INTRODUCTION:

If you are shooting with 35mm negative the key process is in the scanning. If you are going from neg scan straight to CD or your hard drive then that produces the least loss. A good 35mm scan won't look that much different from a 3 megapixel camera at 1024 ratio.

Digital is much simpler of course, requiring a cable attached from the camera to the computer. It is fast, can be done in the comfort of your home and offers a much higher resolution.

After you have the image on your computer there are a lot of things that you can do to change it from "all right" to "excellent". Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and the Gimp are the most popular image manipulators Without having to be a brain surgeon a few adjustments can make a lot of difference. Below are some examples using Adobe Photoshop.

CROPPING:

35mm scan produces an image of equivalent quality to a 3 megapixel camera with a good lens. At this resolution there isn't a lot you can crop when the final image will be a whopping 1024 pix wide. Too much cropping in the beginning could make your picture look like a 2 megapixel with what's left. Minimal cropping of the edges to get rid of any unnoticed items like a pole or back of a car.

IMAGE SIZE:

Most photo viewing software now produces three images from your original image. First is the thumbnail at 200 pix wide, then a medium shot upon click of 640 pix wide. Finally a third click will produce the maximum screen size of 1024 pix wide.
Resize your image to 1024 wide then you can do a couple of things.

SATURATION:

This feature can add radiance and impact to your picture but should be used sparingly. A max of 10% saturation should be enough otherwise tearing or chromatic aberrations will occur. Red and blue are most affected first.

BRIGHTNESS CONTRAST:

Another feature that can remove a foggy look to your image. Again this must be used sparingly to prevent your image looking like a bad black and white. 10-15% should be more than enough if necessary. Watch out for bright whites and dark areas as these will be the first to suffer bleeding.

DODGE BURN TOOL:

This feature is rarely used by novices for fear of ruining the image, but is extremely useful.
If your sky area is rather bright and washed out, let's face it a common problem in Britain, here's how to make it look better.

Click on the little hand in the tools menu on Adobe until the dodge/burn selection shows up. Choose BURN.
At the top of the menu bar is brush types and sizes. Choose a solid brush with faded edges. Next, position your image in the window so that you can see all of it and even a bit of the grey masking all around.

Choose a brush size (push the slider bar to the right to increase) and position the mouse over the image. Ideally you want the circle to cover all of the sky from top to bottom and a little overlap.
Next choose the percentage of darkening effect the brush will have. 10-15% is sufficient until you get used to it.

Click the mouse holding the button down - then slowly drag the circle across the sky. You may do this several times until you see the sky darkening. DO NOT OVERUSE THIS FEATURE or the image will become excessively grainy.

SHARPENING:

This is the most overused feature on Adobe and surprisingly the reason why a lot of images are rejected by Internet picture forums.
IMPORTANT: Always use this feature LAST before saving. Make sure you do everything else first then use the UNSHARP MASK last.
There is a lot of complex things you can do with sharpening, but for now let's keep it simple.
In Adobe Unsharp Mask, a good start is Parameter 1. Pixel Ratio 06. Sharpening percentage 160%.

This changes of course depending on the subject but is a good overall figure. Watch out for over sharpening, nicknamed "jaggies". This appears on long straight lines in your image running diagonally across the frame. For simplicity, reduce the amount from 160% and check if the jagged edges have disappeared.

SAVING YOUR IMAGE:

After you have done all this fiddling you will want to save the image. In Adobe you can use the SAVE FOR WEB option. This will format the image for the web. The Kb size will appear in the bottom left corner of the image. Use the slider bar in the right menu to choose what resolution you want. For an image of 1024 pix wide don't go below 200K.

SAVE IN A DIFFERENT FOLDER FROM YOUR ORIGINAL. Let's say the folder you downloaded your images into from the camera or scanner is called "my_photos". Make another folder called "my_photos_WEB". Save it to that "WEB" folder - then close it. When the dialogue box appears asking if you WANT TO SAVE even although you just did - you must click "NO". If you click yes you will be saving the image that came from the original "my_photos" folder. This is the original, if you save it in it's present form you will never be able to change it back again or practice with it in the future.

So you will end up with two images on your computer. One that looks rich in colour, sharp as a needle, your friends elbow cropped out, 1024 pix wide and a respectable size of 200kB that you can send over the Internet. The other one, the original, a bit fuzzy, washed out, maybe your finger in the bottom of the frame, umpteen megabytes and the size of a football field. Perfect, now yer ready - c'mon back and start uploading!

TODAYS MODERN COMPUTERS:

The introduction of the 1680 x 1040 screen resolutions (yep they make them that big) and giant 24 inch flat screen monitors, has re-written the book on acceptable quality. Although most of us use 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768, it has pushed the quality threshold beyond what most folk could produce with a 35mm camera, and certainly nothing less than a 3 megapixel digital.

... AND FINALLY:

When it all falls into place it is a great feeling to have your images online and viewed by hundreds even thousands of folk from all over the World. The main thing is to keep trying - and for heavens sake NEVER GIVE UP. Folk with cameras the price of a small house are not better than you - their equipment is better - but they are not necessarily better photographers. Here at DotOneGroup we want to give you a chance, not snub you for trying. From humble beginnings as a photographer, seeing your work online is the best incentive in the World to try harder.

You will come to learn that nowhere in our dialogue to we ever use the hurtful term "rejected". Photographs that could be a little better are described in our courtesy e-mails as "unfortunately not added to our database". We are not a giant faceless uncaring entity, rather we are just like you, enthusiastic, passionate and treat your camera like it was one of the family.

Whatever it is that you love to photograph, we welcome you. Now c'mon in and enjoy yourself.