How Big of Image for Plant ID?

[Lily]

Hi, I have an image of a plant I would like help identifying. I will post at alt.binaries.pictures.gardens. What is the best image size to do this? TIA

[Babberney]

You'll do better with three small shots than one big one usually. Take a whole-plant distant shot, a close-up of a twig and leaves. and one more of anything that seems distinctive about the plant right now. Depending on season, you could add a shot of the flowers and/or fruit, for example, or some plants are readily identified by bark/stem photos. For more info about the International Society of Arboriculture, please visit

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[Jim W]

not bigger than 640 X 480 at 72dpi.

half that size should be adequate // J

[Cereoid-UR12-]

Don't you think that it would make better sense to ask the question at alt.binaries.pictures.gardens?

Anyway, the larger the image size does not increase your chances of correct ID. Its whether your image is clear and shows the proper characters for identification, especially the flowers as well as the rest of the plant. An image of a single leaf would be worthless for ID regardless of how large it is.

[Frogleg]

I realize this doesn't directly address your question, but if you have a scanner, you can make *terrific* images of leaves and small flowers. I've done this laying the items directly on the glass, but am now thinking, in the interest of not having to clean it afterward, a clear plastic sheet wouldn't significantly interfere with the scan.

As for image size (by number of bytes), for those of us with dial-up connections, a 5Mb high-rez photo is an exercise in tedium. Many photo-manipulation applications will allow you to use JPEG compression to significantly reduce the number of bytes, with relatively little loss of detail or color. Even the 'Paint' accessory program that comes with Windows can 'resize' an overlarge image, although not in a particularly sophisticated fashion.

[Jim W]

Good advice and more tips can be found at:

Jim