Creating Tutorials & Demos - Posting Photos #1

Now we get into the practical side of creating tutorials for your library class, presentation on when you are asked to share what you know. Photo tutorials are used every day on the Internet.

Here is an example. The Pioneer Woman Cooks - Beautiful photos and clear instructions. Not to mention she added a link to the recipe at the bottom of the post.

To get started you will need:

• Digital images – these can come from a digital camera, scanned images, screen captures or images you find on the Internet (please respect copyright)
• Image software to editing the photos. You might have the software needed on your computer.
• A Photo web host or a website to host the photos and...
• You need the HTML code to place in your blog to view the photos.
  

I could spend the next ten weeks talking about digital cameras, scanners and related topics. I won't do that to you. If you have either one of those devices you should have the instructions on how to get the images from the device to your computer, I hope.

If not, then I would like to recommend to you the free classes that CNet.com offers in Digital Photo Basics. Lot's of good stuff there.

So you have your images and now you need to make some adjustments to them. You might have to resize the photos to fit the space available on your blog or web site. You might have to remove a portion of the image, that is called "cropping" Or you might have to adjust the color or add a special effect.

You don't need to have Photoshop. or Corel Photo-Paint or any of the fine photography software that is out there. That would be overkill.

On the Windows operating system there is one free program that stands proud and delivers the goodies.

IrfanView. This program is freeware for home, educational and non-profit use. It will run on anything from Windows 98 to XP, has multiple language support not to mention it will open dang near any image format - even by companies that no longer exist. No spyware or gremlins to mess up your system. You can download the current version at the site or at Downlod.com's Irfanview page.

On-Line Photo Editing Options

But you might not be on the Windows operating system. Or you are not allowed to download software. Not a problem. There are a number of web based photo services that will help you adjust your images for free, no charge and el zippo.

• PicNik is for newbies - it has helpful buttons and instruction that will guide you through the process of resizing your photo, cropping the photo or making other types of adjustments. PicNik has other tools for bloggers who want to screen capture an image and then add that image to a blog or web site. http://www.picnik.com
• Pixenate is another online photo editor with a few more features and an option to upload your image to a Flickr account. http://pixenate.com
• Resize Your Image - you say you don't want any of that fancy stuff. You just need to make your image smaller. This is exactly what this website does. You upload the image and you can make it smaller, rotate it or flip it upside down. http://www.resizeyourimage.com
  

This should keep you busy checking out the on-line image editors. Next time we'll look at finding an appropriate web host and how to upload images into blogs and web pages.