Guide for adding pictures to the forums and database

The upload will fail if it's not 150x300 or if over 20k file size. If you see the image after the upload then it's formatted correctly. I've had the upload fail if over 13k, so I always make mine 13k by lowering the JPEG quality, and those always work. The approval process is to be sure that it's a picture of a bottle or can with label, seems to be the correct beer, and not a glass of beer, a carton, or something else.

 

Interesting to hear how strict the system has been for some uploads because I’ve never once had a photo turned down as long as it was 150x300 and under 20kb. I’ve put some in at 11kb and some at 19.7 and they’ve all been accepted. I guess I’ve been lucky in that regard. Cheers.

 

Could be that my photo-editor (PhotoScape X) is interpreting size differently. I just checked some of the ones I uploaded recently, and Windows Explorer shows ~14.6k. It's been years since I tried to go higher, so I'll do some testing on my next upload.

 

OK, just added a beer pic, and was able to save it at 19k. In File Explorer it showed as 19.7k. No idea why this didn't work years ago when I tried it. Not sure there will be a notable quality difference between 14k and 19k at 150x300.

 

I do it on my Windows11 PC. I click the picture to open it in the native photo app and then crop it so I just have the can and then save it.

Then I right click on the photo and select Open With and select Paint. I use Paint to resize the photo to 150x300 pixels and save it.



Then I go to this site and upload the picture:

https://imageresizer.com/image-compressor

It will give you a download link and you can download the compressed file and then upload it to BA.

It is somewhat tedious, but it works well. .

 

Love BA, still have never even looked @ RateBeer, but once I discovered Untappd in '15 I was set for my beer cataloging needs. Glad to see that these two greats finally partnered up recently.
BA's Wikipedia like nature and the forums are what keep me coming back.
In short, the pics go to Untappd the peanut gallery fodder goes to the BA forums

 

As an FYI for this thread, I found a great mobile app for reformatting to optimize image size / quality for BA. It’s called Image Size; I’ve linked it below. Hope it helps! (Sorry Android users, I linked the App Store link but I’m not sure if this is also available for Android).

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/image-size/id670766542

 

If yours is created by Codenia, then there is an Android version that is free. It kind of looks like Codenia is a Google company with pop-up ads, but we'll see when I try to use it.

 

I thought they are making it easier to post pics without using a middleman app and such ? I just want to take a photo on my IPhone, copy from my photo library and paste it into a forum post but it never saves it. Is there still not an easy way to do it?

 

Does it normally take time for the photo to actually show in the database? I attempted one last night for a beer I love.

First attempt was unsuccessful so I fixed the problem in a resize app and retried. It uploaded with no error but still no picture.

Didn’t want to attempt again in case I messed up again…

 

Thanks for the update. The guys on here gave me a few tips and I finally figured it out. I just needed remediation training and sent back to Kindergarten like Billy Madison. I’m now back to 3rd grade level and making progress on my tech skills.

 

I honestly don't understand the problem with taking pictures of beer cans. I mean, I take the picture, I open the photo in Preview (because I'm using a MacBook), crop it to 150 x 300, save it as 20kb to wherever, go to BeerAdvocate, hit Update > Update Photo, find where I saved the picture to, and Upload it... time elapsed maybe 20 seconds, 5 seconds longer if I took a shitty photo and have to adjust the exposure. And bam! I get a karma point!

Could it be easier? Absolutely. Is it especially hard or time consuming now? Not that I've noticed.

 

What format are you saving it in?

Because I do just as you do, but BA always tells me it's unreadable. Maybe I'm just being too much the old print guy and trying for the best resolution and equal proportion in Photoshop and getting bounced.

As is, I stick to my statement: dropping a pic into a post is much more simple.

 

Preview defaults to jpeg. They’re usually too big so I just save down to 20kb.

I find it more trouble to load something into Imgur to post but to be fair it’s not like I don’t have too much time on my hands.

 

funny because I've never had a problem with Imgur -- different strokes, I guess.

 

OK, just added a photo to a forum for the first time so whilst on a roll I'm trying to sort out how to add images to the database. Quick couple of queries - some cans have the name printed vertically and not over the main image. To add a beer to the database I assume that you photograph wherever the name is even if that doesn't include the can art? Also, if an image is submitted but rejected for some reason do you get feedback so you can resubmit a better image? Thanks!