HOW I PHOTOGRAPH CRYSTALS

I've had a lot of compliments on my photographs of crystals and requests that I share my technique.  My ego loves the compliments so I guess I have to tell my secrets.  I could make up an elaborate story but in truth, I use the "Keep is simple stupid (KISS)"  principle.  I take most of my photos under my fluorescent desk lamp next to my computer.  My camera is a Sony Mavica FD81 that works very well in taking close up photos.  My previous camera was the Sony Mavica FD7 which also worked great until I left it outside in a bucket in the rain.  The camera came with Arcsoft PhotoStudio software that works well to edit individual photos, but I now use Thumbs Plus to do batch processing on my photos.  Now for the secrets:

1. I set my camera for the highest quality (fine and frame mode for the Sony).  I usually hold the crystal in my hand and rotate it until I see the best lighting and reflections in the camera view finder...then snap the picture.

2. The picture is stored as a JPEG file on a 3.5" disk at 640x480 pixels and 200 dpi with a file size around 60 kb.  I then use Thumbs Plus to rename and resize the photos using the Web Page Wizard function and save the new photos and thumbnails over the old photos of crystals that have been sold.

In summary, high resolution digital photos may be great for printing but are not necessary for use on a web page.  Resizing, reducing the resolution (dpi), and setting the proper compression can reduce the file size ten fold without loosing much quality.  See the results below:
 
 

This is the actual photo as it comes from the camera without resizing and compression.  Click on the thumbnail to view the size and note the download time.

This is the photo after it has been resized to 320x240 pixels, changing the resolution to 96 dpi, and saving without compression.  Click on the thumbnail to view the size and note the quality and download time.

This is the photo after is has been resized and saved at 45% compression.  Click on the thumbnail to view the size, quality and download time.

If any of you have more suggestions or recommendations on how to edit photos for use on the Internet I would appreciate your comments.  I'm also looking for photo editing software that will do batch file conversions and has a variable compression capability.