Digital Image Size

[CBass1307]

I just started taking rail pictures back in December and I have a few issues that I have encountered.

I was hoping to post my images on NERAIL, but I am having problems with the image size. It says my images are 11 times too large.

I tried a free online resizer and resized the images to the sizes NERAIL recommended (850x700),(800x600),(600x400), but the images came out looking stretched. It really lowered the quality of the the photos.

I was hoping that someone would know what size I should be using, possibly if there is a better program to use, if I can set my camera to size the images correctly in the first place or for just general help on the subject.

Thank you.

[EMTRailfan]

1. Shoot your photos as big as possible. They will make much nicer prints if you decide to have any printed.

2. For resizing, does the editor that you were using have a "Keep Proportions" option when you resize? If so, make sure that is selected. It will shrink your shots down, keeping them in scale.

Gimp is also a free photo editor, pretty comparable to PS. Obtain at gimp.org. My flatbed scanner cam with a digital editor. I do most everything in this one. Did your camera come with any software? If so, a editor may be hiding in there too.

[Tracer]

Simple question: Most websites need you to resize(shrink) your photos, is it better to do your editing to the photo before you resize it, or should i do my editing after its resized? Or does it matter?

Thanks!!

[EMTRailfan]

I resize 1st and then do all of my editing ending with sharpening. I also have a MS Word form saved to enter all of my edit settings into incase I print a shot. If I print one, I crop it close to the same (pending print size), but I do not shrink it. I keep it full size for printing. Looks much nicer and doesn't have the "jaggies" of stretching a small photo to fill and 8x10 print.

[EricB]

NERAIL recommended (850x700),(800x600),(600x400)

Ignore the height. Use your resizing software to adjust only the width and you should be fine. Unless, it's a vertical image. In that case you would ignore the width and only adjust the height.
Since few images ever have the same relation of width to height (Aspect Ratio), trying to adjust all to fit into a fixed 850x700 pixel rectangle is going to result in more than a few mangled images.