News
How To Upload Photos to The Guernsey Photo Gallery
By Craig W Walsh
Jun 10, 2008 - 4:11:42 PM

Some time ago I wrote a forum posting on how to upload images to the EGCS photo gallery, but these instructions seem to have been archived into cyberspace.

In response to Alison Grose's comment on the Royal Cornwall Show article, and in the hope that there are others out there who have photographs of Guernsey cows and want to share them with the world, I am pleased to provide the instructions here.  The photos can be from the agricultural shows, or even just photos of cattle on the farm.

The photo gallery is the most visited part of this website:  as of today the 447 images that are there had been viewed a total of 41,903 times, and 152 people had posted comments. 

The photo gallery keeps track of the number of times each photo was viewed.  It also allows visitors to "rate" an image on a scale of 0 to 5, and keeps track of which images are the most highly rated.  (Currently it's the photo of Mike Cox's beautiful butter, with 154 views and four 5* votes.  The runner-up is my photo of Digby at the Bath & West in 2005, with 98 views and three 5* votes.)

Visitors to the online photo gallery can also post comments on a particular image, and can even send the image as a free e-card. 

There are (usually) three sizes of each image on the website.  The first you see is the thumbnail.  Double-click on this and you will see what I call the mid-size image.  At the top right of this image is a little envelope icon.  If you click on that you can send an e-card.  If you click on the movie clapperboard icon (top left) you can see a slide show.

Double-click on the image again and you will see the larger image.  This is the one I recommend viewing.  When I upload images I try to stick with 15 inches wide and 72 pixels per inch (sometimes called 72dpi).  More on picture sizes, and re-sizing, in a moment.

The photo gallery has a complete set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) and the answers.  This can be reached by clicking on FAQ on the top of the photo gallery page, or just click here.  I won't repeat the questions and their answers here, but it might be helpful if I went through the process that should be followed:

• Only registered users can upload photos.  This is to prevent folks from uploading porn, advertisements for cheap Rolex watches, etc.  So you need to please register first.  The process is painless, and free.  Just click the word Register on the top of the photo gallery page, or click here.  At present only members of the EGCS can register to upload images.  What?  Not a member?  No problem -- click here to join online.
• In the registration process you will be asked for some basic information.  Please feel free to omit anything --- we only need your selected user name, your choice of password (which we won't be able to see), and your e-mail address.  Just enough information to verify your membership in the EGCS.
• You will then get a message that says, "Your request for account activation was sent to the admin. You will receive an email if approved."  Gosh, it sounds like joining a country club.  Please don't be alarmed.
• New requests are approved quite quickly by yours truly.  I am happy to add others at the EGCS to this approval process if they'd like to help out.
• When your account has been approved, usually within a few hours, you'll receive a message advising you, "Your account has been approved and activated."  Welcome to the country club.
• You can now upload photos.  This process is very simple:  you just go to the "Upload File" link on the top of a page and it will bring up a page where you can add up to five images at a time.  You just browse to them on your computer, and click "Continue."
• You can upload images (.jpg or .gif files), Adobe Acrobat Reader files (.pdf), or even video files.  This works a bit like YouTube.
• Now the tricky issue of resizing images.  The overwhelming majority of computer monitors can't see more than 72 pixels per inch (72dpi) so there is no point in uploading images that have a higher resolution.  72dpi images are perfect for web viewing;  larger 300dpi images are perfect for printing.  And it's best that the images be about 15 inches wide.
• When you upload an image that is 15 inches wide and has a resolution of 72dpi (or thereabouts --- it doesn't need to be exact) our photo gallery software will automatically create the thumbnail image and the mid-size image for you.
• If you use photo imaging software (such as Photoshop) it's just a matter of going to "Image Size" and selecting these settings:
  
  
  
• There are also lots of websites that offer an online re-sizing facility.  Just do a Google search for "resizing images."  Click here for one of the websites:  I'd recommend using a 1080 custom setting -- this is 15 inches wide at 72 pixels per inch.
• If you have any problems resizing an image, I'd be glad to help.  You can either e-mail the images to me, or contact me and I will do whatever I can to solve the problem.
• When you upload the images, you will need to caption them.  This is the title that appears below the photo on the thumbnail pages.  You can also add a longer description, and can add keywords.  Google and other search engines visit the EGCS photo gallery all the time, and they use the keywords to index the photo on the various search engines.
• I hope that I haven't made what is really a simple process seem overly complicated!  If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to get in touch. 
• I look forward to seeing your photos in the gallery.
• If you want to post your photos in what I call the "article" section of the website --- essentially here --- you will need to e-mail them to me.  Or you can upload them to the gallery and then e-mail me and tell me where to find them.  I can link to them from the "article" section of this website.  I can also give you permission to access the "article" area, but it's a bit more complicated --- although not much.