E-mail and Digital Photography

 
E-mail and Digital Photography
Section 1:
Sending E-mail with Broadband
Essential Information
Sending an e-mail with broadband is no different to
sending an e-mail with a normal Internet connection,
except you can send much larger files and attachments.
This is important as you use your broadband connection
more, especially if you’re sending music tracks, video clips
or photos from your digital camera.
You’ll need an e-mail provider first of all. Choose one
of the many e-mail accounts that come free from your
Internet provider when you register for broadband or sign
up for a free webmail account such as Microsoft Hotmail
(hotmail.com), Yahoo! Mail (mail.yahoo.co.uk) or Google
Gmail (gmail.google.com).
Section 2:
E-mail Attachment Limits
Essential Information
E-mail providers put a limit on the size of the files you
can send or attach so their systems don’t get overloaded.
Broadband lets you easily download large files but e-mail
providers don’t make it easy to share them because of
these restrictions. Fortunately there are a number of things
you can do.
Action 1
Find out the maximum attachment size that your e-mail
provider will allow, by visiting their website. As e-mail
providers are in competition with each other, they increase
the limits regularly. If you have a free webmail account
such as Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or Google Gmail you will be
limited to sending attachments of 10 MB in size.
Action 2
Find out how much overall storage space there is in your
e-mail account. This is the space you have to store all your
e-mails and attachments. For example, Hotmail gives you
250 MB, Yahoo! Mail gives you 1 GB and Google Gmail
gives you 2 GB. Larger storage space means that you don’t
have to regularly clear out your e-mail account when
sending large files.
Section Three:
Upgrading Your E-mail Account
Essential Information
You can be prevented from sending an e-mail with a large
attachment for two reasons: the attachment is too big
and your e-mail provider won’t let you attach it or the
recipient’s e-mail system thinks the attachment is too big,
and sends you an e-mail saying it has been rejected. What
can you do?
Most webmail services offer premium accounts that
allow you to send bigger e-mail attachments. Microsoft
Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail offer you a large 20 MB
attachment limit for a small annual fee. Visit their websites
to register and pay. This may sort out your problems but if
the person you’re e-mailing has a lower attachment limit,
you’ll still be unable to get large e-mails to them.
Section 4:
Large Attachments and Outlook
Express
Essential Information
Outlook Express is one of the most popular e-mail
programs and is included in Microsoft Office, the wordprocessing
and spreadsheet software package, although it
can be bought from computer retailers.
If you use Outlook Express version 6 or above, it has a
clever feature that will automatically split large attachments
and send them as separate e-mails. It then reassembles
them automatically at the other end. You’ll need to be
sure the person at the other end also uses Outlook Express
otherwise what they receive will make no sense.
Action 1
To switch on this feature, start Outlook Express and click
on Tools followed by Accounts.
Action 2
Choose Mail, Properties, click on Advanced and tick
the box that says Break apart messages larger than
(Fig. 1). Enter the e-mail attachment limit for your email
provider. You have to enter this in kilobytes so you
would enter 10,000 for a 10-MB limit. Click OK to finish.
Outlook Express will then manage sending and receiving
large attachments for you.
Section 5:
Large Attachments and Instant
Messaging
Instant messaging is like e-mail but allows you to talk in
real time. It’s also a great option for sending large files as
there is virtually no attachment limit. As an added bonus
it gives you the chance to chat with the person you’re
sending it to at the same time. Find out how to use instant
messaging in Chapter Four.
Section 6:
Uploading Large Attachments
Essential Information
The final option for sending large e-mail attachments
is to post or upload your file to a website page on the
Internet. You can then send your friend a simple text e-mail
with the website link from where they can download the
attachment.
If you’re e-mailing a large video clip you could use one
of the video e-mail services described in Chapter Seven
or try Yahoo! Briefcase. This is a file storage website that
allows you to post attachments of up to 30 MB in size to
your own personal webpage which friends can then visit
to download your files. Register for free at briefcase.yahoo.
co.uk and follow the on-screen instructions to upload your
files. For even larger attachments, try another file storage
website such as Dropload. With Dropload you can upload
a file of up to 100 MB in size, and it sends an e-mail to
the recipient with a link to the webpage from where it can
be downloaded.
Action 1
Log on to dropload.com. Click on Sign up now and enter
your details to create a free account. Tick the box that gives
you virus protection for your attachments.
Action 2
Login to the website with your new user name and
password. Enter the e-mail address of the recipient, a
message and then click Browse to select the file on your
computer that you wish to attach (Fig. 2).
Action 3
Click on Drop it and your file will upload to the Internet and
the recipient will receive an e-mail letting them know that the
files are available to be downloaded. They have seven days to
do so before it gets deleted.
You’ll find similar file storage websites at znail.com and
sendfile.com.
EXPERT TIP
Another option is to squash your attachment into a smaller
fi le size using compression software. The two most popular
are WinZip (winzip.com) and Stuffi t Expander (stuffi t.com),
both of which can be used for free.
They’re a good option if your attachment is, for example,
12 MB in size. You can then compress it to squeeze out
a few MB and get it under the 10-MB limit. However, for
much larger attachments you won’t be able to compress it
enough. In addition, the person receiving the attachment
must have the same software to decompress it.
Section 7:
Sharing Digital Photos
Essential Information
You’ll find plenty of digital cameras to choose from at
online electrical stores such as Amazon (amazon.co.uk) and
each will come with its own software to load photos onto
your computer. But for many people that’s all they do. The
photos sit on their PC and don’t go anywhere.
A weekend or trip away with family or friends lasts
longer when you share your photos. With broadband
you can capture everything with your digital camera and
then share the photos online. It’s easy to do and is a great
reminder of your time together.
The best way to share your digital photos is to use a
dedicated photo sharing website such as Flickr.
