Step by Step: How to embed an image in a post

[stubbsy]

I see repeated requests for this and they always seem hard to find. Hopefully you found this and it will help you on your way.

In order to embed (ie add) an image in a post the image needs to be stored on the internet somewhere. Many members here use free sites like http://www.flickr.com but you can also use other pay sites like http://www.smugmug.com

I do not recommend PixSpot since as of January 2006 there have been significant problems with this service where many users see THIS IMAGE saying to visit PixSPot to see your graphic instead of the real image you wanted them to see.

Please don't make your images large in size or dimension as they can take a long while to load for members on slow connections. I suggest keeping the file size < 200K and the image dimensions no more than 800 pixels on the largest side.

The following steps assume you have your image somewhere:

1. Find the url to your image:
   
   If using PBase you would do the following:
   
   • View the image on PBase. The URL will look something like http://www.pbase.com/image/#####
   • Highlight the whole of this from http: to the end of the address by using your mouse
   • While this is highlighted hit Ctrl-C to copy the URL to your clipboard. Now go to step 2.
   If you are using SmugMug or most other image hosting sites you would do the following:
   
   • Go to your web gallery site and display the image you want to embed.
   • click the right mouse button on your image to popup a list of options
   • Choose properties from the bottom of the list by clicking it with your left mouse button. You'll see a properties window with a whole stack of info. You want the bit after the address heading starting with http.
   • Highlight the whole of this from http: to the end of the address by using your mouse (it may be over a few lines and will end in .jpg or whatever file format your image is).
   • While this is highlighted hit Ctrl-C to copy the URL to your clipboard.
   • Close the properties window and proceed to the next step
2. In your message, position where you want to insert your image and type or paste the URL of the image. If you are using PBase you need to add .jpg to the end, or /medium.jpg to the end for the medium size version.
3. Highlight the newly pasted URL with your mouse
4. Now if you look up the top of the message editing window you'll see a number of buttons with the last two being Img and URL. The one you need to use is Img. While you have the URL of your image highlighted, click Img. This will put [img]before%20the%20URL%20in%20your%20message%20and[/img] after it.
5. That's it - your image will display when the message is viewed. To check this before posting click the Preview button at the bottom of your screen.
6. Once you're happy with the results click the Submit button.

If you have an image too large to embed or want to provide a link to the image rather than embed it you follow the steps above but click the URL button at step 4 instead of clicking Img


And finally. I you want to link your image to a bigger version I also suggest you read Step by Step: Posting thumbnails with links to larger images

Good luck.

EDIT: Updated to mention Jan 06 PixSpot problems.
EDIT: Updated again since PixSpot never got any better

[christiand]

Hi stubbsy,

thanks for posting this tip.

Cheers
CD

[paull]

Thanks stubbsy ... it was the random bit that stuffed me up. keep up the good work

[ozimax]

Good post Stubbsy, I post images at max 60kb and max length 500pixels,

Max

[lukeo]

Yes excellent work.

200KB on a 56k modem (5kb a second) = 40 seconds

which is definately the longest you would want to wait.

Poor modems.

[SoCal Steve]

Stubbsy,

Thanks for the excellent tutorial!

However those of us with Mac's don't have the right click mouse to get the properties. A determination of the URL for the pic stumps me, Stubbsy.

Can anyone help those of us who think different(ly)? What's the work around? I'll bet sirhc55 probably knows.

Thanks
SCS

[jethro]

hey socal how old is the mac?

[SoCal Steve]

G4 933 circa 2003, running OS 10.3.8

[jethro]

see if you can borrow a 2 button optical your OS should support it. i tried it on an old G4 700 running 8.6 and it failed. even though the keyboard was usb it wouldnt kick. my G4 2gig with the same OS runs a 2 button like a charm

[Greg B]

However those of us with Mac's don't have the right click mouse to get the properties. ..........

Can anyone help those of us who think different(ly)? Thanks
SCS

Get a PC.

[SoCal Steve]

Ain't no friggin' Way!!!!!!!!!

But thanks anyway.

Let's not start that old argument. We'll just agree to disagree on our choice of computers.

[Matt. K]

Greg B
Took your advice and got me a Police Constable. The bastard is tough and I'm having a problem restraining him. What do I do now?

[ozimax]

Sorry Greg, I'm with Socal, but I don't want to start a cyber fight over PC v Mac .

Usually with mac it's ctrl + click to simulate right mouse click. (Or use any other mouse, USB or wireless or bluetooth or whatever - they all work on mac).

Max

[darb]

youre also welcome to use my anonymous hosting

http://darb.net/anonymous

it'll create a thumbnailed version, an intermediate *.sized.jpg and of course the full original.

Click admin options, and then 'add photos'

Follow the bouncing ball. Hotlinking is OK to this forum. (other forums will get denied.)

it gets cleaned out periodically.

[robboh]

Stubbsy,
However those of us with Mac's don't have the right click mouse to get the properties. A determination of the URL for the pic stumps me, Stubbsy.
Can anyone help those of us who think different(ly)? What's the work around? I'll bet sirhc55 probably knows.

Ctrl-Click is equivilent to right-click if you only have a single button mouse. Alternatively, you should be able to do a 'view page source' in Safari. I also think (cant check, at work at mo) you can drag a picture to a new tab and it will open, complete with the url source in the address bar.

