Adjusting photo sizes is a question I get asked about a lot, so I thought I'd walk you through the steps right here!

Note: This is how you resize a photo in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Other programs are very similar however and these tips should be helpful for just about any photo imaging program you have.

Note: Most digital cameras take photos that are much bigger than needed for uploading to the web. You should always resize any photo intended to be viewed online. If you are going to print your photo, then you will need it to be a much larger file...I will include instructions on how to do both!

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Resizing digital photos for the web (our sketchbook, blogs, online galleries, forums, etc.)

• Bring your photo into your application (Photoshop.) You can do this many ways. The way I prefer to do it is by using the Open command and then browsing for my memory card.
• Go to Image > Image Size to bring up the adjust image size window
• There are two size measurements that you need to check in the adjust image size window, document size and also dpi. Document size, or Pixel size, are the same thing. Pixels refer to how many "dots" make up a picture. This is a term a lot of graphic designers use, but you may be more familiar with document size. When choosing either Pixel size or document size, I suggest keeping your picts 400 pixels wide or less, *or* no more than 5.5 inches wide.
• The other size you need to look at is dpi, or dots per inch. For the web, dots per inch only need to be 72 dpi. A lot of digital cameras bring in your photos at 72 dpi automatically, but make sure to check this setting.
• When you start adjusting the document/pixel size and the dpi, sometimes they counteract each other. To make sure the dpi stays the same as you are adjusting the document/pixel size, make sure that all the Scale Size/ Resample Image / Constrain Proportion boxes are checked. This will keep everything in proportion.
• When I resize a photo for the web, I almost always make it 400 pixels wide (or about 5.5 inches wide) and 72 dpi. I've seen people go from 300-500 pixels wide.
• Saving your document for the web: Once you have adjusted the size of your photo, you will need to save it as jpg. I recommend choosing Save > Save for Web & Devices for this. It will bring up a window that lets you choose to make your photo a .jpg, and then you can use a slider that adjusts the image quality and file size. If you are trying to cut down on filesize, this is a great way to do this because you can use the slider to see how low you can go before you loose image quality. I almost always keep my slider at 60, and I check the "optimized" checkbox. You can see the size of your photo in the bottom left-hand corner (and you'll see it go up or down depending on where you have your slider.)

Resizing digital photos for print (photos you will be making prints of for scrapbooking, etc.)

• When saving your photos for printing, you should still resize them (as most digital cameras take photos way larger than they need to be.) The biggest difference between saving for the web and for print is dpi (dots per inch.) When you view a photo on the web, the number of dots per inch doesn't need to be very high in order to see detail...in fact, your monitors won't allow for anything higher than 72dpi. Print is different. To achieve a good quality photo in print, you should make your photo at least 300dpi.
• Follow the directions above, but when you have the adjust size window open, make your image 300dpi instead of 72dpi. This is where using the document size rather than pixel size may come in handy as well. If you want a typical 4x6 photo, you can adjust for that size here. You can also use the Image > Canvas Size tool to crop in or adjust the size/shape of your photo.

I hope this helps!

"Lizzie"

Thanks again - Zee

It worked Zee! I bet it was the dpi....that setting can be confusing.

"Lizzie"

We have also upped the file size limit for the Sketchbook, I think it may have been too low. So definately try again!!

"Lizzie"

Willosmama (2/23/2008)

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I may have to bite the bullet and get the photoshop....
I can't seem to find anything in my program that reduces the size.
Thanks for the play by play though!!

It might be called something else in the program you are using.

That being said, I really would highly suggest getting Photoshop Elements. It's not very expensive and it really is the best...you will be glad you did, especially if you're maintaining a blog or taking a lot of photos of your samples. It will be one of your most-used tools!

"Lizzie"