The Flying Tigers

How to prepare your photos for the website

Just been away on a fabulous weekend trip with the Tigers? So naturally you'll want to have your prize photos on the Tigers website for all of us to see. But if you just give me a memory card with a bunch of photos, I don't have a clue what they are, so we finish up with a collection of nameless photos which mean nothing at all to anyone other than their owner (You).

So this is about how to get meaningful photos, with captions, on our website in a way that we all can enjoy. Follow the directions below to have your photos online in no time.

I will use the recent trip to Silent Grove as an example of how to do it.

First, create a new, empty directory called "newpix" on your desktop, like so:

• Pick an empty spot on the desktop, right click and select "New -> Folder"
• Name the folder "newpix". (Without the quotes).
• Then move all the photos you want to go to the website into it.
• In the case of Silent Grove, you'll have something that looks like:
  IMG_4414.JPG
  IMG_4419.JPG
  ...
  etc

Create a text file called "newpix1.list" in this new directory

• Double-click on the directory you've just created. This should open it up, showing the photos we've already stored there.
• In an empty part of the directory, right-click on the directory, then "New -> Text Document"
• It will show an new file, "New Text Document.txt" in the directory.
• Rename "New Text Document.txt" to "silentgrove200908.list".
• The system will ask if you want to chahge it; Click "Yes"

Now, open the new "newpix1.list" file using Notepad

• Usually, double-clicking on the filename will open it for you. Your computer may give you some other options; select whichever program allows you to change/add contents of the file.

We now need to establish a means of identifying what the photos are about.

• Let's give the collection of photos a name. Let's call it "Weekend trip to Silent Grove 8-9 Aug, 2009"
• Into the Notepad window which you now have open, type: "<sh>Weekend trip to Silent Grove 8-9 Aug, 2009{silentgrove200908}" (Without the quotes).
• What's the "<sh>" for? Don't ask; my build program needs it. It basically says, "This line defines the name and directory of the photos contained here".
• "Weekend trip to Silent Grove 8-9 Aug, 2009" is the heading that will appear on the web page.
• But what about "{silentgrove200908}"? This will become the name of the directory in which the photos will be stored.
• So, the first line now tells us the heading on the web page, and the directory in which the photos are stored.

Next, we need to tell the computer the name and caption of each photo.

• Starting on line two of the Notepad file, enter the name of the first photo in our collection. In this case, it's "IMG_4414".
• So type in "IMG_4414" without the quotes. Note, we don't need to know about the "JPG" part of the filename, it's assumed to be "JPG". In fact, if it's not, you'll break the program!
• Next, type in ";;" after the filename. This is another bit of programmer stuff. Don't worry about it, it just separates the filename from the caption; my program needs it.
• Then, put in your caption for the photo. (Keep it clean!)
• So the first line of the text file might look like: "IMG_4414;;Arrival at Silent Grove"
• Repeat this process for each photo to go on the website.

At the end, tell my program that you have no more photos.

• Easy to do, type in "<shend>" on it's own, on the last line.
• Your file should look like that shown below:

<sh>Weekend trip to Silent Grove 8-9 Aug, 2009{silentgrove200908}
IMG_4414;;Arrival at Silent Grove
IMG_4419;;The Homestead
IMG_4420;;One of the locals
IMG_4423;;Sandra makes friends with a local
IMG_4425;;Feeding time
IMG_4427;;Sandra & Mia at the "Chalet"
IMG_4430;;The dam
IMG_4434;;Assorted trees
IMG_4437;;The woolshed
IMG_4438;;The woolshed
IMG_4439;;The woolshed, complete with Sandra
IMG_4442;;The lineup
IMG_4443;;More lineup
IMG_4444;;Brian's Phoenix, shiny & new
IMG_4445;;Kiwi & Ian's drifters
IMG_4446;;Col & Sandra's CT
IMG_4447;;Kiwi unloads the "taxi"
IMG_4448;;Brian & Kiwi unload the "taxi"
IMG_4449;;Tigers lineup. Sandra impatient to go.
IMG_4450;;Brian almost ready
IMG_4451;;Kiwi & Ian still have a bit to do
IMG_4453;;Our host, John
IMG_4455;;Nearly ready
IMG_4456;;Jay Weir's strip, foreground, nr Glen Innes
IMG_4457;;Deepwater in the middle distance
IMG_4458;;CT panel, tracking Tenterfield
IMG_4459;;Wallangarra, on the NSW-Qld border
IMG_4460;;Stanthorpe
IMG_4461;;Warwick
<shend>

• And your "newpix" directory contents should look like this:

Now send me your photos..

• Copy the whole newpix directory onto a Flash memory or SD card. Or even a CD.
• Send it to me.
• Amazingly, since I don't have to hunt around for captions, rearrange files, rename files, etc, your photos may be on the website within a day or two, instead of a week or two. Did anyone say "months"?