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Technical guide

This technical guidance section is designed to give you the information in relation to uploading images and the management of your files. Further information in relation to other aspects of the service can be found in our FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions) section.

Supported File Types
Image Sizes and Print Quality
The relationship between file size and upload time
Making a Smaller File (downsizing) to Improve Upload Times
Organise your files prior to upload

Supported File Types

wearehitched accepts the following file formats.

GIF

JPEG

PNG

JPG

Unfortunately we are unable to accept Windows bitmap files and RAW files from top end digital cameras.

Image sizes & print quality

The software that is used to upload your image automatically resizes the image for the web. A thumbnail of 200 pixels width is created as well as a viewable image of 400 pixels width. The original image is also store on our servers to enable us to provide the best quality prints for any orders received. For the best possible print options, use the highest resolution possible. The system has been tested using images of 3008 x 2000 pixels with great success.

Resolution is the amount of digital information stored in your image, in the form of individual pixels, or dots, of colour. Generally speaking, the more unique pixels/information in your image, the more detailed the image and the better the quality. lower resolution means less detail contained in the image, so when photos with low resolution are printed at a large photo size, they will appear blurry and pixilated (blocky with jagged rather than straight edges)

Resolution is generally measured in megapixels (a million pixels) for your digital camera, and in pixels for an individual image. The table below shows the standard image resolution in pixels that average megapixel cameras will create. Remember: always use the highest resolution setting in your camera.

CAMERA
megapixels APPROXIMATE IMAGE RESOLUTION
pixels

2 megapixels 1600 x 1200

3 megapixels 2048 x 1536

4 megapixels 2464 x 1632

5 megapixels 2560 x 1920

6 megapixels 3008 x 2000

8 megapixels 3264 x 2448

10 megapixels 3872 x 2592

12 megapixels 4288 x 2848

The Relationship Between Image Sizes and Print Quality
The following chart will help you anticipate the levels of print quality you can expect from digital images of various pixel dimensions. For quality prints you need to be in the 200 - 300 pixel range.

PRINT SIZE

EXTRA SHARP

SHARP

MODERATE

SOFT

300ppi

200ppi

150ppi

110ppi

5x7

1,500

x

2,100

1,000

x

1,400

750

x

1,050

550

x

770

6x8
1,800
x
2,400

1,200
x
1,600

900
x
1,200

660
x
880

8x10

2,400

x

3,000

1,600

x

2,000

1,200

x

1,500

880

x

1,100

The Relationship between file size and upload time

Wanting the best quality image on the site for other people to be able to order prints of your images is great, however there is a relationship between size of file, the speed of your Internet connection and the time taken for that file to upload. Enter the file size to be uploaded. Click the appropriate button for KiloBytes(KB) or MegaBytes(MB) and the upload time will be displayed.

FILE SIZE?
APPROXIMATE FILE UPLOAD TIME:

Your modem upload speed:

Hours

Minutes

Seconds

28.8 Kb

56 Kb

DSL: 64 Kb

CABLE: 128 Kb

256 Kb

1.5 Mbps

You are then able to decide whether you have the time / patience to upload the images you have taken. If you are only on a 56k dial-up connection and feel that the time that will be taken is too long, you have two options.
1. Downsize the image, it therefore taking less time to upload (the image will still display correctly on the site but there are quality implications if anybody wants to order a larger print from the site.
2. Send a CD to us and we will upload the images for you. For further details Contact us.

Making a smaller file (downsizing) to improve upload time

There is a free Windows XP download available from the Microsoft site called ' Image Resizer'. This is a Microsoft PowerToys utility enabling you to resize one or many image files with a right-click. Ordinarily, it's recommended that you make a backup of your original digital photo before resizing it. However, Image Resizer creates a duplicate file in the same folder as your original and resizes the duplicate; your original picture file is not altered in any way during the process. N.B. This will only work with Windows XP. There are also very good pieces or imaging software available, Paint Shop Pro and Adobe Photoshop Elements being two I'd recommend to any photographic enthusiast. However if all that is required is a simple cost effective utility we would recommend the following: download coming soon

1. Open the folder that contains the pictures you want to resize. In Thumbnail view, right-click any picture you want to resize, and click Resize Pictures.

2. In the Resize Pictures dialog box, click the size you want your photo to be, and click OK. In general, Small is a good selection for most of your needs, such as e-mailing pictures or posting them to a Web site.

3. The original file, flowers.jpg, is still intact; and a new, resized file, named flowers (Small).jpg, has been added to the same folder.

Resize multiple photos at once
To resize a sequence of photos at once, click the first photo in the sequence, hold down the SHIFT key, and click the last photo in the sequence. All the photos in between those that you clicked will be selected. Follow the steps outlined previously to resize the sequence of selected photos.
To resize nonsequential photos in a folder, click the first photo, and hold down the CTRL key while you click the other pictures you want to resize. Once you have your photos selected, follow the steps outlined previously to resize the selected photos.
Advanced features
Image Resizer includes some additional advanced features. Click the Advanced tab to show the following options:

• Custom lets you manually set the size you want for your photos.

• Make pictures smaller but not larger constrains resizing to only sizes smaller than the original photo.

• Resize the original pictures (don't create copies) permanently applies resizing to your original photo.

Organising Images

When you download images from your digital camera to your computer, the file names of the images have nothing to do with the event or scene that you were taking pictures of. Renaming each file manually is time-consuming, but by using this Windows XP technique you can quickly rename a folder of digital photos all at once. When you use this technique on a folder, all the files in the folder end up with a single name (including a sequential number) that relates to the subject of the images. Using this technique to rename your digital photos makes it easier to locate the one you're looking for at a later date-a photo named museum of flight august (18).JPG, for example, is easier to find than that same photo named DSCN1518.JPG.

To rename digital photos with a common name and sequential numbering

1. Click Start and then click My Pictures.

2. Open a folder of digital photo files whose names you want to change.

3. Click Edit and then click Select All.

4. Right click on the first digital photo file in the list and then click Rename.

The name of the first digital photo file is highlighted and ready to be edited.

5. Type the name you want to use to identify all the digital photo files in the folder. Choose a name that allows you to identify a photo from this folder at a later date.
NOTE: Be sure to type the file extension after the file name. In this example we use the extension .jpg after the file name museum of flight august because these image files are jpeg format, which is the format that most digital cameras use.

6. Press Enter on your keyboard to rename all the digital photo files in the folder and add sequential numbering to the file names.