Resizing Pics Guide

[Al J]

Photoshop experts can stop reading now!

On the other hand, a few people have recently had trouble resizing photos for posting on the forums. Their pictures are either too small or too big or too pixelly. Okay, that isn't a real word but it should be!

Here's a quick guide to resizing your photos using Picasa which is free, reliable and quick. Hope it helps.

Step 1 Get a copy and install it.

Go to link to Picasa free download (from Google)

Step 2 Each time you run Picasa, it catalogues the pics on your computer. After a short play with the program, you should be able to find the pic that you want to resize. If you can't, then use Picasa's search facility. Once you've found your chosen photo, double click on it to bring it up on the viewing screen.

Step 3 Towards the bottom of your PC's screen you'll see a blue bar containing details of your pic. Below that, at the right of the screen there's a slider to allow you to magnify the pic and two buttons, one to fit pic to the viewer and the other (1:1) to show it full size. Click it...

Big, isn't it? That'll upset the 56k peeps and anyone who hasn't got a widescreen monitor. Let's make a smaller version of the pic...

Step 4 Click on the 'Export' button, bottom right of screen. A panel will pop up.

Now type in the details (or browse) so that you can send a resized copy to the desktop. It's easier to find from there. Also give the folder a name.

Step 5 Under 'Image Size Options', click on 'Resize to' and move the slider to either 320, 480, 640, 800. You can also type in any number into the box if you prefer, say 600.

Step 6 Click 'OK'

That's it, done!

Once you've done it with one or two photos, it's sooo easy and, best bit, you've made a resized copy and exported it to a folder on the desktop. Your original photo from digicam or wherever is still untouched in its original folder wherever you have located it.

If anyone wants any more help on this or Picasa's other features, PM me and let me know. I've used it quite a bit and the 'crop' and 'colour temperature' features have saved many a pic! :P

Examples

100 pixels (bless!)

320 pixels

480 pixels

640 pixels

800 pixels