NC3 Photo Upload Process [Now Simplified!]

[karlos]

All - Several have inquired about how you can post bicycling photos to the NCCC Photo Gallery,so here's the skinny. Note that you cannot insert photos directly into the Gallery. I will do that after downloading to the Jalbum software package. If these instructions need to be clearer, please suggest improvements.

PHOTO UPLOAD HOWTO:

For all photos you upload to our site (instructions below), please send me a corresponding e-mail to admin@northcountycycleclub.com with the file names for each photo and any corresponding caption you would like for the Photo Gallery. Message Board Guidelines apply, so please send cycling-related photos only.
       
Format and size:
JPEG (files ending in .jpg) work nicely and is the most common format for cameras. A resolution of 640x480 looks really nice and sizes well for most monitors, but may be lower resolution than you prefer for your own photo archive as most cameras now offer many megapixel resolution.  You can use these finer megapixel resolution photos when you upload to the photo site. In the process of generating the Photo Gallery, the  software automatically distills the photo from that higher resolution to something on the order of the recommended 640x480 with the settings I use, so the published photos will not take up much computer storage (however, the originals may).  Bottom line, use a resolution of at least 640x480 and the software will accommodate it.
       
Here is the basic process: This is obsolete - please read post below
1. You upload files, via ftp (instructions below) to a special folder on the NCCC website
2. You can create folders there if it is useful to organize your photos that way.
3. Send an e-mail to admin@northcountycycleclub.com indicating:
   a. order of the photos you'd like them to appear in Gallery by file name
   b. for each file name, optionally enter a caption of text to include with each photo
4. Your webmeister will then screen the photos for appropriate content. ANY cycling-related photo will be included. We want pictures of everyone - not just a small cross-section of the club.
5. The photos to be included will be inserted into the webmaster's version of the Photo Gallery and captions will be added per the accompanying e-mail.
6. About 10 minutes after that, it will all be published to the website.
7. ENJOY
   
FTP Instructions
For those familiar with uploading using ftp, here are the specifics:

   site: northcountycycleclub.com
   user: ncccphotos@northcountycycleclub.com
   password: letmeon

To perform the FTP upload you typically need to have software to do the task.

If you use Internet Explorer, version 8 on Windows, you can enter ftp: //ncccphotos@northcountycycleclub.com (note there is NOT to be a space after ftp:). You will prompted for User Name and Password. Enter ncccphotos@northcountycycleclub.com and letmeon, respectively. You then will see a list of files in the drop folder. You then want to follow the instruction: "To view this FTP site in Windows Explorer, click Page, and then click Open FTP Site in Windows Explorer." You will have to enter the same User Name and password again. You will then have a folders window you can drag and drop your files and folders to. Unfortunately, Internet Explorer, version 7 does not support this simple method, but versions 6 and earlier allowed something similar.

For firefox users I recommend installing the FireFtp add-on which you install by pulling down Tools / Add-ons / Get Add-ons and typing fireftp in the search box. This alone is a good enough reason to install the firefox browser, which I recommend (pages display snappier and better). You can also download a good, free FTP client like SmartFTP at http://www.smartftp.com/. The firefox method is the ONLY one which works the same on all of Windows PC's, Mac's and even linux machines (which is why this is MY recommended method).

Mac users can also use firefox and fireFTP. The mac Finder has an FTP method, but it only works for downloads, not uploads which you need to do here - maybe the Mac folks will fix in the future..

I will take care of cleaning up the uploads area after inclusion into the Photo Gallery.

- web guy 

[karlos]

Instead of using the geeky FTP process above, I have set up a folder on a cloud server, where you can just drag and drop a folder of photos you want included in the Photo Gallery. To use, just go to https://app.box.com and use ncccphotos@northcountycycleclub.com for the email and [EDIT] password = "chrisFr00me" (those are zeros) [was "letmeon" and they made us change it]. This will log you into a NCCC area on box.com. Click on the "NCCC Photo Drop" folder and then drag and drop a folder of photos onto the highlighted drag and drop area. This will work in any browser on any computer.

All the other instructions still apply: namely send me an email that you dumped some photos there; if order is important indicate order of photos by filename, else they will be ordered by the date and time the photo was taken; let me know which photos you'd like me to add custom captions. You can also use the Comment capability after you upload to provide a caption. The photos you provide then get distilled into the NCCC Photo Gallery after I download to the nccc photo gallery update tool, after which I will delete the folder you uploaded into "NCCC Photo Drop" which is a temporary container for your uploads.

[karlos]

The cloud service, Box, used for the simplified photo uploading described above, also has an app for phones and tablets (Apple and Android). You'll find the app intuitive and simple to use. If you have any questions, post for help here and I'll put together a little tutorial. Since many carry phones on rides, that might be a cool way to go. I have the Box app on both my phone and tablet, and can easily switch between my personal account and the ncccphotos account, where it's trivial to create folders in the NCCC Photo Drop folder and upload directly from my phone or tablet - you might want to be connected to wi-fi to avoid excessive data charges, though 
Karl