There are many reasons why a picture might not show up in a recipient’s email. They are listed as follows:
Embedding the photo in the email.
Dragging and dropping to embed.
Forwarding without reattaching.
The photo is too big for the recipient's email box.
The photo is too big for your attachment maximum.
The photo was attached as a photo and not as a file.
The photo file has a virus in it.
Essentially, while email is great, so great and so common that Oxford's English Dictionary has long since dropped the hyphen from what was once written as E-MAIL, many people fail to learn the ins and outs of it. It seems simple enough. It is something we can pick up on our own that has little risk, not a lot of thought, and almost zero chance of failure. It is a comfortable tool, a no-brainer in a sense.
Attachments, on the other hand, actually do take a little thought. Unfortunately, there is nobody out there really teaching us. If we didn't read and think over the tutorial or the help menu or the FAQ or the wizard, we've really no guides to the world of email attachments.
Essentially, all attachments will always work, including photographs, if you and the recipient have the same kind of email. For instance, if you have Hotmail and your recipient has Hotmail and you've followed a normal procedure for attaching, your recipient will always get the photo. The variables to think about start coming in when you consider how many different types of email there are and how many different styles there are to check email (web based mail, downloaded local mail, intranet mail kept on a server within a business, etc.) Add to that the fact that the sizes of what emails and email attachments a person can receive all vary with their service providers, and you get an almost unlimited string of possible combinations that might let some photos through and others not at all.
While I could go into a long list of what to do in each of these cases, chances are a single individual lacks the knowledge of how every recipient's personal email works. So, instead, I will give you a platform of what works most often despite the variables.
1) Always keep your virus protection up to date. This is basic, but has a direct bearing as to what comes in to your computer and what goes out. Most people fail to realize that having proper virus protection requires three parts, minimum. One, you need the virus protection software installed on your computer. Two, you need the virus definitions updated as soon as each update is available. This either requires that you check for updates manually as regularly as you would turn the computer on and off (once a day if you leave your computer on all the time), or that you purchase virus protection software that will do the update automatically each time you are connected to the internet. Three, your subscription must be current. Just as if you let your magazine subscription lapse, the magazines stop coming to your house with little or no notice, so too will virus definitions stop coming to your computer if your virus protection subscription lapses. This is the most common mistake that people do not realize they are making when it comes to virus protection.
Ultimately, if you are not properly protected, there could be a virus on your computer. If there is, chances are it has infected many files without you knowing it, including photos. A virus need not be visible. It is not as if you are going to call up a picture of your dog and see a big green dot in the middle of his nose. It is code. Realize that you do not SEE the code that makes the picture of the dog, so why would you see the code that makes the virus? Trying to send a photo file with a virus in it is going to meet defeat at many steps along the way. Your email server might pick it up. Their email server might pick it up. Their personal virus protection on their local computer might pick it up, and so forth. What does your email provider do when it sees a virus? It drops and deletes the attachment automatically. Your recipient would never even know it was there.
2) Always attach your photo as a file. Do not embed it. Choose File/Attach or Attach/File or some such. Using Attach/Photo or Photo/Attach or dragging and dropping or uploading as a photo are all well and good for the other people who have the same kind of email that you do, the same type of size restrictions you do, and the same room in their mailbox as you do, but face it, how many people is that? Attaching as a file always sends virus-less files through to all kinds of emails that accept attachments. Yes, sending as a file will allow some people to see the photo IN the email, while others will have to download it and still others will have to DETACH it and open it in software they have for viewing photo files, but the file always gets through. The recipient must have something in which they can view a photo, some software that can open a photo file for viewing, but most people have several options, including Internet Explorer itself.
3) Do not forward emails with photos or attachments. Detach the files to your own computer for safe keeping, and reattach them as files when sending to others. It is more clicking work, and you have to set up a file system to store them. Yet, ultimately, you will be more organized, better at navigating, have all your received files backed up, and have more space in your inbox to boot. Many emails will not forward attachments unless you attach them separately. Many emails will not forward embedded photos. Many emails will not receive forward attachments. Many emails will not receive embedded photos. Many will receive the lot, but differ in their use of code disallowing viewing. So, a good practice is to always DETACH files you receive and REATTACH them when you wish to send them to others. It eliminates any confusion and keeps you from having to memorize all the limitations of everybody on your email lists.
4) Know and watch your size limits. While you might be able to attach a 10MB file, your recipient might only be able to receive a 6 MB attachment. Or, while you and your friend might be able to send and receive equal sized attachments, their inbox might be fuller, disallowing your attachment from coming through with the message. They can't be deleting important, saved emails in order to see the picture of the clown at your kid's birthday party! Keep total attachment size under 4MB and you should be good.