How Do I Resize Photos for Email & Web?

After you take the picture you may want to resize the image.

Digital photographs captured with a large image size produce better printed results than smaller digital images. While those larger image files are suitable for printing, they take up too much storage when used on a website or if shared by email. The larger online image takes longer to download and view. Many online photo-sharing venues have a size limit and are unable to upload larger image files. This makes it necessary to reduce the size of a digital image before sending it in an email or using it online.

Things You'll Need

• Computer with graphic-editing software

Instructions

1. Open the digital image in a photo-editing software program, such as PhotoElf, PhotoShop or another program.

2. Select the option to change the size of the image. In PhotoShop, this is done by clicking "Image" and then "Image Size." In PhotoElf, it is done by clicking "Edit" and then "Resize." Another program may have a similar series of commands.

3. Change the width size of the image (assuming it is a typically proportioned horizontal image), allowing the length to adjust automatically. For web use, the width should be 800 or fewer pixels. For email purposes, adjust large photographs to a 1,024-pixel width, medium photographs to an 800-pixel width and small photographs to a 640-pixel width.

4. Save the resized image using the "Save As" command; rename the file. If you save using the original file name, you will save over the larger image. Create a new, smaller image, while preserving the larger, original digital image.

Tips & Warnings

• Free online resizing is also available. Through that process, you upload the image to a website and select a desired image size. The site then emails you the resized version.

References

• Bloomsburg University: Resizing Photos

Resources

• Pic Resize
• Shrink Pictures