How to Post Photos

From goldengatecruisers: "I have some photos of the penthouse suite we took for this recent voyage but I can not figure out how to embed them into my post like you do. Is there a tutorial somewhere on the CruiseCritic site? I have only attached photos in the past but they were 'thumbnail' quality. Can you please direct me to the instructions on how to embed the larger, better quality photos?"

And, from 4JACK: " Haven't figured out yet how to include photos."

And for many others who have wondered the same thing...(for computer literate folks, scroll to the bottom and see the summary):

The key to embedding pictures on a Cruise Critic thread is to first put them somewhere up on the web. This can be almost any picture hosting software or your own website.

Many ISPs (Internet Service Providers, like AOL, MSN, Bellsouth, RoadRunner, Brightworks, etc. -- wherever you get your internet service) provide free web space for you to access. Until now, you may have wondered what to do with it. You may also have access to a website, such as one for your small business, or a personal web server like mine. I happen to have a couple of domains (hornerfamily.com, donhorner.com and some others for my family) that I keep on an unlimited host. You can also get cheap domain names and hosting space from GoDaddy.com, HostMonster.com and many others, for as little as $4.95 per month and $8.95 per year for the domain name.

You also don't need to pay anything. There are dozens of free picture hosting sites like Picasa, PhotoBucket, WebShots, DropShots and more -- do a Google search for Free Photos Hosting. Jim and I both use DropShots ( http://dropshots.com ), because they provide an easy-to-install resident program that lets you drag your photos to the drop box and automatically upload to your DropShots account. Most of these services are free up to a certain limit, usually around 2 gigabytes, which allows for many photos, but not thousands or even hundreds in some cases.

If anyone has any detailed questions about how to upload photos to the web, shoot me an Email by clicking the "Send Message to Don" link under my signature.

The rest of this tutorial will deal with almost any image you can find on the web. A disclaimer -- some web sites block the copying of their images from their website and if so, there is usually a pop-up window that informs you of this. Also, you should be aware that many images on the web are copyright protected. If it doesn't say "Copyright" or similar somewere on or near the image, you should be OK. Forum providers like Cruise Critic can actually get in trouble if they allow copyright material to be posted.

There are also Snipping Tools available (one is actually provided with Windows 7) that will let you outline any portion of a screen and "snip" the image inside the outline, then save it to your hard disk. Then, you can upload that saved image to DropShots or wherever you are storing your photos, and have that immage "up on the web" ready for posting. That's how Jim and I post images of the ships' deck plans, and how I prepared the images below.

OK -- so you found the image you want to post. It's on the web, in a place that doesn't restrict copying. These instructions assume you are using a Windows-based computer, specifically using Windows 7 operating system (there are minor variations for earlier versions of Windows).

Right-click your mouse on the image to bring up the contect menu. It will look similar to this:

Click on "Copy Image Location". That will copy the "URL" (web address) of the image into your Clipboard. Your Clipboard is an invisible spot in your computer memory that temporarily holds whatever you copy into it.

Next, assuming you have gone to Cruise Critic, clicked the "Post Reply" or "Quote" button, have started your message and are ready to insert the image: Click on the "insert image" button an the text entry box.

The "insert image" button looks like this:

Up will pop a box that looks like this:

The letters "http://" will be highlighted in blue, which means that you can ignore them and paste right over them. Press CTRL v -- this means to press the CRTL (Control) key and the letter "v" (lower case is OK) at the same time. "CTRL v" is the key combination that automatically pastes whatever is in your Clipboard to the spot where your cursor is blinking -- in this case, the place where it is asking for the web address of the image. (If the letters "http://" are not highlighted in blue, highlight them by swiping with the mouse or delete them, as those same letters are already on your clipboard).

It will now look something like this (with your image address in it, of course):

Then, click on "OK". Your image will immediately appear in the text entry box. You probably won't be able to see all of it, yet, but if you click "Preview Post", you'll ne able to see how it will look when you submit it.

After inserting the image, the cursor will be at the bottom right edge of the image. To add more text or additional images, press "Enter" (or "Return") a couple of times to move the cursor down and continue.

