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Author Topic: Picture resizing 101  (Read 2441 times)

Cider

  • Guest
Picture resizing 101
« on: Jun 02, 2004, 10:36 PM »
Several members seem to be having difficulty with resizing their pictures.  I thought that I would start this thread with a little "how to" instruction.

To resize your picture for posting or avatar use is not a daunting task, so don't let it frustrate you.

The first thing you should do is resize your picture to the appropriate dimensions before you upload it to an image hosting site such as photobucket.com.

To do this, you will need basic image viewing software.  Microsoft Windows operating systems come with Picture and Fax viewers or Microsoft Photo Editor or similar programs.  I use Adobe Photoshop 7.0 to edit my photos.

Keep in mind that for posting pictures the appropriate dimensions are no more than 400 pixels wide by 600 pixels tall.  For avatar use, your picture must be 120 pixels wide by 120 pixels tall or less!  Anything greater than 120 pixels won't work.

First, open the picture on your computer either by double clicking on it or opening it through your photo editing software.

On the menu bar at the top of the window, look for a menu command called "Image" and click on it.  In the drop down list you will find a command called "Image Size".  Click on that.

The window that pops up will tell you the current size of your photo.  Sometimes the dimensions are offered in pixels, percentage, and inches.  It is easiest to work with if you make sure that you are reading in pixels.

Somewhere in that window you should see some boxes where you can input your own dimensions for resizing the image.  Enter 400 into the width category and the software will proportionately adjust the height for you automatically!  Click on Apply or OK.

For avatars it is a little trickier.  You should pick the dimension (height or width) that is the largest!  Change that number to 120 pixels and the other dimension will be automatically resized proportionately.

The new dimensions will be applied to your picture.  From this point you can save the changes to the picture (the software will ask you to when you try to close it).  Once the changes have been saved, go ahead and upload the photo to your image hosting site and post the picture!

These instructions work for Adobe Photoshop.  I will play around with some of the software that comes bundled to Microsoft Windows and post the specific commands for that when I get a chance.

One sure way to find out the dimensions of your picture is to right click on it and select the pop-up command called "Properties".  This will bring up the information about the picture.  You will find its current dimensions in that information.

Sometimes photo editing software allows you to resize your picture by right clicking on it which will bring up commands for adjusting image size.

Whatever method/software you use, it is far simpler to resize it to appropriate posting dimensions before you upload it to photobucket or some other image host.  I wouldn't recommend using the resize command on photobucket.  The only reason they have it there is to save on storage space on their server.

They don't care if your picture is the optimum size for posting to an internet forum or not.  They just want to make sure that there is ample memory or storage space for everyone's photos.  The picture never comes out the right size for posting when you resize by percentage on photobucket!

If anyone has specific questions, post them here or send me a PM and I can walk you through this simple task.  One of the things that I do in the lab is prepare figures, tables, graphs, and images of my data for publication in peer-reviewed primary research journals.  I am sure that together we can get you up and running with picture posting so don't hesitate to ask!

If anyone else has any tips on photo resizing please post it here!

TroutFishingBear

  • Guest
Re: Picture resizing 101
« Reply #1 on: Jun 03, 2004, 11:00 PM »
Thanks, I needed help with cleaning them up. I will give it a try on the next batch of pictures I scan up. :)

Cider

  • Guest
Re: Picture resizing 101
« Reply #2 on: Jun 04, 2004, 08:05 AM »
Thanks, I needed help with cleaning them up. I will give it a try on the next batch of pictures I scan up. :)

Ahhh, TFB your problem is of a different nature!  When scanning, you need to make sure that you select only the picture to scan.  Most scanners and scanning software offer you a "prescan" or "preview" to get an intial look at the photo you wish to scan.

Once you have done that you should see a rectangular box with dashed lines.  Resize the box to fit neatly over your picture by using your mouse to manipulate the edges of it.  Once it fits tightly on your picture, then tell the software to do the "full scan" or "scan" or "final scan" or whatever the command may be in your case.

Jigwiggler

  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 606
Re: Picture resizing 101
« Reply #3 on: Jun 19, 2004, 05:58 PM »
Thanks, I needed help with cleaning them up. I will give it a try on the next batch of pictures I scan up. :)

Ahhh, TFB your problem is of a different nature!  When scanning, you need to make sure that you select only the picture to scan.  Most scanners and scanning software offer you a "prescan" or "preview" to get an intial look at the photo you wish to scan.

Once you have done that you should see a rectangular box with dashed lines.  Resize the box to fit neatly over your picture by using your mouse to manipulate the edges of it.  Once it fits tightly on your picture, then tell the software to do the "full scan" or "scan" or "final scan" or whatever the command may be in your case.

You can also crop the image right on photobucket.
May your doorknobs smell of fish!!

 



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