The MGS Forum

The Forum => How the Forum works => Topic started by: Joanna Savage on January 30, 2014, 08:21:20 AM

Title: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: Joanna Savage on January 30, 2014, 08:21:20 AM
It's a dark wet day in Toscana, and a good opportunity to try to understand how to post photos to the Forum from my IPad photo collection.

So far, the easiest way seems to  be to email the photo to myself on my PC, to then transfer it out of the e-mail to the desktop and then post as usual. But there must be an easier way. I often read that Forum members are posting from their phones, maybe it is a similar technique from the IPad. Any hints would be very welcome.

I would prefer to always view and perhaps, edit an IPad photo before it is posted, otherwise there is too much room for error if it is photographed and posted while the post is being written.
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: JTh on January 30, 2014, 11:52:33 AM
Basically, the procedure is the same whether you send from your PC or an iPad, but you need to rezize your photos first, to compress them to the correct file size. The maximum is 250 kb, which is much smaller than the size of the original size (those on my iPhone or iPad seem to be between 1-3 MB). For that you need an app (program), which you can download, I found a link recommending some of the best ones, see http://connect.dpreview.com/post/5847400367/ipad-5-apps. They are not expensive, but you have to spend som time to learn how to use them. I have not tried any of them myself. It would be interesting to hear if any of you have any experience with one of these.
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: Umbrian on January 30, 2014, 04:44:40 PM
Thanks Jorun for the link and yes, if anybody has experience of any of these apps I would be grateful to hear what they think. Amazing how useful this forum is - not just for plant information :)
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: Joanna Savage on February 01, 2014, 07:03:00 AM
Thankyou JTh for your help. I had forgotten about the need to reduce photo size for the MGS Forum. That seems to mean that all ipad photos must go through the PC first (to be reduced), so I won't be able to fire them off to the Forum the way  I shoot off photos in e-mail from the IPad?
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: Umbrian on February 01, 2014, 08:07:38 AM
I think that's the same problem I have Joanna - the need to reduce the size of the photo before posting but hopefully one of the apps Jorun mentioned will do the trick. I am looking into it. Nice to know I am not the only one struggling with all this new technology!
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: JTh on February 01, 2014, 05:01:10 PM
You don´t have to emaail them to your PC, Joanna, you can download a small photoeditor and do the job on your iPad. Of the ones recommended in the link in my previous posting, I think Photogene sounds like a good option. Photoshop Touch is a much more comprehensive program, and probably have more options than most of you need, unleess you wish to work work with masks and layers etc.

I downloaded Photogene ($ 2.99), just to try it, and it seems to be quite easy.

After you have installed the program and opened it, you choose your photo from your photostream. If you wish to crop the photo, click on Crop, and pull the handles to select the part of the photo you wish to keep. When it has been cropped, click on Export, then on Resize (upper right side). You then choose the reslution, I am choosing 640 here now. Almost at the bottom of the same page, you see Jpeg quality (compression level), with a slider where you choose the level of compression, if you click on Calculate Export Size, you see the file size, then try to move the slider to the left to make the file size smaller, click on Calculate size to check. When you have chosen compression level which gives you the right size (<250 kb), go back to Export and then click on the icon Save to library. Check that the resolution is still set at  still 640, if not, go back and select this value again Then you can close the program and you are ready to post on the Forum. You then do exactly the same as you do from your PC, by choosing Additional Options, Attach-Choose file (choose from existing= yourphostream), and choose the one you edited from your photostream.

If my explanation is correct, and I did as I explained, I should have a photo I took with my iPad yesterday here. It was about 807 kb before i cropped it a little, after cropping it was 229.8 kb, which should be OK. I did not have to compress it at all, but left the compression slider at 1.0 (= no compression). Let´s see if this works!

I´m doing this from my iPad, so I´m making lot´s of mistakes.
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: JTh on February 01, 2014, 05:04:16 PM
Well, it worked, sort of, excpt that the file size was much smallerr than intended, I have to do some more work to make it perfect, but you could try yourself. At least the photo was small enough!
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: Joanna Savage on February 02, 2014, 08:25:23 AM
JTh many many thanks for all this help. After hours with the ipad and the PC I confirmed that ITunes, for bureaucratic reasons to do with location, mine and the computer's, ITunes refuses to allow me to set up an account. Other ex-pats have told me they have the same problem. That meant that I couldn't download apps either by wifi or on the PC.
Not to be outdone I have purchased an ITunes app card from the supermarket.

After installing the app tunes credit I have been able to download Photogene and Aviary on to the iPad. There's still a lot to understand and I wonder if I would ever have found out how to resize without your help.