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Now, for those folks with computer literacy, here's the quick summary:

1. Put the photo somewhere on the web.

2. Right click that photo on the web and select "Copy Image Location"

3. Clicj the "insert image" button on the Cruise Critic reply box and paste the image location into the pop-up box

4. Hit "Enter" a couple of times and keep going.

Thanks Don

I finally got it!!

Now how do I make it smaller :)

Lyn

well I will get the right size eventually ;)

Don, you are a great teacher! Thank you.

I've posted pictures before, but your explanation was wonderful. Also, I did not know about DropShots. It's much easier to use than the other site I was using before. Thank you!

I post my pictures to my Facebook page and it worked taking the pic from there as well. Here is a pic of the Iberian Belleric pork chop.

It would be interesting to know what we are looking at! It certainly is a beautiful scene of the water and a town built into the mountain.

 

Don, you are a great teacher! Thank you.

 

I've posted pictures before, but your explanation was wonderful. Also, I did not know about DropShots. It's much easier to use than the other site I was using before. Thank you!

Don. thank you for your detailed instructions and illustrations on attaching images. I always enjoy reading your posts and expert advice. 4JACK

It would be interesting to know what we are looking at! It certainly is a beautiful scene of the water and a town built into the mountain.

Almost sure it's Amalfi (the town, along the coast). That's a classic shot!

Don, thanks for the review. I use Picasa, and finally figured this out a few months ago... There's a trick to getting the link from Picasa web albums.

Thank you so much Don. I have posted some photos of our PH in a new thread plus some exterior shots of Riviera off the coast of Italy. I appreciate you sharing how to do this with everyone.

Ashley

I post my pictures to my Facebook page and it worked taking the pic from there as well. Here is a pic of the Iberian Belleric pork chop.

 

Darn! did you have to pick that one? It's my absolute favorite on Riviera (and presumably Marina). Now, I'm going to almost be hungry until December. Fortunatley, we're going to be on the American Queen steamboat in about a month, on the Tennessee, Mississippi and Ohio rivers, savoring rich Southern cuisine from Chef Regina Charboneau. That will have to hold us from September until December!

It would be interesting to know what we are looking at! It certainly is a beautiful scene of the water and a town built into the mountain.

Sorry, yes, it is Amalfi...Easter morning 2011

Ok, now does anyone know how to post pictures using an iPad?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Ok, now does anyone know how to post pictures using an iPad?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

It would be the same process exactly.

Ok. Thanks

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Posting a photo on Cruise Critic pretty much requires an IT degree.

A far easier way is once you upload your photos to Photobucket or Shutterfly, just open the photo, right click on the photo, chose COPY and then click PASTE in your post.

That easy. Here is our welcome to St. Kitts. Copy and Paste version.

Don,

Photos work great but how do you get your e-mail address (Send a message to Don), I presume it is your e-mail address, as part of your signature?

I would love to have people be able to contact me without posting it in a reply.

Ed

Don,

Photos work great but how do you get your e-mail address (Send a message to Don), I presume it is your e-mail address, as part of your signature?

I would love to have people be able to contact me without posting it in a reply.

Ed

Ed,

To insert an e-mail link:

Go to your Control Panel, select Edit Signature.

Type whatever message you want, ie: Send Ed and Frank a message.

Highlight that and then select the icon on the menu bar that looks like a letter and an envelope.

A pop-up window will appear and then you type in the e-mail address you want linked to Send Ed and Frank a message.When folks click on Send Ed and Frank a message, a new e-mail will open for them to send directly to you, and your e-mail address will already be in the "To" line.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, worked great.

What a useful thread. Thanks for the helpful information.

Thank you very much.

I post my pictures to my Facebook page and it worked taking the pic from there as well. Here is a pic of the Iberian Belleric pork chop.

 

Interesting I just got a plain chop no sides. Hrm...

Sent from smoke signals and a telegraph

testing

if I just copy and paste it only gives a link to the photo, if I use the icon as explained it gives a tiny box with no picture. something isn't working correctly for me.

if I just copy and paste it only gives a link to the photo, if I use the icon as explained it gives a tiny box with no picture. something isn't working correctly for me.

You don't paste the photo into the Icon, you insert the URL of the Photo into the Icon. In the simplest terms, any photo which you want to insert here must exist somewhere else on the Internet before you post it.

Testing PDF attachment

Roll Call NCL Sun Oct 26 2014 TampaCaribTampa.pdf