How to upload an image....

[Colin Nicholson]

Dear Members,

Having difficulty putting your piano into words?
Need a date when your piano was made?
Can't find the serial number?
Need to show a broken/ missing part - dont know its name?

Just upload your photos onto this forum, follow the instructions below - this is a much better way of us to reply to your questions & queries >>>

First of all download your image onto your PC in "JPG" format, size approx. 15 X10cm (6X4 inches).... about postcard size. (Not TIFF or GIF)

Please remember that even if you provide images of your piano on this forum, they STILL CANNOT be converted into a valuation - see footnotes for more information about "Piano Ratings"

Click on either "New Post" to create a topic, or "POSTREPLY" for an existing one.

Add your text on the page.... then follow the images 1 - 7 below.... click on it to enlarge
(scroll below this image for instructions if needed)

1. Scroll down & click on "Upload attachment"

2. Click on "Browse"

3. Find image on your PC (eg Documents) - highlight it/ click on "Open"

4. Your image name will now appear in the box next to "File name"
Click on "Add File"

5. (a) Click in text box where you want the image to go.
(b) Click on "Place inline"

6. Text will reappear with your file name under it (and various sets of [ ] )

7. Click on "Submit" ...... job done!

INVALID FILE?

If a notice appears "Invalid File" - remember that this site does not always support TIFF or GIF files - change the format to JPG and it should download OK.....


This may be useful to date your piano, and verify the serial number - if known (as opposed to a stock or parts number). If your piano does not have a serial number, or if it has one, but it's not listed anywhere, or if your piano name is unknown, then try and upload a few photos of your piano, then someone (usually our resident expert Bill) will be able to suggest a date. Depending on your enquiry, we may need another photo of your piano as directed.

# Take a photo of the name of the piano on the front lid
# Take a photo of the serial number inside (if found) - this is not on the lid, but usually near the tuning pins or on the soundboard.
# Take a photo of the internal mechanism (not from the top - please remove the front panel completely, and take photo from the front view - clear & focussed - not too far away)

PIANO RATINGS
Providing us with a photo or 2 of your piano does not mean it can now be valued - see "HISTORY, NOT VALUATION" at the top of the History section.
Photos are more valuable than just written text in that they may tell us more information about the age of your piano, what design and model etc. and provide you with other information; possibly fault diagnosis, or other problems.

Depending on who is dealing with your enquiry, it may be possible however to give an approximate rating for your piano, from ****** (6 stars) to just * (1 star) - based purely on the experience of the experts. Depending on the rating (available upon request) - you can then decide if it is worth making an appointment with a piano tuner/ technician/ historian or auctioneer to determine the true value of your piano.

Based on some research - here are the ratings:-

6 star = Concert Standard (Superb quality)
5 star = Excellent
4 star = Very good
3 star = OK to good
2 star = Lacking something/ below average
1 star = "Noisy furniture" - Viking's funeral expected

[Bill Kibby]

Thanks for a bit of sanity Colin, that sounds a lot easier than the method suggested on the forum, so I will persevere. You are wrong in that I have uploaded more than one image to a posting - by accident!

However, I can't imagine why you would quote image sizes in DPI, inches or centimetres, when their size is not fixed until you print.

If anyone finds that their images do not load, it is probably because they are too big. You can use the Paint program to reduce the scale to 50% or even 25%.

[Colin Nicholson]

Cheers Bill.... hope this is helpful for others. I get your meaning re: print size, and my printer also automatically resizes it if I want to print something, but sometimes if an image is uploaded directly onto the forum from a camera (not printed).. then for some strange reason, if the resolution is low (say 72 DPI), the 'image size' comes out at over 100cm !! I often have to scale my photos down to postcard size and change the resolution to 300 DPI, but I guess it depends also on the camera settings (I prefer 300 DPI - better quality) and maybe the way the photo is edited. I am probably old fashioned in that I prefer to 'sample' the photo first on-screen, click on 'image size' and adjust if needed. Sometimes on the forum, I have seen members say .... "I have tried to upload my photo, but it failed" .... and in most cases, the photo has just been uploaded 'raw' .... straight from the camera & way-too big.

Maybe another suggestion would be to 'copy' this elsewhere?
This will hopefully save alot of hassle.
I have saved the format on Photoshop, so no problem to do it again

Regards

[Bill Kibby]

I have set it so it should stay where it is now. My point is that dpi and inches and centimetres have very little to do with the actual size of a computer image, it's pixels that count.

Anyone reducing the size of an image will get much better results with less distortion with simple ratios like 50% rather than setting a target size.

[macjonny]

Images should be saved in RGB mode, and you will see the best results if you use the sRGB color profile. Animated gifs will not display unless they are displayed at 100% full size.

[Bill Kibby]

I think you will find that most people haven't a clue what you mean.