Photo Fantastic

Cheeky Secret #8Get Fabulous Photos...for Free*The very best blogs are a perfect combination of sharp visuals, sharp writing, and sharp wit. Feel like you've got the chops to write and wittify the world, but falling short in the photography know-how department? Never you worry, my sweet. You're just a few clicks away from accessing some of the worlds most stunning stock photography. Best yet, you can do it without spending a single dime.*www.sxc.hu*SXC, or Stock.Xchng is hands down the finest free stock photography sites upon our living planet. Through it, talented artists submit their photographs or graphic designs to the website, offering thier work for download. Most of the photos are gigantically large, downloading with such glorious detail and clarity that even the nearsighted can toss their glasses whence they take a peek. *Do be sure, when using the website, to offer your feedback to the artists via the COMMENT box on each photo. Many of them are looking to improve their talent, or waiting to be discovered and a kind word of feedback is always welcome. Some artists also ask that you send them the link wherein their photos have been used. Keep your eye on the PHOTO DETAILS section (this box will appear in the upper right hand corner once you've picked on a favorite photo) to stay on top of the usage options. *Now go. Find photos that astound and amaze and get blogging your happy heart out.*Sooo many more secrets to come...

How to Get Big, Crystal Clear Pictures On Your Blog

Cheeky Secret #7

Using Photobucket to Upload Fantastically HUGE Pics Into Your Blog

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I'd heard from other bloggers that the only way to place big photos upon your blog was to use Flickr or Photobucket. Pshaw! I said to myself. Who has time?! Take a picture, find it on my computer, upload it to ANOTHER website,and THEN somehow pull it into my blog account?! Nay sirree. I'd rather just stick with the simple, and known method of using Blogger to upload my pics one by one into my actual account. At least the pictures are then right in front of my eyes, stuck right into my blog account, and immediately ready to use once I've uploaded them. At least I accomplish the entire task with one click from one site.
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At least I could sit by and watch my life wither before my computer screen whilst I waited for each photo to upload one-by-one-by-one, resulting in blog pics sized to fit an antique locket. they are soo teensy via blogger, aren't they?!
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If you've held onto the same sort of philosophy, I'm here to change thy mind, my friend. Photobucket and Flickr will not only give you some seriously gigantic photo options for your blog, but their slick sites actually make uploading your photos online and onto your blog tremendously quick, not to mention, easy.
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Gone are the days of uploading single shots into Blogger, with enough time to brew a cup of hot tea and compose an opera between upload sessions (seriously. Doth it not take FOREVER to upload each little picture via blogger?) Gone are the days of attempting to find your way into the workings of html, tinkering with the photo settings, with the result being sorta-big, grainy pictures in place of your little, slightly less grainy ones.

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With Flickr and Photobucket, you can upload a boatload of pictures in minutes, then paste them into your blog in no time at all. It's simple as pie and you're going to love the results!

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While I adore Flickr, I've been using Photobucket because I can purchase a professional account on a month-by-month basis for a mere $2.99/mo. This PRO account makes it possible to upload oodles and oodles of photos to Photobucket each month, edit them, and access them for blogging. If you are only posting on your blog once a week, you'll likely find the limited storage available through a free Photobucket account is more enough to meet your needs. If, however, you are a graphics geek (such as myself), be sure to check into the PRO option on Photobucket, which will offers significantly more gigs of photo storage for pennies per day.

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A Flickr tutorial will arrive shortly. In the meantime, here's how you use Photobucket to place big, bright, beautiful photos upon your blog...

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(1)

Get a free Photobucket account by clicking HERE. Log into your account and click on the UPLOAD IMAGES & VIDEO'S button. Select a picture, or a group of pictures, to upload from your computer.

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(2)Once your photos have uploaded, add titles and tags as desired.
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(3)

Click EDIT on any photo you may need to tinker with. Make any needed edits, then click SAVE or REPLACE ORIGINAL. If you don't want to edit any pictures, you can also return to your main page by clicking "WELCOME, ACCOUNT NAME" at the top of the screen. Once you've arrived at your account home page, click on the first photo you'd like to add to your blog.

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(4)

Because I love big blog pictures, but think it's typically tacky and annoying when they are too honking huge to fit into a single computer screen, I resize most of my pictures to LARGE. You can do this by clicking RESIZE, then selecting your preferred image size.

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Keep in mind, once you resize an image in Photobucket, it's permanently downsized. This is a one of my favorite things about Photobucket and here's why....if I publish a blog post, then view it and think one of my pictures is too big, I just have to go back to Photobucket and resize it to a smaller size. It will automatically downsize in my blog. Of course, this is also a point of caution. You can always resize to make your photos smaller, but you can't always resize them back to a larger size. To use maximize the resize feature, I think it's always best to choose a photo size just larger than the one you think you may actually need. Post it on your blog, then view it in published. If the photo is too big, it takes just seconds to return to Photobucket and downsize it to be a better fit. Of course, if you like the published size, voila! You're done. Hurrah!

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With photo's uploaded, edited, and appropriately sized, it's time to post them into your blog. To do so, open a new tab in your browser and log into your Blogger account. Click NEW POST, then find your way to the EDIT HTML tag. Click on it. In that section, copy and paste the following code:

<center><img src="http://not-a-real-namespace/PASTE.IMAGE.LINK.HERE" /></center></div>

Now go back to Photobucket. Find the DIRECT LINK for your image (see example below). Copy it by highlighting it, then pressing CTRL+C. Return to your blogger account. In the HTML code that you've already pasted, highlight the entire text that sits between the quotation marks, then press CTRL+V to paste your Photobucket image link in it's place.
Repeat Step #5 as many times as needed, for as many pictures as needed.
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(6)

In your blog account, return to the COMPOSE tab. Your Photobucket photos should be there awaitin' your arrival. Blog as you usual, post as usual, and enjoy your new, big, beautimous blog pics!