How do I resize/edit my photos?
Resizing and editing photos could not be simpler, thanks to the internet and computers. There are free and easy ways to edit photos available online that do not require any technical knowledge whatsoever. I’m serious! Do not panic! If you have gotten your pictures from your camera to your computer, and understand why they are too big to send via email or share online, you know enough to edit your photos.
Probably the biggest secret to living in the modern age is that it’s all about automation… making things simple. This is hard for the non-technical person to understand. “How can it be simple? I just look at it and my eyes glaze over!” This is because you are trying to figure out HOW it works. Don’t waste your mental energy! It’s like being unable to learn to drive because you want to understand how an internal combustion engine works. Who cares how it works? All you need to know is how to drive.. what button to push to get the machine to do what you want. It is the same for computer programs and the internet.
If you wish, you can go buy a photo editing program and try to learn how to use it, or try to figure out the one that came with your camera. However, for most of us non-technical types, this is an exercise in confusion and frustration. Let me tell you about the easy way:
The easy way is to find an online service to handle the technical part of photo manipulation, while all you do is push buttons! I can personally recommend the following:
Photobucket.com: Is an excellent online host for your photos. You can store your pictures in albums, make slideshows, and share your photos in forums and on webpages! This is a very versatile service and it’s FREE! You can make your album private, but still share individual pictures from the album! You do have to create an account to use their services, though. (Video tutorial on creating a photobucket.com account is coming soon! But it is pretty self-explanatory if you want to go ahead and give it a try.) After you have created your account and logged in click on “My Album” and prepare to upload your photos:
- On the right, the default option is “images from my PC” so click the “browse” button.
- Find the image you wish to upload and click on it.
- Add a descriptive title if you wish
(Note: You can upload more than one photo at a time, but the more photos you add, the longer it will take. Photos are big files!)
- Click the “UPLOAD” button and wait until copies of the pictures are uploaded to photobucket.
- Scroll down and see the picture in your album. Click the “edit” link above the picture.
- Select “resize”
- Select “message board” ..and click “okay” for the “are you sure” message. This is also an okay size for emailing. If it is still too big, you can click “resize” again and select “Website, Email” to reduce it further. You can only make it smaller, NOT bigger, so be sure before you reduce it further. If you do get it too small, click on “delete” and above the picture. Go back to “View Album” or “My Album” and upload a copy of the original again and resize again.
Remember, you are uploading a COPY of your original so play with it all you want. If you goof up, just delete it and upload the original again to start over.
Another way to play with it is to copy the “direct link” (in the box below the picture where you view your album) and upload the file to Picnik.com (see below) where there are even more options.
Picnik.com: This takes a photo directly from your computer (or select online photo hosts, like Photobucket.com, flikr.com, facebook.com and webshots.com) and lets you manipulate it, add captions, add effects, etc. You just push the buttons to make it do what you want. YAY! No registration is required, so you can use it right “out of the box” as the saying goes these days. If you want to go ahead and give it a try, try resizing a photo to a comfortable 600px width:
- Go to Picnik.com and click the “Get Started Now!” button
- Click the “Upload Photo” button. A window will pop up showing you the files on your computer. Find the picture you want. Click it. Then press the ‘open” button.
- Upload your photo (this may take a minute.. remember this is a big file!),
- click the “edit” tab if you are not already in the edit window (the tab you are in will be white)
- click the “resize” button at the top,
- Change the first value (the width) to “600″ and make sure the “keep proportions” is checked.
- Then click the “Save and Share” tab at the very top.
- Important: RENAME THE FILE! (I usually just add “sml” to the file name). If you don’t, your original, print-sized picture will be overwritten.
- Click “Save Photo” at the bottom.
The new smaller picture is now in the same file on your computer as the original. Easy peasy. You can then upload this new version of the picture back to photobucket or flickr, or if you have really explored around, you can email it directly back to your photobucket or flickr album (that’s more advanced than we are addressing in this article, but once you are comfortable with your photo sites, it will be easy to learn).
If you have a yahoo account already, you might wish to use flickr.com instead of Photobucket.com as you can create an account with your yahoo! ID. This is a wildly popular photo sharing service around the internet. They have a very good reputation. They are more for *sharing* than editing directly. But both services have joined with Picnik.com, o you can get the most out of both manipulating and sharing your photos. I have not used flickr’s services personally but lots of folks swear by it.
Keep watching Witchy Tech!! Coming soon, we’ll discuss the various ways of sharing your photos online, including emailing and posting on a forum or webpage!
If you have questions about resizing photos, please post them in the comments below or on our forum! If you there is something specific you wish Witchy to talk about, definitely let us know that in the forum, too!
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That was a lot of fun. I use Adobe Photoshop but this program was FUN. Thank you for introducing me to it and for giving me the confidence to imagine that I CAN do it.
Oh, and did I mention it’s so much easier than Adobe Photoshop?!