Why does it take so long to get hafla pictures onto the web site?
by Mark
No-one has actually come out and asked me that question but I quite often get enquiries about when they'll be uploaded. If you've never had to process photos for a website you probably think that it's just a matter of programming a fancy software package and Bob's your uncle! ... PLEASE if anyone knows a software package that will do all that, tell me about it!
The fact is that sorting and processing the photos takes time. I usually take between 200 and 300 photos at a hafla and once I have them transferred to my laptop I have to sift through for the good ones. I try to avoid ones that "make your bum look big in that outfit" or where I managed to snap someone with a gormless look on their face. I then go through the one I selected and correct the worst of the red-eye and I look for ones that need cropping. Then there are often one or two that are potentially great photos apart from one little feature that spoils them. Those I apply a little digital wizardry to; for example I had a great one of Kathy balancing her sword on her knee but her eyes were half closed and her mouth wasn't smiling. I therefore cut her head off another photo where she looked great and replaced the gormless look. Next it was a case of blending the edges so that no-one will see the join. Cut and paste photo manipulation takes practice if you don't want the results to be obvious… and it takes time.
Next, when the photos are selected and edited, usually about a hundred images, I have to resize them. My camera takes photos that are about 2 megabytes in size and I need to get them down to no more than 300 or 400 kilobytes. If I don't resize them (even with the huge new webspace I have) it will take a couple of hours to upload them. Next they have to be resized again into a different file folder to create the thumbnail images that go onto the web page so you can select which ones you want to look at. Then I have to rename them all to reflect the hafla, if I just use the numbers the camera assigns they'll overwrite other photos already on the website. Then I have to rename the thumbnails and make sure the name of the thumbnail matches the name of the bigger photo. This is an area where there are often glitches that take a long time to sort out.
Great! They're all ready! Next I have to build a new web page for them, load each thumbnail onto it and make the link between the thumbnail and the big photo. Once that has been done I upload them to the website along with the new web page and alter the photo gallery index page so that you can find the new photos and then alter the main page of the site so you know that they're up and running.
Once they're online I then go to the site and check that each thumbnail image is correctly linked to the big image. Usually there are several errors (just like typos) and I have to make the corrections and re-upload the page and check again. When that's all done I can breathe a sigh of relief!
So how long does all this take? Well, with this batch I spent about three hours earlier in the week sorting, selecting and manipulating. Then today I did the rest of the procedure; I started at about 5am (the dawn chorus woke me at 4.30am) and finally breathed that sigh of relief at about 11am.
So now you know why it usually takes a week or more and why sometimes I leave my camera at home. Once in a while it's nice to watch the dancers and relax instead of watching every performance through a 1.5 inch square digital screen …and to know that I don't have 9 hours of mostly soul destroying repetitive work ahead… on a voluntary basis!
by Mark
No-one has actually come out and asked me that question but I quite often get enquiries about when they'll be uploaded. If you've never had to process photos for a website you probably think that it's just a matter of programming a fancy software package and Bob's your uncle! ... PLEASE if anyone knows a software package that will do all that, tell me about it!
The fact is that sorting and processing the photos takes time. I usually take between 200 and 300 photos at a hafla and once I have them transferred to my laptop I have to sift through for the good ones. I try to avoid ones that "make your bum look big in that outfit" or where I managed to snap someone with a gormless look on their face. I then go through the one I selected and correct the worst of the red-eye and I look for ones that need cropping. Then there are often one or two that are potentially great photos apart from one little feature that spoils them. Those I apply a little digital wizardry to; for example I had a great one of Kathy balancing her sword on her knee but her eyes were half closed and her mouth wasn't smiling. I therefore cut her head off another photo where she looked great and replaced the gormless look. Next it was a case of blending the edges so that no-one will see the join. Cut and paste photo manipulation takes practice if you don't want the results to be obvious… and it takes time.
Next, when the photos are selected and edited, usually about a hundred images, I have to resize them. My camera takes photos that are about 2 megabytes in size and I need to get them down to no more than 300 or 400 kilobytes. If I don't resize them (even with the huge new webspace I have) it will take a couple of hours to upload them. Next they have to be resized again into a different file folder to create the thumbnail images that go onto the web page so you can select which ones you want to look at. Then I have to rename them all to reflect the hafla, if I just use the numbers the camera assigns they'll overwrite other photos already on the website. Then I have to rename the thumbnails and make sure the name of the thumbnail matches the name of the bigger photo. This is an area where there are often glitches that take a long time to sort out.
Great! They're all ready! Next I have to build a new web page for them, load each thumbnail onto it and make the link between the thumbnail and the big photo. Once that has been done I upload them to the website along with the new web page and alter the photo gallery index page so that you can find the new photos and then alter the main page of the site so you know that they're up and running.
Once they're online I then go to the site and check that each thumbnail image is correctly linked to the big image. Usually there are several errors (just like typos) and I have to make the corrections and re-upload the page and check again. When that's all done I can breathe a sigh of relief!
So how long does all this take? Well, with this batch I spent about three hours earlier in the week sorting, selecting and manipulating. Then today I did the rest of the procedure; I started at about 5am (the dawn chorus woke me at 4.30am) and finally breathed that sigh of relief at about 11am.
So now you know why it usually takes a week or more and why sometimes I leave my camera at home. Once in a while it's nice to watch the dancers and relax instead of watching every performance through a 1.5 inch square digital screen …and to know that I don't have 9 hours of mostly soul destroying repetitive work ahead… on a voluntary basis!
 "Spot the join")
Click on the image to see the full sized picture and try to spot the join where I replaced Kathie's head. It's not easy if you don't know what you're looking for.