How should the reality layette photo challenge work?

[macassi]

There have been some suggestions regards to the photo challenge, so I thought I'd take a poll. I really appreciate the suggestions, so keep them coming!

Here's a draft list of the next challenges, so if you do vote to use new photos only, you'll have an idea of what's coming:

Week 2: Black and white with hats.
Week 3: Favorite PJ photos.
Week 4: Playclothes -- children at the park.
Week 5: Water time -- children at beach, pool, sprinkler or water play. The idea is to capture water in the photo.
Week 6: Father's Day outfits -- playing with Daddy.
Week 7: Catchlights
Week 8: Rule of thirds cropping.
Week 9: Stage a professional photo (e.g use backdrop).
Week 10: Black and white with colorized element.
Week 11: Close up of an inanimate object.
Week 12: Food, wonderful food.
Week 13: Caught in the act -- doing something perhaps they shouldn't be doing.

[ellies mom]

I voted that we should only use pictures taken during the challenge but I wanted to clarify that I think the pictures could be taken anytime during the entire run of the challenge. For instance, I might take the perfect swimsuit photo today, but during week 5 we may not get anywhere near a swimsuit.

So maybe we could call it a Summer Photo Challenge, and photos from anytime during this summer are good. Also to make things faster, maybe we should limit it to one picture per child and once we get to say 50 replies we start a new thread.

By the way, thank you. This is an excellent idea. I'm really excited about it.

[macassi]

Thanks for the suggestions. I was thinking along the same lines as you -- that if we limited to challenge photos only, they could be taken at any time during the challenge; hence, the list of upcoming topics.

I was thinking that we should just start a new thread every day, but we could also say that after a certain number of replies to post a new thread. I agree that the other thread got way too long.

Thanks for the suggestions, and keep them coming!

[Marisa6826]

Hey Girlies!

Love the pics, my only concern is how much bandwith the pics would be taking up on the server. Especially if you plan on doing it for an ongoing period of time as your list of challenges shows.

Maybe email A&D and see if this would be an issue?

-m

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I don't think it is any more than the pic threads that get posted here when Naartjie or Gymboree or Hanna come out with a new line.

Perhaps someone could post tips on how to resize pics and the best resolution so that we are not taking up any more space than necessary.

That info could actually be pinned in the Newbie forum, it's useful for everyone who posts pics for any reason.

...Karen
DS Jake Feb 91, DD Logan Mar 03
http://members.aol.com/khowe14494/superpower.gif http://members.aol.com/khowe14494/borntobebreastfed2.gif

[macassi]

I'm not sure that I can handle posting the tips on resizing and resolution, as I stumble through the process every time I try.

Rashmi, if you're reading this message, is there any chance you can post the tips? I think we all consider you our resident photo expert. : - )

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I remember someone once posted the best resolution for pics that are only to be viewed on screen, based on the resolution of the monitor, but I never remember what it is when I resize mine, so I don't change the resolution. I know I should.

...Karen
DS Jake Feb 91, DD Logan Mar 03
http://members.aol.com/khowe14494/superpower.gif http://members.aol.com/khowe14494/borntobebreastfed2.gif

[macassi]

Although, couldn't you make a case (excluding the bandwidth issue) that we're trying to see the best photos... so we should keep the high resolution? Or doesn't it matter if you're seeing it on screen. I'm really not very technical.

I have personally only ever resized pix. I haven't ever changed the resolution.

[papal]

LOL. Far be it for me to be a photo expert!

Here is my thought on this very interesting question...
The RESOLUTION of your photo does not matter when displaying it on the monitor.. it only matters when PRINTING your pic.
What matters is the RESOLUTION of your screen or monitor and the size of your picture.

For example, the resolution of my monitor right now is 1024x768. If I had a picture the size of 1024x768 (pixels), that would take up my whole screen! Make sense?
Now some people have a lower resolution on their monitor. So if theirs were set up for 640x480 or 800x600, then a 1024x768 picture would be HUGE and require scrolling.

Most people have a resolution of 800x600 or higher on their monitor.. i think 1024x768 would be a safe bet for many people.
So a picture sized say 600x400 would not be too bad. However, I think a with maximum width or height (whichever is larger) of 400 would be best imo.

Clear as mud???
heeeeheee

[jubilee]

1st- Rashmi- did you know your avatar is gone? Bring back Leela! :)

Ok- I think one thing that would really help the website and Denise and Alan is to make everyone upload their pics to www.photobucket.com (or some other website). If the pics are uploaded to here, it steals Denise and Alan's storage space. Once the pic is uploaded to photobucket (which is a FREE website) it can be imbedded into the posts here. I agree that we should stick to a maximum size of the pics (I like Rashmi's suggestion that the biggest side be 400)- that we aren't scrolling to view an extra-large pic... and waiting forever for that pic to download so we can view it.

