editing software. 

What editing software do you use? I would like to stay under $50 on that, beginner editions.[/quote]


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## Dario (Mar 20, 2009)

marcruby said:


> For practical purposes I still wind up with an image that is indistinguishable from the one Dario creates with half the effort.



FYI, I spend only a few seconds on each of my pics and my camera is a cheap one at that.


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## Dario (Mar 20, 2009)

BTW, I used to use Picassa and it is great.  Haven't seen version 3 yet though.


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## Rudy Vey (Mar 20, 2009)

Dario said:


> BTW, I used to use Picassa and it is great.  Haven't seen version 3 yet though.


Just download the new version from the google website. I like my free Picasa 3 - easy to use.


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## Greg O'Sherwood (Mar 20, 2009)

Downloading Picasa 3 tonight, thanks! Unpacking the new light tent kit also...

kinda like christmas!


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## Neal Addy (Mar 22, 2009)

Hey, Sir GregoryofHaveYouReadThis?Forest!


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## its_virgil (Mar 22, 2009)

I also like and use picasa but also like gimp ( http://www.gimp.org/ ) if some advanced photoshop like work needs to be done. All of my pen pics are cropped and tweaked using picasa and it catalogs all of the photos and makes them a little easier to find. I don't like the fact that opening a photo after picasa is installed will always open it with picasa. Is there anyway around this except for using the "open with" right click feature? But picasa does have some nice feaures. I find some new ones regurarly. I used the collage function for the first time a couple of days ago.
Do a good turn daily!
Don


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## Greg O'Sherwood (Mar 22, 2009)

Neal Addy said:


> Hey, Sir GregoryofHaveYouReadThis?Forest!


 

Absolutely! That's where I derived my inspiration. I bought the tent and lights and will set them up tonight and give your tutorial a whirl. I've probably read that 3 times and will do so again as I make my initial attempts.


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## WoodWizard (Mar 27, 2009)

Dario said:


> I use PhotoShop CS2...older but still has more bells and whistles than I could ever use. Check eBay for older versions...they sell for cheap at times.
> 
> I use SiteKreator for my site...it is free and very easy to build. Check it if you like it.


 Do you use the free version?


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## Dario (Mar 27, 2009)

WoodWizard said:


> Do you use the free version?



If you are asking about SiteKreator, yes.


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## toolcrazy (Mar 28, 2009)

I realize some can't afford to buy a web site designer, but I have to mention this one.

Xara Web Designer

It is a commercial product, but it is one of the best template based solutions I have ever found. I have been using Xara products for a while and they are always top notch. There is a 30 day trial. I have no affiliation with this company, except loving some of their products. And another thing, it is priced right, too.


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## TellicoTurning (Mar 29, 2009)

Rudy Vey said:


> Just download the new version from the google website. I like my free Picasa 3 - easy to use.



I have Picasa 3 on my system and use it occasionally, but it's more cumbersome to operate (for me anyway) than my regular photo program.  I use Microsoft Digital Image Pro 9... it was a relatively inexpensive program that I picked up a couple of years ago and does almost everything I might want to do to a picture.  
Picasa will do some things that the MDI Pro won't so I keep it and another image program (The Print shop) on my system.


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