EXPERT TIP
Before you start sharing your digital photos get them
in order with one of these two free software packages:
Google Picasa lets you sort your photos, alter them and
add captions (picasa.google.com); Adobe Photoshop
Album Starter Edition (adobe.com/photoshopalbum)
works in a similar way.
Action 1
Flickr is the perfect place for photo sharing and has lots of
extra features. To get started visit flickr.com and click Sign
up now for a free account. If you already have an account
with the website Yahoo! (who own Flickr) you can use the
same registration details.
Action 2
Choose the option to Upload photos (Fig. 3). You can
upload up to 20 MB worth of photos a month. If you
need to upload more you’ll have to register for a premium
account and pay a small fee. When you upload your photos,
select whether you want them to be public or private.
Public photos can be seen by anyone, private photos are
for only those people you nominate. You can also select
completely private photos so only you can view them. You
then have the option to add a description of each photo to
complete the upload.
Action 3
To share your photos go to Your Account page and choose
Set up your URL. This allows you to create your own
webpage where your photos will be displayed. E-mail the
address of this webpage to your family or friends and they
can visit it to see the photos (Fig. 4).
Action 4
Flickr also allows you to create group listings. You’ll find
the link to group listings in Your Account. A group can
be anyone: your family, football team, parents’ group or
neighbours. The people you nominate can then add photos
to the group webpage whenever they like. It’s perfect
for gatherings like weddings. Set up a group webpage in
advance of the big day and after it’s all over, each guest
who took pictures with a digital camera can upload them
for everyone to enjoy.
You’ll find other free photo sharing websites at MSN
Spaces (spaces.msn.com) or Yahoo! Photos (photos.yahoo.
co.uk).
Section 8:
E-mailing Digital Photos
Essential Information
Another way to share your digital photos is by e-mailing
them to your friends as an attachment. This can make your
e-mail too big so try the ideas in Sections 3 to 6 of this
chapter to squash them. Alternatively, Windows XP has an
easy way to make your photos small enough to e-mail.
Action 1
Click on the Start button on your
desktop and choose My Pictures.
Then find the folder with the
photo(s) you want to send and select
it using the left mouse button.
Action 2
In the File and Folder Tasks box
on the left choose the option marked
E-mail this folder’s file (Fig. 5).
The Send Pictures via E-mail
box will pop up. Select Make all my
pictures smaller. You can specify
how much smaller by clicking on
Show more options. Then click OK.
Action 3
Windows will then automatically launch your e-mail
program such as Outlook Express and open up a new email
with your pictures attached. All you need to do is add
the recipients’ e-mail addresses and click Send.
Section 9:
Printing Digital Photos
Essential Information
There are two ways you can print your own digital photos.
Either at home using your printer, or using an online
photography shop. Printing your photos at home can be
fun, but by the time you’ve bought paper and printer ink,
it is often faster and less expensive to upload your photos
to an online shop and have them posted to you.
Printing Photos at Home
To print photos at home you’ll need a good quality ink
jet or laser printer, the correct paper and software. For
everyday photos, use standard inkjet paper with 360 dpi
(dots per inch). This shows how much ink the paper
can absorb. The higher the number, the better quality of
printing you’ll receive.
For a more professional result choose special photographic
paper, though it is more expensive. This can be gloss or
matt finish and should be ‘instant dry’ to prevent colour
running. Make sure you choose paper of the correct weight
(measured in gsm). A weight of between 160 and 200 gsm
should be fine, although if you want the same quality as a
retail photo developer, choose 280 gsm.
The quality of home photo printing depends a lot on the
quality of your printer. Advanced photographers can get
an optimal result by adjusting the colour of their photos
using software. You can make basic adjustments using
Google Picasa or Adobe Photoshop Album (see Section 7
of this chapter) or use advanced software such as Adobe
Photoshop (adobe.com/photoshop) or Paint Shop Pro
(corel.co.uk).
However, you don’t need additional software to print
basic photos. Windows XP can print them for you.
Action 1
Open your My Pictures folder or the folder where you
keep your photographs. Click on the Print Pictures link
on the left. This will start the Photo Printing Wizard.
Action 2
Click Next and then choose the photos you wish to print
by placing a tick in the box next to each one (Fig. 6).
Action 3
Choose which printer you wish to use and click Next.
Action 4
Select the layout of how you want the photos printed.
For example, one or two per page. Finally, click Next to
start printing
Online Photography Shops
There are lots of online photography shops you can choose
from. These differ from the photo sharing websites in
Section 7 as they will also print and mail your photos to
you. In the US, popular stores include Yahoo! Photos
(photos.yahoo.com) and Shutterfly (shutterfly.com). In
the UK try the award-winning PhotoBox.
Action 1
To order prints visit photobox.com and register by clicking
on the Join Free link at the top of the page.
Action 2
Once you’re registered, login with your user name and
password and select Create Album. All photos are stored
in albums and can be set up to store photos from a weekend
break or holiday. Give your album a name and description
and then choose Save this album and upload photos
to it now.
Action 3
You’ll be given the option to choose which photos on your
computer you want to upload. Browse to your photo folder
on your computer and click on the photos you want. If
you’re uploading lots of photos hold down the CTRL
key on your keyboard as you click on each one. Click OK
to finish.
Action 4
Back on the PhotoBox webpage, choose Start Upload to
add your photos to your album. If you have a lot of photos
the upload can take some time even with broadband, so
be patient.
Action 5
You’ll see all your photos in the My Albums part of
PhotoBox (Fig. 7). From here you can click on Print
all photos to order them to be delivered to your home
or to someone else as a gift. You don’t just have to send
photos. You can turn them in to all sorts of things such
as calendars, stickers, posters or a slideshow disc for your
DVD player.