Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Tips on printing our photos

Touched by the Son

We know many of you like to view, download, and print photos. What we don't know is how most people are using the photos -- just viewing online, printing small 4"x6" prints, using for Windows wallpaper, printing larger photos, etc.

Most of our photos currently online are in the same size dimensions as they came from a digital camera. Compact size digital cameras usually take photos in a 3:4 ratio, whereas the old film cameras take them in 2:3 ratio and produce 4"x6" prints.

Photos that came from scanned photos are naturally in the printed photo dimensions (4"x6").

The pain comes when you print a 3:4 ratio image from a digital camera on 4"x6" photo paper. Part of the image gets lopped off, as shown at the SmugMug site. There are only two ways to fix this problem:

Also note that newer and more expensive digital cameras may let you choose the image ratio or use the 2:3 ratio for its images be default. Some compact Kodak cameras let you choose the 2:3 (4"x6" print) size for saving photos.

The image ratio you want depends on the intended use.

  • For Windows "wallpaper", use a 3:4 ratio image to cover the screen.
  • For 4"x6" prints, use the "normal" 2:3 ratio images
  • 5"x7" and 8"x10" (4:5 ratio) prints require special image ratios. You'll need to crop these before printing or take what the printing system gives you for a photo crop.

We mention all this as a way of saying we'd like to provide you with what you need. As long as we don't get flooded with requests, we'll provide any ratio image you request.

We don't recommend that you download and crop the online image yourself. Why? Each time you edit a JPEG type photo (JPG files) the image quality decreases. So if you edit an already edited master image, you decrease the quality. We have the master copy of each online photo and can provide the same quality photo as the online one but in the image ratio you need.

Changes in photos we upload to Flickr

Since we suspect that most people who want to print photos will want the standard 4"x6" prints, we will start uploading photos in the 2:3 image ratio that is best for the 4"x6" prints. If you need a different size, for example for Windows wallpaper, just send an email request to our webmaster.

Also, we will start using 1280 pixels on the longest side of photos we upload. This gives a bit better quality printed photo and fills more of the screen on wide-screen monitors. That also increases the image file size, so it will take a few seconds longer for you to download photos. We think you'll find the trade-off well worth it.

We welcome your comments and suggestions.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

New photos from 2007

Inside of the chapel

The Mulungwishi photo albums at Flickr now include about 50 new photos, taken by Dan, a visiting volunteer in 2007.

The inside photo of the chapel at right is one of those taken by Dan.

I'm working my way through seven CDs of photos from visitors during 2007. I'll announce new photos when a lot are uploaded at once, as is the case here.

Also note that as we add new photos, we add many to existing sets as well as create new sets. So check out the list of sets to see if you want to review those too.

Saturday, January 05, 2008

January prayer focus

Preschool kids at Mulungwishi

The 2008 Mulungwishi Mission calendar asks us to pray for the Pre-school ... for Headmistress Mama Esther, the staff, and the children.

The Pre-school serves about 90 children every day, helping prepare them for academic challenges ahead.

Mulungwishi in WikiMapia

The folks who started the online encyclopedia WikiPedia have created a map encyclopedia too -- WikiMapia. As with WikiPedia, content is submitted by anyone and then reviewed, with commenting allowed.

I have added a proposed map site, Mulungwishi. In order for it to be added to their permanent map encyclopedia, other people have to verify that the placement and information are correct. That's where you come in.

Please do the following:

  1. Surf to the proposed Mulungwishi map point in WikiMapia
  2. Click on the yellow bordered square with the target center. That pops up the description I added.
  3. If you agree that this is correct, lastly click on the green number (which starts at zero) or the "Yes" link in the upper left of the location information pop-up.

After enough people verify that the information is good, it gets added to the map as a valid location.