I have no excuse now, for not posting to MGS, except perhaps that all this rain will wash the garden away.

PS Along the way I discovered that the Paint programme in Windows7 will do resizing.
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: Joanna Savage on February 05, 2014, 05:06:52 PM
Testing
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: Joanna Savage on February 05, 2014, 05:09:20 PM
Above is my first posting from the ipad using photogene.the rain eased for half an hour so I paddled out to this E.Wulfennii seedling. I followed JTh's instructions, but it takes intense concentration!
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: JTh on February 05, 2014, 05:12:47 PM
Well done, Joanna :)
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: Alisdair on February 05, 2014, 06:09:23 PM
Brilliant, Joanna - and Jorun!
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: David Dickinson on February 06, 2014, 02:27:08 AM
Thanks for the photo :)

Can confirm that "Paint" in windows 7 will resize photos that you wish to send to the forum. That is what I have used for the few photos that I have sent up to now. Next challenge for me is to start taking photos with the Kindle HD which I recently received as a Christmas present ??? Wish me luck. Let's hope my results will match Joanna's
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: Umbrian on February 06, 2014, 08:29:08 AM
Joanna, when you said you bought your photogene app from a supermarket which one did you mean? I too am having the same problem acquiring this app and as you live in Italy it would be helpful to,me to know!
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: Joanna Savage on February 06, 2014, 03:54:11 PM
Hello Umbrian, My shopping at the supermarket was almost certainly dealing with a different problem from the one you are facing. I bought an app store card (something like a gift token)which, when downloaded on to the Ipad, allows me to purchase apps via Itunes, a facility otherwise barred to me.

For photogene I followed the link from JTh in the second post in this section. Once that link opened it was then possible to go to photogene. It is also possible to google photogene and get to it that way. Once you have the photogene site it will tell you how to download on to the Ipad using Itunes.

All credit goes to JTh for solving the puzzle. I must have made at least ten false starts before I finally arrived at a size suitable for MGS Forum. I don't understand the physics of 'resizing' and 'compressing' so I was working with Pot Luck. In the end I think I used the settings which JTh used, i.e.Resized to 640 and Compression to almost one. The trouble is that I did so many tries I forget exactly which worked. So much for the careful documentation of a scientific training.
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: Umbrian on February 13, 2014, 07:31:31 AM
Having finally managed to download photogene with the help of the very patient assistant in our local "Wind" shop who is always very willing to help morons like me get the best out of their IT equipment, I am now going to attempt to post my first 'photo' from my iPad  - not with a lot of confidence I might add so apologies in advance if I make a right mess of it :)
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: Umbrian on February 13, 2014, 07:36:18 AM
GOSH! I can hardly believe it - MANY thanks again to Jorun :)
In my efforts to post I forgot to say what the subject of the 'photo is  - the first flower of a newly acquired Narcissus "Central Station"  :) :) :) :)
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: JTh on February 13, 2014, 10:58:17 AM
I'm so glad you managed as well, Carole.
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: Jill S on February 15, 2014, 08:33:58 PM
You didn't make a mess of it and it's beautiful. Well done. On to the Irises next, now that your garden is raider proof ?
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: Umbrian on February 16, 2014, 09:05:12 AM
Sure thing Jill. I am planning to make this garden very much a scented one as it is small and quite enclosed. I bought an Iris 'Jesse's Song' at the autumn plant fair in Lucca that is supposed to be scented and I cannot wait for it to come into flower. Blackbirds are my greatest nuisance here, I love them but they do make such a mess rootling for food. When they burst into song though I can forgive them for anything.

Alisdair, as far as I can see my attempt at italics did not work - have I missed out a vital step? ???
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: Umbrian on February 16, 2014, 09:08:05 AM
Oh, what a surprise it seems to have worked. I was worried when the printing remained the same within the brackets before posting .......another mountain climbed :)
Title: Re: POSTING PHOTOS FROM IPad?
Post by: Joanna Savage on February 17, 2014, 09:35:26 AM
More rain and more opportunity to get to grips with ipad photos. The attached was taken in the garden last summer and looked magnificent at its 6megabytes on the ipad. Now it is resized to less than 250 kb it looks fuzzy and not really worth posting. At least that is how it was in the testing. It is possible that cropping may help to improve the photo. (Another wet day needed to sort that).o

Another aspect. When using Photogene, after resizing and saving to Photo Library, I am now finding the resized saved photo as the latest entry in Camera Roll. I could almost swear that last week it was the final photo in Photo Stream.