how to delete photos from blogger Tweet

I've awaited this feature for ages and it's been here for months. I haven't seen it documented anywhere, so what I'm offering is my observations. They're still exciting. Aside from deleting the whole post and choosing to delete the photo, as well, there certainly are options.

Situations
1. You uploaded a photo, deleted the post, and kept the photo.
2. You uploaded a photo, deleted it from the post and/ or replaced it, and kept the post.
3. You uploaded a photo twice or more, because of poor management or some Blogger bug/ malfunction. I've always suspected that the damn photo gets saved each time, and so it does.

One way or another, if you saved the photo URL you can still check that the proof of 1-3 above is online. And there's no way that Blogger lets you access the server/ photos' database to clean up. Or is there?

Enter Picasa web
That's where Blogger's kept your photos since--my guess--you switched to the out-of-Beta version. In my case, January 28, 2007. First of all, forget about photos uploaded before you switched, only God knows where they are and how they can be accessed.

Then, like it or not, want it or not, you've now got a Picasa web account that you can activate at any given moment, by simply loging in with your Gmail/ Blogger username and password. Behold! There must be at least one photo album, luckily not public, consisting of your blog photos.

Deleting
If you're in situations 1-2 above, it will be easy to locate your lost photo and delete it. If, on the other hand, you're faced with situation 3 above, here are some tips:

a. First, check whether there are different photo properties between the two/ many versions, and compare those against the properties of the photo presently published on your blog. The photo with different properties on Picasa web can be deleted.

b. If the two/ many versions of the photos are identical, then you can likely delete the one that appears to the right side (if next to each other) or lower in the list on Picasa web. I've discovered this by trial and error, and I hope it will work for you, too.

Final notes
Picasa web will ask you if you want to make these blog photo albums public--your choice. As you login for the first time, they will be Unlisted. Picasa web will also load the photos in your album(s) in slightly different order each time, to confuse poor you. Stay vigilant and happy deleting!

Update, September 1st 2008: I needn't go through this process lately, but I do recall the actual deletion taking place sometimes hours after you clicked the button. 24 hours seem OK.

Update, August 7th 2009: Stephen asks in the comments below about how one could delete photos hosted on Blogger before Picasa, on servers such as photos1.blogger.com. Especially since Stephen has deleted his blog. My answer to him may be of larger appeal, so it becomes part of the main post:

Stephen, I've found an article you may want to read: Did you delete those Google images? Think again and have read somewhere else an information I sadly cannot verify: that Blogger terms of service/ reference before Picasa were clear that one CANNOT delete their photos. EVER.

However, if you are the copyright owner of the photos and want them removed from Google services, I encourage you to read about Blogger's process for DMCA and infringement notifications. Then you can decide for yourself what the best course of action is. Best of luck, and let us know how it all went :)