Re-sizing Digital Photos


Here is a quick answer to a problem many of my clients have:

Most digital camera pictures start out very large, both in dimensions and in file size. You can fix this easily with any image editor. The basic Windows program is called “Paint” and it does a nice job of resizing.

Click your “start” button then look under “programs”, then “accessories”. When you open the program click “file”, then “open”. You will get a box to search your computer for the picture you want. Select the image then click “open”.

Next, click “image” then select “stretch/skew”.  At the top of that box you will see choices for horizontal and vertical, both with percentages beside them. I usually start out with 75 or 80%, but if the picture is really huge (for example over 1200 pixels wide) you can use 50%.

Make sure you put the same figure in both boxes or else the picture will get distorted. If it’s still too big you can do the process again. And if you mess up you can click “edit” then “undo”.

When you finish, click “file” then either “save” to overwrite the file and keep the same name and location, or “save as” to give it a new name and/or location. Make sure photographs are saved in “jpeg” format. This is the box right under the name of the image in the save screen.

Simple, huh?


2 Comments

Tracey

What size photo is the most ideal for the webpage, portraits in particular?

    Vanessa

    There is no one “ideal” size. It depends on the space you want to put in in.