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How to send photos by email  

There are two basic ways to send photos via email:

Attach the file to the email or Embed the photo directly into the email
 
If you attach a copy of original file to the email, the recipient will be able to save the file, view, edit or print it at the same quality level that you can. After all, you just sent a exact copy of the file. But the file can be very large, especially if it was taken with a high resolution 4 or 5 megapixel camera.
 
If you embed the photo into the email, the image will appear in the body of the email. The recipient will not have to open any file ? the image will appear in the email. The image is usually only viewed or printed out as part of the email. Depending on the characteristics of the email program, the image may or may not be able to be saved separately from the email.
 
If both you and the recipients have high-speed connections to the internet (through cable or DSL), then reasonably large files can be sent and received in relative short times so there is usually no driving need to reduce the file size. The only restriction might be that imposed by the internet service providers (ISP) at either end of the link. Some ISP?s place limits on the size of file attachments you can send or receive. In this case, you may only be able to attach a single image file to an email. If you have more than one file to send, then send multiple emails.
 
However, if you or the recipient(s) are on a 56 kb/s dial-up connection, the attached file needs to be reduced in size to minimize upload or download times. To reduce the file size, lower the resolution (pixel count) and then save the file (under a new file name) using a higher level of JPEG compression. Note this does not change the size of the image! Done properly, the result is a surprisingly small image file that is very acceptable for viewing on a display.
 
The specific instructions for attaching a file or embedding an image in email depends on what email software you are using. But all popular email clients, including AOL mail, MSN mail, Outlook Express and Outlook, are capable of embedding and attaching images.
 
In addition, many image viewing and editing software programs give you the ability to send an email with attached image file directly from the image viewing/editing program. Some give you the option of resizing (reducing resolution) and compressing (reduce file size) within the email function.
 
You need to resize and compress a file to a smaller size:

• if a dial up connection is used at either end or

• if there are file size limitations imposed by your ISP or

• if you just want to send smaller files for quicker send/receive times

Most imaging viewing or editing programs will allow you to resize a JPEG image (i.e. image ending in .jpg) . The recommended resolution for viewing is 640 x 480 pixels or as close to this as the aspect ratio (horizontal to vertical dimension) of the original photo will allow. A 640 x 480 pixel image will display as approximately 8 inches x 6 inches.
 
When saving the re-sized image to JPEG format:

• choose a low to medium quality setting.

• save the re-sized file as a new file name ? don?t over-write the original file!!

The result should be a file less than 50 kilobytes compared to the original that might be more than 500 kilobytes.
 
Launch your email program and attach or embed this lower resolution, compressed file.

More on Scanning

There are various SEND or EMAIL buttons or menus in some scanners, but if these give trouble with the email program you use, it is extremely easy to simply do it the standard conventional way instead, which I describe here.

You can send any file you created previously. Or scan a new image, normally like always, to create the size of image you want to send. Save that image file on your hard disk, like always. Remember the file name and the disk folder where you save it. Then use your email program's ATTACH menu to find that image, to send it with your email message.
The way you send any file with email is to "Attach" the file to the email text message. All email programs have a menu item ATTACH or ATTACHMENTS, and their toolbars often have this as an icon with a paperclip symbol to denote "Attach" a file. Attach means "Send a copy of the file with the message". The Attach button or menu allows you to find and specify the file(s) to send with the email message. A copy is sent of course, the file still remains on your disk. See your email program's Help menu about "Attaching files to messages".

AOL - The message composition window at the Write Mail option has an "Attachments" button at the lower left corner, under the body of the text you are typing to send. It will allow multiple files to be attached to that message.

Eudora and Netscape have paperclip toolbar buttons for Attach, and they also have a menu "Attach file". These do the same thing.

Outlook Express also has the toolbar paper clip Attach icon. Microsoft programs may call this Attach menu INCLUDE - FILE, but it is the same thing as Attach.

HotMail and Yahoo mail have an Attachments link used to find and attach a file.
In many cases, at least Outlook and Eudora, you can simply drag the file (from the Windows Explorer or desktop) to the email composition window, and you can see that it attaches itself automatically. Normally you can also drag it to the email program's icon, and it will open as a new message with the file attached. You can send the first try back to yourself (addressed TO your own email address) to test your procedure.

That file should be fairly small. A huge file can be dreadfully slow, both to send and receive. Printing needs larger files, but the image probably should not be larger than the recipients 640x480 or 800x600 pixel screen. Don't scan for email at 300 dpi. Scan at perhaps 100 dpi.

Scanning a 6x4 inch photo at 100 dpi creates an image size of 600x400 pixels, generally large enough for email purposes (for screen viewing). This 6x4 inch 100 dpi 600x400 pixel image consumes 720K bytes in memory. Or scanning at 75 dpi gives about half the file size of 100 dpi.

Save the image as a JPG file for email. JPG is very small, and fast for modems. It is usually around 1/10 the file size of other image file formats. A moderately high JPG Quality factor gives a decent quality image (see page 134), and reduces this 100 dpi 600x400 pixel 720KB image to a JPG file size of about 75KB. It takes perhaps 45 seconds for a 28.8K modem.
Or if you already have the image in some other file format, just open that image, and use menu FILE - SAVE AS to save a copy as JPG.

WinZip compresses files to be smaller, but JPG or GIF files are already compressed, so there is no additional advantage. Zip can however keep multiple files tidy in one transmitted file.

Some email servers may limit the maximum email file size, perhaps at about 2 megabytes. The email UUE or MIME encoding causes the number of bytes actually sent to be about 40% greater than the indicated file size, so email is perhaps 40% slower than the same file via FTP or a web site