On a side note, when the **** is Apple gonna give us a nice 2 button, scroll-wheel mouse. I like the feel of the one-button mouse, but scrolling is a permanently fixed muscle memory for me.

Ok, I'll compromise, how about a one-button scrolling mouse *pleads*

[shockadelica-]

is it ok to post a photo that wasnt taken with a nikon d70 for some advice/tips from others?
i would like to post a couple of photos that were taken with a ricoh 2megapixel cheap digital compact camera

[MATT]

Cant see why not!!

Post away


MATT

[glamy]

I post on pbase and to embed a picture in a post they advised me to open the picture, to add .jpg after the url or the way Stubbsy described will only work temporarily.

[glamy]

The answer is in the FAQ in better terms that I used.
Cheers,
Gerard

[stubbsy]

I post on pbase and to embed a picture in a post they advised me to open the picture, to add .jpg after the url or the way Stubbsy described will only work temporarily.

Gerard can you give me some more detail on the steps or point me at the FAQ and I'll update the instructions.

Thanks

[SoCal Steve]

shockadelica-
I had been using Pixspot up until very recently to host my pix and always had colorspace issues. Even reading the various threads my pictures always had much different colors than what I was seeing on my monitor.

yeocsa- (Arthur) suggested http://photobucket.com/ and I like it much better. Like pixspot, you can use it free and it's very simple to use.

In Very Sunny SoCal

[glamy]

Stubbsy,
I forwarded the e-mail I got from pbase to Nnnnsic . I do not know how to insert documents in a post. If you pm me your email address I'll forward it to you. The FAQ is: how do I post an image from pbase?
Cheers,
Gerard

[petermmc]

Hi Stubsy

This question will probably fall under the category of ...what the?

I have followed your instructions and have registered and have a user and login. I think this makes me legit on pixipost. I have followed instructions to upload and shrunk photo and followed the prompts. I have inserted the file extension into the space and clicked continue. It takes a little while and tells me it has uploaded successfully.

When I check my album there is no photo. I have done this about 6 times. I am probably doing something stupid but I dont know what it is.

Could you help please?

Petermmc

[stubbsy]

Hi Stubsy

This question will probably fall under the category of ...what the?

I have followed your instructions and have registered and have a user and login. I think this makes me legit on pixipost. I have followed instructions to upload and shrunk photo and followed the prompts. I have inserted the file extension into the space and clicked continue. It takes a little while and tells me it has uploaded successfully.

When I check my album there is no photo. I have done this about 6 times. I am probably doing something stupid but I dont know what it is.

Could you help please?

Petermmc

Peter

When you are at the upload screen in PixSpot you click the browse button, navigate to the folder with your image in it then choose it. It's full path name should then appear to the left of the browse button. You then click the Upload button at the bottom of the screen and wait. You'll eventually get the "Upload successful" message then be asked what gallery to put the pic in etc. Is this all happening?

[stubbsy]

Instructions updated to provide correct steps for PBase users (courtesy of Glamy) and to point to the SmugMug discount codes thread.

[darb]

For the use of this site, people are free to host images temporarily on http://darb.net/anonymous ... it gets cleaned out periodically.

Cheers

[makario]

Hi stubbsy,

I have been reading through tonnes of threads to figure out how to post images here. good tutorial especially for beginners like me.

Cheers
Makario

[stubbsy]

Hi stubbsy,

I have been reading through tonnes of threads to figure out how to post images here. good tutorial especially for beginners like me.

Cheers
Makario

No worries Makario. That's what we're here for. I also suggest you read the FAQ section if you haven't done so already (the link is on the front page)

[terminaltackle]

Thanks stubbsy, if you hadnt put this here I would have just given up and been frustrated..
Now I can just frustrate eveeryonne with my sports shots

Thanks
Brett

[radar]

Hi Peter,

Could you edit your post at the start to remove pixspot as one of the "preferred" options since it is not preferred anymore?

I still see new users signing up to pixspot and then having problems with their photos not showing up, frustrates them and the viewers.

Thanks,

André

[stubbsy]

Thanks André. Updated to now warn AGAINST PixSpot because of problems.

[Pehpsi]

great instructions, very easy to follow...

[DebT]

Hi, would really like the 'how to' content of this thread added to the tutorial list along with 'How to Embed ' topic .. how do we get this done ?

As a newbie I am like a big sponge for information but realistically know I will need to refer to the instructons from time to time

Rgds DebT

[tasadam]

Regarding flickr hosting, I read in another haunt of mine (http://bushwalk-tasmania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=163&p=1653#p1653) that for image hosting with flickr you had to link back to flickr as part of their terms of service? Can anyone enlighten me here?
I don't use flickr but haven't seen what he's on about and couldn't find reference to this in the terms of service at flickr. But then, there is a lot of stuff on that page so I could have missed it.

[zafra52]

I am experiencing some troubles here. The usual url address and filename encapsulated with the open/close image tag is not working for me and returns a red message that says "It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image".

[devilla101]

I am experiencing some troubles here. The usual url address and filename encapsulated with the open/close image tag is not working for me and returns a red message that says "It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image".

Yep im getting the same thing here

[zafra52]

I am also noticing that this thread does not show on the Recent Post in the Portal page. Anyway, It might be that there is another way of posting in this new website.

[stubbsy]

a red message that says "It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image"

This was due to some of Gary's initial board settings and as of this post should now be working fine.

[Mon1018]

great instructions, very easy to follow...

I got the information!!

[rampotta]

haha its easy.. thx