Guide for adding pictures to the forums and database

Let's face it, adding pictures to BA is a bit more complicated than most people are probably used to. While this is something that we plan to improve in the future, in the meantime I wanted to help people out with this handy guide on adding pictures to the forums and database, which are two entirely different processes. I should probably note that I'm using desktop, but the web-based services should work just as well on mobile, I guess.

Adding to the Forums

So first off, here's how to add a picture to your post in the forums. In order to do this, you must first host the image on an image hosting website. There are many of these, but Postimage and Imgur are probably the most popular ones, although I find Postimage much more intuitive to use personally. You do not need to make an account for this.

Postimage:

1. Go to: https://postimages.org
2. Click on "Choose images".
3. Select the image that you want to upload.
4. Click on "Share" above the picture.
   
5. Go to "Hotlink for forums".
6. Simply copy it and paste that link right into the forum text box.

Imgur:

1. Go to: https://imgur.com
2. Click New Post in the upper Right next to the Imgur logo.
3. Upload your picture on the next page.
4. Hover your mouse over the picture and click on the ellipsis (...).
5. Click "Get Share Links".
6. Copy the link for BBCode (Forums).
7. Simply paste this link right into the forum text box.

If you wish to add a GIF to a forum post, simply upload it to Postimages just like you would a picture (needs to be a .gif file) or, if you don't have it saved, follow the simple steps below to link to it directly:

1. Right-click on the GIF that you wish to add.
2. Select "Copy Image Address".
3. Select "Image" from the posting options task bar.
4. Paste the link into the box and select "Insert".

Adding to Beers/Places

Here's how to add images to the database, which is a much more complicated process, but really not that bad once you get the hang of it. There are basically two ways to do it, image editing websites like Resize Your Image or image editing software like Paint.NET. Both of these are free and don't require registration, although you will have to download the editing software if you don't already have one installed.

There are many image editing websites around, but Resize Your Image is clearly the most intuitive and easy way to do it in my opinion, while also affording zoom and frame options that other sites lack. However, I think that in the long run using image editing software really pays off because it gives you additional options and is even faster once you get used to it. So I will go over both options here, using Paint.NET as my editing software of choice because I find it very easy to use compared to more complicated options.

Resize Your Image:

1. Go to https://resizeyourimage.com
2. Click on "Choose File".
3. Select the image that you want to resize.
4. Set "Width" to "150" and Height to "300".
5. "Zoom" in and out as necessary.
6. Center the can/bottle by moving the frame around as necessary.
   
7. Click on "Resize".
8. Adjust "Quality" until the file size is 100KB (or smaller) without going over.
9. Right-click on the image and select "Save Image As".

Paint.NET:

1. Select "File" > "Open" to select the image you want to resize. (Ctrl+O)
   
2. Select "Rectangular Select" from the tools menu in the top left corner, it is the top left option (S).
3. From the tool bar just above the tools menu, click on the arrow next to "Normal" to select "Fixed Size".
4. From the tool bar, click on the arrow next to "inches" to select "pixels".
5. Set "Width" and "Height" to values appropriate to the size of your image. Just try a random value first and adjust as needed. IMPORTANT: "Height" always needs to be exactly twice the value of "Width".
   
6. Please note that the above steps only need to be performed once for multiple images, as the software remembers these values, as opposed to RYI.
7. OPTIONAL: Select "Adjustments" > "Brightness/Contrast" to improve image quality (Ctrl+Shift+C).
   
8. Click on the image to bring up the frame and move it around as needed to center the can/bottle.
9. Select "Image" > "Crop to Selection" (Ctrl+Shift+X).
10. Select "Image" > "Resize" (Ctrl+R).
11. Set "Width" to "150" and "Height" to "300". This can simply be done by typing "150" and hitting enter as this field is preselected and will automatically set height to twice the value of width.
12. Select "File" > "Save As" (Ctrl+Shift+S).
13. Choose a file name and hit enter.
14. Adjust "Quality" until the file size is 100KB (or smaller) without going over. This can simply be done with the "Up" and "Down" arrow keys (inverted) and hitting return.

I used to use RYI exclusively because it really is a very intuitive and easy to use solution that doesn't require you to download anything. However, when the site went down for multiple days a while ago I switched to PN and haven' t looked back since. It may take some time to get into, but is ultimately faster for multiple pictures because of keyboard shortcuts and remembering all the values. It takes me 45 seconds to do a picture in RYI and 30 seconds to do one in PN.

Not to mention that you are not at the mercy of the internet and your connection speed with PN and have the option to enhance your images. Of course other, perhaps more popular, sites like Gimp or Photoshop will work just as well, I just find them a lot more complicated and less intuitive to use

In any case, I hope that this will be helpful to some people, if you have any questions, please let me know.

Many thanks @LarryV for the instructions on how to use Imgur.

 

Pretty much, yeah, and thanks!

 

As stated in the guide, height needs to be exactly twice the value of width, or the image will become warped.

 

I've tried this on desktop and it won't accept a 1:2 ratio for me, meaning that it always auto-adjusts the width/height values to fit its prerequisites. So when I enter 150:300 it automatically changes that to 225:300. I also find the picture quality to be very poor.

Maybe it works better on a mobile device, but I cannot get it to work from desktop. Have you double-checked that it actually retains the 150:300 ratio when using it from mobile?

 

Yeah, that's correct. Weird that it doesn't work on desktop for me, but seems like a great option for mobile. It probably has something to do with the native ratio, I guess.