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Last updated: 00:50 (GMT+04) Thursday, July 03, 2008.

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TIPS AND ADVICE

Quick 'n' easy photo upload tips

The site accepts two types of photo file formats - .GIF and .JPG (.JPG may also appear as .JPEG).
You can email us up to 5MB of photos at once - this could be five photos of 1MB each, one photo of 5MB, two photos of 2.5MB etc. Most digital cameras seem to save photos off at 2MB but you don’t have to make your photos this big - it’s fine for a photo to be 300KB.
If your photos add up to more than 5MB and you’re keen to send them all - send them separately, filling in a new photo upload form.
Sometimes photo sizes are displayed in bytes so it is worth remembering that 16,384 bytes is 16KB and 1024000 bytes is 1MB.
We recommend that you upload photos of 1280 x 1024 pixels or less.
Remember - the bigger your photo, the longer it will take to upload.
If your photos upload successfully you’ll see your form updated with thumbnails of each of your photos. You can now add in individual photo captions if you want, then click ‘ submit’ to send them to us. You’ll get a thank you note to confirm your photos were sent.
Should your upload fail, the system may advise you that the photo formats are not compatible or that the photo sizes are not suitable. In either case, please re-check the photo(s) and try again.
Your photo(s) may not upload for several reasons - the main ones would be your internet connection, your photo format or your photo file size. Please check your photo file and format, using the advice above, and try again. If you are uploading from a company computer, there may also be company restrictions placed on your network to prevent photo uploads - in which case you will be unable to send photos to gulfnews.com from this computer.
If you still have problems please send us website feedback to help us understand the issue - go to the technical feedback page for more on this.

Step-by-step photo upload guide
There are two main things to think about when you want to upload your own photos to gulfnews.com…

STEP 1: Preparing your photos for upload
This involves ensuring that the photos are in the correct file format, and are not too big to be uploaded.
STEP 2: Uploading your photos to gulfnews.com
This is the process of telling the site where your photos are stored and then sending them to gulfnews.com.

STEP 1: Preparing your photos for upload Photo file format

Currently gulfnews.com accepts two types of photo file formats, commonly known as .GIF and .JPG. Your photos must be in one of these formats for the site to accept them.

.JPG may appear as .JPEG - either is correct.

If you download photos from a digital camera, most will save in the .JPG format.

If your photos are in another format, photo editing software can change the format for you to.JPG or .JPEG

You’ll need to open them with a photo editing tool like Photoshop or MS Paint, and then use the ‘save as’ feature in the ‘file’ menu to change to a different format. You’ll see a ‘save as’ dialogue box and will then be able to select the photo type you want to save from a dropdown box at the bottom.

Saving a copy of your photo in one of these formats does not affect the original copy of your photo. To be safe, however, it is best to save any changed photos in a different location from the original photos on your hard disk.

Please remember where on your hard disk you have saved your photos - you will need this information when uploading!

Photo size

gulfnews.com allows you to submit photo sizes as big as 1MB but you don’t have to make your photos this big - it’s fine for a photo to be 300KB.

Remember - the bigger your photos, the longer they’ll take to upload.

As with image file formats, almost all photo editing software allows you to change the size of your files so you can save off new, smaller photos. The software does this in a number of ways, such as -

Resizing options in which you enter a horizontal or vertical percentage value less than 100% to reduce your photo size.
Changing the photo to .JPG and changing the quality setting to just under the maximum, i.e. 8 or 9 (or 80 or 90 percent, depending on how your software displays this).
Changing the resolution of your photos to fewer dots per square inch (DPI) than your original (screen resolution on the web is 72dpi).
You may need to experiment with these settings to achieve results you are happy with, but remember to always check that your saved files are in good order before sending. We recommend that you upload photos of 1280 x 1024 pixels or less.

Sometimes photo sizes are displayed in bytes so it is worth remembering that 16,384 bytes is 16KB and 1024000 bytes is 1MB.

While different photo editing software may work slightly differently than we’v e described above, all are similar and should provide information about file formats and sizes in their help files.

STEP 2: Uploading your photos to gulfnews.com

Once you have your photos in the correct formats and sizes, you can begin the process of uploading to the site.

There are a number of links on the site inviting you to upload photos. All of these links will click through to a photo upload form on gulfnews.com, taking you through the steps required to upload photos.

1. Fill in your personal details and the title for your photos. You can fill in a common description for them all but you don’t have to - later on, you’ll be asked for individual captions so you can either choose one common description, individual captions or both - whatever works best for the photo or set of photos that you’re sending us.

2. Specify which photos you want to upload. To do this, click the ‘browse’ button next to the first of the five photo file upload fields. This allows you to browse your computer’s hard disk to find the photo you want to upload. (This is why it’s important to remember where you saved your photos during the preparation stage.) You can now either double-click your selected file, or click the file name and then click the ‘open’ button to insert the file name into the upload window.

If you accidentally select the wrong photo, you can simply select the ‘browse’ button on that field again and select the right one.

3. Each subsequent photo you want to send us, up to a maximum of five photos and/ or 5MB, is uploaded in exactly the same way by repeating these steps.

You can email us up to 5MB of photos at once - this could be five photos of 1MB each, one photo of 5MB, two photos of 2.5MB etc. Most digital cameras seem to save photos off at 2MB but you don’t have to make your photos this big - it’s fine for a photo to be 300KB.

4. Once you have browsed for your photo(s) and automatically filled in the photo file fields, select the ‘upload’ button at the bottom of the form to begin the upload process.

Remember to tick the box to say you have read and agreed to the terms and conditions or the form will not load.

5. It may take a few minutes to upload the photo(s), depending on how big it is. There will be a countdown on the screen telling you how long this process should take.

6. If your photos upload successfully you’ll see your form updated with thumbnails of each of your photos. You can now add in individual photo captions if you want to.

7. When you’re finished, click ‘submit’. You’ll get a thank you note to confirm that your photos have been sent to gulfnews.com.

If your photos add up to more than 5MB and you’re keen to send them all - send them separately, filling in a new photo upload form.

Your photo(s) may not upload for several reasons - the main ones would be your internet connection, your photo format or your photo file size. Please check your photo file and format, using the advice above, and try again.

If you still have problems please send us website feedback to help us understand the issue - go to the technical feedback page for more on this.

If you are uploading from a company computer, there may also be company restrictions placed on your network to prevent photo uploads - in which case you will be unable to send photos to gulfnews.com from this computer.