A FREE photo resizer (and also reduces resolution- which speeds the download) is www.irfanview.com . Beth (egoldber) recommended it to me a while back and it helps me a lot!

And, I do have a concern about the challenges- I hate to mention this, but maybe the swimsuit one could bring out the weirdos to check out this site because they think little girls in swimsuits are hot. :( The other challenges sound great! I just get concerned about the public nature of this forum when talking about swimsuits or nakie shots.

[macassi]

I like the photobucket idea, and it seems easy enough. Can you tell me how to imped it into a post? Then, when I post the next challenge, I'll include the instructions to use photobucket and resize the photos. It looks like there are three link options on photobucket, url, tag, and lmg.

[mykidsmom]

I agree. NO swimsuit shots. Too many wierdos out there!!

[macassi]

I put swimsuits in the mix, because it was one of the suggestions. I edited it to be "water play" as opposed to swimsuits, because I really wanted people to capture their child with water. Does that still seem too revealing? I figured concerned people could have their fully dressed kids playing with water or walking on a beach or next to a water fountain. Alternatively, you could crop the shot so that you just see hands in the water playing or chest up or something.

I'm more than happy to remove that challenge if people still think it's too risky for the web. I just love shots with water and think it can be a photo skill to capture the movement of water. Or, at beach, not to have the beach overtake the photo.

[LD92599]

I just want to say that although i don't frequent reality layette too much (OK, i frequent - just don't post!) i love this idea and hope to participate down the road!

I did note as I was dressing DS this morning that every stitch on him was new!

Laura
mom to William
3.5.2003

LKibala at optonline dot net

http://homepage.mac.com/ld14m

[Tracey]

Why can't we just ask everyone to edit and remove their photos once that week's challenge is over and the new post begins?

[papal]

oops... uploading avatar.

i think if we keep the sizes of the images down, we should really not encounter any bandwidth or storage problems. Like tracey said, we can delete pics after a challenge is done too.
but yep, photobucket or shutterfly can be also used by people..that is a great idea!

[jubilee]

you use the URL- just copy and paste it into the text post here.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/juliebee70/gymbobag1.jpg

[barbarhow]

It is not all that travelled-I think this thread might jam up the lounge a bit and photography definately falls under the Art forum. Just a thought
Barbara-mom to Jack 3/27/03, a Red Sox fan
and Anna 5/12/05, my little Yankee fan!

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I like that idea!

...Karen
DS Jake Feb 91, DD Logan Mar 03
http://members.aol.com/khowe14494/superpower.gif http://members.aol.com/khowe14494/borntobebreastfed2.gif

[nohomama]

As Julie has already suggested, there are a myriad of ways to share photos that don't eat up Alan's & Denise's bandwidth. Photos can be uploaded elsewhere and folks can then either embed images in their posts or share a link. It's not difficult to learn to do and this doesn't have to be an issue.

Also, I recommend www.pixpond.com if you're interested in a place to host a few pictures at a time. For other sites that host images for free, do a search on "free image hosting." You'll come up with a slew of hits. Most have size limitations but like uploading an image, resizing a picture isn't hard to learn to do either.

[nohomama]

As Julie has already suggested, there are a myriad of ways to share photos that don't eat up Alan's & Denise's bandwidth. Photos can be uploaded elsewhere and folks can then either embed images in their posts or share a link. It's not difficult to learn to do and this doesn't have to be an issue.

Also, I recommend www.pixpond.com if you're interested in a place to host a few pictures at a time. For other sites that host images for free, do a search on "free image hosting." You'll come up with a slew of hits. Most have size limitations but like uploading an image, resizing a picture isn't hard to learn to do either.

[mamahill]

Actually, resolution does matter when displaying on the screen. The internet reads at 72 dpi, everywhere. So, if you have a picture that is 4 inches by 6 inches at 72 dpi, your picture will come out at 288x432. Now, if your picture is 2 inches by 3 inches, but your resolution is 300dpi, your picture will come out a lot bigger - 600 by 900 pixels.

Most photo editing software will allow you to change the resolution and/or the size. If the height/width/resolution are all linked, and you change the size, the resolution will change as well.

I'm with Rashmi, though, I probably would keep the maximum width/height at 400 (almost 6 inches) to conserve space (and eliminate/reduce scrolling). I don't know about iPhoto, but Photoshop (and I think elements) allows the option to 'Save for Web.' If you do this, then it opens up a window for you to see just how big it will appear on a web page. Also, it compresses the file just a little bit more (you can choose quality ranging from poor to maximum) and it tells you how big your file is. So a picture that, to email, would be a couple hundred K can be compressed down to under 75K. Very doable as far as bandwidth goes.

[papal]

Thanks Sarah for the correction.. i learn something new everyday! :)