IT class this winter ?

[k olson]

Last winter the ISA had a few fly tying classes put on by Rich I believe, followed up by some pizza & few adult beverages. Although I'm not much of a fly guy, it opened my eyes to a whole new world of fishing and it was an excuse to get out of the house. I was hoping this winter the ISA could offer an IT class to help with such things as picture quality, ISA website navagation, etc. I admit it, I'm awful with the computer and all that goes with it. Example: I just learned how to take the picture off phone and attach to forum posting but sometimes it tells me image is too large to attach? It is same as other pictures I took, wtf ? I guess what i'm saying is a need someone with superior skills & knowledge to walk me through it. The whole point of the forums is to share with others one's fishing experience right? Often times I cannot do this and its frustrating. I'll buy the pizza, any thoughts?

[Ed Buric]

I agree with you completely, I know that I could use any help that I could get. I tried to organize something like this in the past but I wasn't able to get anywhere with it.

[Terry Dodge]

I had the same problem with the picture being bigger than I would like for viewing.

I changed the settings on my camera to a smaller size. Not sure if I have posted a pic since making the change.

Let's see what happens....

 

 

[Terry Dodge]

Still bigger than I would like. I'll see if I can reset for smaller.

(Eric is probably sitting back laughing at my dumbness)

[Terry Dodge]

That's the smallest I can go.

 

S - 16:9 @ 3345 FRAMES

 

Whatever the heck that means.

[Scott Ferguson]

There are several online, free web sites that will reduce the size of you pictures and provide you with a link that you copy and paste your photo into your post. I use tinypic.com

[Eric]

Camera
If you're consistently getting poor quality shots, consider buying a better camera. A good lens, flash and image processor make a big difference. Research online and narrow down a few choices within your budget, then try them out at the store. Ask the sales person to show you a few test shots on a monitor and zoom in to checkout image quality and detail. Your new camera should have a self-timer and capability for a wireless remote.

Settings
Shoot on medium to high quality. The more pixels you're recording, the better your post-processing will be. If you have a great shot and you want to submit it to our Bronzeback Magazine to be used in print, it has to be high-res (the more pixels, the merrier). An SD card of 2GB or more will provide plenty of space for high-res images.

Tripod
A small tripod can be very handy especially when you setup your camera ahead of time in a high-percentage spot. That way you're all set once you catch a fish and have already thought out the angles.

Pre-check
Before leaving home, check to ensure you have an SD card in your camera, that the battery is charged, and that the lens is clean. Only use pro-grade lens cleaning equipment and follow the manufacturer's instructions. Don't skimp and use your sleeve, etc. at home or in the field.

Shooting
Camera position makes a big difference. Try to position the camera so you're shooting straight-on at yourself and the fish. Too low and you often lose focus and get grass or twigs in the foreground, plus up-the-nose or crotch shots. (Don't feel the need to post those.) The sun should be behind your camera so the sun + the flash are illuminating you and the fish. Do not shoot towards the sun. The bright sky will totally overpower the shot and you'll be a dark silhouette. Remember these steps: straight-on, sun towards you, use flash, hold steady. Practice at home so you get comfortable with your settings and distances and can operate quickly.

Post-processing
Do a Google search on free image editing software. There are plenty of them out there. Always keep a high-res copy of your photos, then within your image editing software, you can crop, scale, adjust the vibrance and color saturation, and save as a JPEG.

Image type
For sharing on the web, you want a JPEG with little to no image compression. 720 to 800 pixels wide @ 72 ppi (pixels per inch) is large enough.

Image hosting
Do a Google search on image hosting. There are many sites that let you host your own photo galleries and link to the pics. When you link to a pic, it displays full size within your post without the reader having click on anything. It also does not use up any of our disc space.

Attaching photos
You can also attach photos to a post, which is what most people do. You're actually uploading them to our host, and a thumbnail preview is displayed within your post. The reader clicks on the thumbnail to view the full size pic. That's fine to do, but we do have a limited amount of disc space, so every once in a while we have to go in and delete images from old posts.

Help
At the very bottom of the forums, there is a "Help" link. Click on it and it takes you to a list of common forum topics where you can read more info. If you're unsure about how to post a photo, etc., check out the help files.

Search
Chances are you're not the first one to wonder about something. Try doing a search (search box in the upper right of all forum pages) on your topic and you'll most likely find a lot of info about it.