How to Easily Reduce the Size of Digital Photos
Many photo programs have tools that allow the user to reduce the size of digital images; however, the casual photographer may not have or want to depend on these programs. Learn a simple alternative that can be used to shrink photos for emailing and a variety of other applications that require photos of a limited size.
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Instructions
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Open Microsoft Paint. Select "Start," "All Programs," "Accessories" and "Paint."
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Go to "File" and "Open" the image you would like to shrink.
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Click "Save As" to save the photo under a different name; this way you will not lose the original image. Save the image as a JPEG.
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Select "Image" and "Stretch/Skew."
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Reduce the photo by typing the desired reduction percentage into the horizontal and vertical boxes under "Stretch." Enter the same percentage in each box. For instance, if you would like to reduce the image by 50 percent, type "50" into each box and click "OK."
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Gradually reduce your photo to the desired size. Do not reduce the photo by more than 75 percent at a time to avoid glitches. If problems do occur, such as the degradation of the photo, start over and only reduce by a maximum of 50 percent at a time.
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Slide the right and bottom bars away from the photo as far as they will go to find the edges of the residual white space that was created when you shrunk your photo. If you do not get rid of this space, the photo will save as an image in the corner of a larger white image. Find the edges, and move your cursor over to the corner until you get a double arrow. Click and drag the space up to the edge of your photo. Save your photo once you have gotten rid of every sliver of white.
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Use your modified photo in any other program.
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Tips & Warnings
Do not try to increase the size of your photo using this method! The photo will degrade.
