Resizing Photo's

[Rob&Jan]

Sorry for such a basic question but I can't seem to find this answer anywhere. I want to post some pic's to the dis unplugged photo contest but the max size is 300k my photo's are all larger. So my question is can I resize them and if so how?? Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[OU1247]

You could go to a photo hosting site and resize them.

Like photobucket, or flickr.

You could also do it with photomanager on Office

 

[DVC Jen]

Nearly every PC has the generic version of paint. Open the photo in paint - then select Image and then Stretch/Screw. In the stretch box - simply resize it smaller - for instance 50% by 50% to make it half its current size.

 

[11290]

Download a FREE program called irfanview (irfanview.com).

Resize and/or rename to your hearts content.

 

[ukcatfan]

If you do it on your local pc copy, just be sure not to overwrite your original. The easiest way to make sure you do not accidentally do this is to add on something to the end of the file name like "-small" or "-web"

Kevin

 

[Rob&Jan]

thanks for your replies I'll give it a shot.........Rob

 

[seashoreCM]

If you need to resize a picture again so as to get a third size, start with the original and do a resize all the way to that third size.

That is, don't take a picture that already went through resizing and do a resize of that. You will end up with lower quality.

This means you will have more copies of the picture (different sizes) hanging around so you need to be even more careful never to delete the original by mistake.

Digital camera hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/digicam.htm

 

[Amy]

Ok, now I'm confused. For the photos that I entered in the DIS photo contest, I used Jen's method of resizing:

Nearly every PC has the generic version of paint. Open the photo in paint - then select Image and then Stretch/Screw. In the stretch box - simply resize it smaller - for instance 50% by 50% to make it half its current size.

I just tried diff. percentages until my file size was under the 300k limit.

The National Wildlife Federation is having a photo contest, and this is the way they describe their size limit in the rules for the contest:

Camera-made digital images or scans of slides or prints should be uploaded as low-resolution jpegs. At 72 dpi, jpegs should be no smaller than 3x5 inches and no larger than 5x7 inches, with a maximum file size of 500KB.

I will admit that I really have a hard time understanding pixels and photo sizes (just ask DH how many times I ask him if a megabyte is larger or smaller than a kilobyte! ). But 72 dpi has to do with printing, right? So how do I resize my photos if I want to enter this contest?

I have Photoshop Elements 4 - isn't there something in the resizing/resampling menus where you can tell it to resize the photo based on 72 dpi? I vaguely recall that from the class I took last year, but I've never had to use it.

So I have a photo that's 2816 x 2112 and it's 3.07mb. Because of the 72 dpi requirement in the contest rules, I can't just use Jen's method to get my photo under 500kb; I also have to be sure that when it's printed at 72 dpi it'll be between a 3x5 and 5x7, right? Am I understanding this correctly? And.....how do I do that?

 

[Groucho]

The National Wildlife Federation is obviously not the Digital Photography Federation, with such ridiculous and unnecessarily confusing rules. I don't know what... (edit: I've censored myself here - insert your favorite derogatory term here ) thought that it'd be better to give a dpi/size requirement than a regular pixel resolution requirement.

FWIW, those requirements mean that the photo can be no larger than 504x360 and no smaller than 216x360.

I'm sorry, I just can't take a photography contest seriously when they won't allow a photo larger than 504x360... that's really small. Kind of like trying to decide the Oscars after watching the movies on an MP3 player.

Anyway, about your original question, I'd go with Irfanview, and make sure that it's resampling, not just resizing. (Resampling will give you much better quality.)

 

[Ileana]

Don't use paint - it seriously diminishes the quality of the photo.

Someone suggested irfanview which is a FREE program that does not diminish the quality of the photo. The program is very easy to use - and you may resize using a variety of methods.

 

[Amy]

The National Wildlife Federation is obviously not the Digital Photography Federation, with such ridiculous and unnecessarily confusing rules. I don't know what... (edit: I've censored myself here - insert your favorite derogatory term here ) thought that it'd be better to give a dpi/size requirement than a regular pixel resolution requirement.

FWIW, those requirements mean that the photo can be no larger than 504x360 and no smaller than 216x360.

I'm sorry, I just can't take a photography contest seriously when they won't allow a photo larger than 504x360... that's really small. Kind of like trying to decide the Oscars after watching the movies on an MP3 player.

Anyway, about your original question, I'd go with Irfanview, and make sure that it's resampling, not just resizing. (Resampling will give you much better quality.)

Thanks Groucho! I'm curious....could you please explain how you came up with those pixel dimensions based on what the NWF rules said? I have no idea how you figured that out.

I took your numbers and plugged them into the Photoshop Elements resizing window, and you weren't kidding about it being really small! Here's a screen shot:

In case it's too small to read, the max size I ended up with is 480x360, and the print size is 2.6 x 2 inches!

I don't know what they're thinking.....yes, they don't want people submitting huge files that'll fill up their servers, but this is ridiculous! I'll have to figure out if I really, really want to enter this contest.

 

[seashoreCM]

72 dpi equals 72 pixels per inch. In other words multiply the intended printed dimensions in inches by 72 to get the number of pixels the picture should have. Next you resize (resample) the original picture you have to get a picture with the number of pixels (horizontally and vertically) you just calculated.

5x7 inches times 72 dots (pixels) per inch equals 360x504 pixels.

They asked for 72 dpi because their printing processes and printing plates and printing presses use 72 dpi; they don't need more picture detail.

Do not put a ruler against your computer monitor. Your monitor may or may not display exactly 72 dpi.

>>> they don't want people submitting huge files that fill up their servers (computers)...
If you are chosen as a semifinalist, they may ask you to resubmit the picture, this time with more pixels. Or a larger size in inches at the same 72 dpi.

 

[Groucho]

Thanks Groucho! I'm curious....could you please explain how you came up with those pixel dimensions based on what the NWF rules said? I have no idea how you figured that out.

Well, I used that thing about Photoshop that drives me buggy - that it wants you to think in terms of print images, rather than making those used to print images think in terms of modern digital images! Basically, when you create a new image, you can pick a DPI and size in inches (or cm or whatever) - I plugged in the info from the contest, then switched it to pixels and took those.

I'd not saying that Photoshop shouldn't have that an option - it would be essential if you were creating a new composite image that would be printed at a certain size and DPI (like for an advertisement), but I think that's probably not the most common circumstance. I'd like them to default to pixels right off the bat.