Uploading property images to MyKeys.co.uk

Image Quality and Pixel Resolution.

Creating images for a web site is not the same as for printing. The main difference is the resolution. This means the number of dots that go to make up the image. For print, the higher the quality of the image, ie, the greater the number of dots, or pixels, the better the printed image will be. On a web site however, each dot will be seen as one pixel on screen. If you have a high resolution picture, it will be too big to fit on the screen, and will take too long to display as the web page loads. A low resolution image works best.

Your digital camera will allow various settings and resolutions. Ideally for Mykeys.co.uk you should take images at a width of 400 pixels wide. The latest generation of mobile phones, with their mega pixel image ability produce images far bigger than this. An expensive digital camera is therefore not necessary.

Don't worry if you do not know how to change the settings on your camera. If your images are larger than 400 pixels wide then the MyKeys.co.uk image upload system will automatically reduce images to the correct size. Large images simply take longer to upload.

The maximum file size we can accept is 2 meg.

Image Formats

The only image format we accept is jpeg (pronounced 'J-peg'). The good news is most digital cameras and phones use this format as their default setting. On your computer the image files will have the name image_one.jpg or image_one.jpeg for example.

Landscape or Portrait

Please take your pictures in landscape format. This means an image with a horizontal width greater than its vertical height. We can accept portrait aligned images, but they do not look as good on your advertisement.

Image Saving

When it comes time to upload your images to your MyKeys.co.uk advertisement, you need to know how to find them on your computer. Make sure you save the images from your camera in a location on your computer that is easy to find, ie, My Documents, or Desktop. This can save a lot of aggravation when the time comes for you to click the 'browse' button on the image upload form.

Taking Pictures

In these days of digital imaging it no longer costs money to take a picture, especially when you are taking pictures for a web site that you will never print. Please take as many as you can, and then choose the best pictures for your advertisement. Don't worry about taking fifty pictures, then just using two or three of them. As you should have set your camera to a low resolution before taking the pictures, you can fit a lot in to the memory. Fill up all the memory, then take some more as well!

The most important shot is the main outside view. Make sure you take this picture in good light and the main view is not in shadow. If necessary come back at a different time of day. Don't be afraid to crop the image if there is unnecessary clutter in the surroundings. Take lots of different angles at different distances.

Take any internal shots during daytime to maximise the available light. Be careful not to shoot towards a bright window from a darkened room as you will see nothing, unless you are shooting the view that is!

Remember, take lots of pictures of your property and choose the best, and if needed, take some more.

Image Upload Propblems

When you upload an image to mykeys, you will see a small thumbnail sized version of the image. If the thumbnail is a black square, this means your image has not fully uploaded, and you must delete that image and try again.

If the second attempt still does not work, then the image stored on your computer is incompatible, or simply too large. This can usually be fixed by opening the image, resizing it to a smaller size, and saving it again. You may also need to reduce the image quality to a lower setting, the option for this should be found under 'more settings' when you click 'save as'. If you have a problem with this, please phone the mykeys office on 0845 021 6372 for assistance.