Testing IMGUR Image Hosting Website

[Aharon]

Shalom and greetings all my pals,

I am testing IMGUR image hosting website. Please tell me how it is and how does it look on your computer screen

[Splitpin]

Looking good to me Aharon

[Adamski]

They look good - but there's a tiny bit of "fringing", as Imgur compresses the images to 90% quality - regardless of the settings in your profile. It's the main reason why I won't be using Imgur (preferring Postimage).

Adam.

[Charl]

Nice shots... Adam what's "fringing"?

[Adamski]

Nice shots... Adam what's "fringing"?

Just artefacts around hard edges (a bit like when you "over-sharpen" something). Excessive jpg compression usually creates random pixellations around edges or even in flat areas of colour.

Take a look around the tailhook in the compressed image (3rd big one down) in the Postimage thread.

For general screenshots, I think 90% is fine - but for competitions (or where you want the very best image possible) I'd say any compression that you have no real control over is bad. I'm lucky enough to have Photoshop for my web work so I can use its advanced compression preview options when saving to see what I can get away with. I generally aim for a filesize of 250k (max) so I use the maximum quality I can get away with, depending on the complexity of the original image. Photoshop's in-built compression/dithering routines are far superior (IMHO) to anything a hosting site will use by default.

Of course, not everyone will have access to the Rolls-Royce of image editors, but there are many cheap (or free) editors out there that give you control over jpeg quality. I suspect most of these will have better routines than remote hosted equivalents. At the very least, you will be able to preview the results locally.

Adam.

[emfrat]

The Edinburgh Festival in Scotland includes a Fringe Festival - mebbe a potential Comp theme?

As mentioned elsewhere, I capture my comp entries as 1920x1080 bmp files and pre-edit using IrfanView to crop, resize and so on. When I click Save As, I have it set to save a jpeg at 90% quality. I do this because we all (including NZFF) have to pay for our bandwidth, which is why the size restrictions are set in the first place. If I put up a full-screen shot, PostImage will save that but will display a 1290 wide version, which can be clicked through to see the full size one. Funnily enough, the forum software does not seem to detect 1290 wide as a problem, because it does not reduce it to 1280.
Anyway, two pics below, from the same original full-screen bmp. The first (004) is saved at my normal 90% quality setting, and t'other one was saved at 100%. Not sure I can see any difference, on this machine/screen, the latter being a Samsung SyncMaster B2230.
ATB, Mike.

[Fozzer]

Looking cool in Fringies...>>> https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mens-LEATHER ... 0762586678

An American Motorcyclists favorite gear....

...with added fringies...!

Paul....tasselated.... ....!

[Aharon]

Thanks all for kind words. Glad to see that all of you say it is working well. I have been reading Imgur's rules and it is good to know there is UNLIMITED number of screenshots BUT BUT I cannot find anywhere in the rules of Imgur if it is UNLIMITED TIME for screenshots. Would you know if Imgur offers UNLIMITED TIME before I make decision to settle with Imgur?

Adamski, I cannot see fringing in my screenshots?? I guess you have better eyes than I do Maybe I need to eat more carrots. Will check out your recommended Postimage. Does Postimage offer UNLIMITED number of screenshots and UNLIMITED time?

Regards,

Aharon

[Adamski]

Adamski, I cannot see fringing in my screenshots?? I guess you have better eyes than I do Maybe I need to eat more carrots. Will check out your recommended Postimage. Does Postimage offer UNLIMITED number of screenshots and UNLIMITED time?

It's difficult to compare your shots - and emfrat's looked OK as well. When I tried my tests, I compared file sizes and I could also see a slight degradation. I was a graphic designer for many years, so maybe I'm a little more "sensitive" to the tiniest of changes. I just don't like the idea of anyone messing with my images in any way .

Anyway ... as far as I can see, there's no time limit with Postimage (at least there hasn't been in the past). It's been my "backup" image host for many years now and there have been long periods when I haven't used it, or logged in to check things. I've not had anything disappear yet. However - it may be worthwhile doing some research as the site has changed just lately.

If you *do* give Postimage a test, don't forget to check that topic (see above) to see how to get the hi-resolution links.

Adam.

[Aharon]

When I tried my tests, I compared file sizes and I could also see a slight degradation. I was a graphic designer for many years, so maybe I'm a little more "sensitive" to the tiniest of changes. .

That explains why you have better eye detail than I do!!

Thanks for your interesting explanations on Postimage.

Let's keep fingers crossed that FsFiles.org will back better and stronger or otherwise I am afraid I would have settle for Imgur

Regards,

Aharon