WTF is this 250 pixels business? People have successfully posted huge pictures here with no problem. I suspect it either has to do with the resolution being used on the camera, or the format of the picture file itself. Just play around until you get the right compromise - it'll come.

Compare relative finished image sizes of the 88KB shot, with the 157KB one - at least 4X the size, but less than double the bytes - yet both are JPEGs. Something needs adjusting.