Have you ever received an email with a picture, but all you can see is a little corner….) Why does this happen? The person who took the photo used a high resolution digital camera.. and the picture has too many pixels to show it all on your computer monitor screen. It wasn’t resized before it was sent.(Explanation of these terms, below.
It’s very important Netiquette to edit your photos to a reasonable screen size, since the larger the file, the longer it takes to download it to your computer. Good email programs will automatically downsize to a thumbnail of it for you to see…, but realize if you print it out, it will be the original size which could waste a lot of expensive photo paper.
SIZE: measured in Pixels, or in inches and ALSO in the file size in Kbytes. When using measurements, X is the size across the width, and y is the height. (Need a screen shot of the resize window) You can also resize by a % of the original size. Aspect Ratio: keep it as original to avoid a squished look.. .
Tied to the size is RESOLUTION: the “sharpness” or clarity of the picture. Simply put, you can take a large photo, and make it smaller, and the resolution will still be good.. but it doesn’t work the other way. You cannot take a small digital photo, and make it larger without the resolution getting fuzzy.. They just don’t stretch well! Two photos to compare??
To be able to adjust your pictures, you need to use a photo editing program.. One might have come with your camera, you can download several free ones from the Internet or you can pay for the best. It all depends on how much you intend to use this. It really is a wonderful computer hobby. Just type it into your browser.
One easy way to get started, is to open MS Word. AFTER you have saved a picture on your computer (and noted where it is), you can go to the INSERT menu and bring it into your document. Then you can click on it to highlight it, and click on FORMAT, picture. You can then resize it, and play with a few other things there. You can add an AutoShape with comments, just for fun.
NOTE: BE careful, after changing your picture to save it WITH A NEW NAME, so you won’t lose the original one.
But size is only the basics.. The fun part is being able to take a dark, underexposed picture and bring in the light so you can see that beautiful smile.. or replacing those “headlight” eyes with the right color.
Then you will want to try some of the free photo editors..like Photoscape, Picnik, or Picasa. just type the name into your browser, and you will go to a site where you can download them. If you want to spend some money to be able to do more things, search for “photoediting software”.. but be sure to try them out first. and learn which ones will organize your photos the best. Paint Shop Pro from JASC is great, but has gotten more expensive.
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Be sure to learn about your printer’s special settings for photos, and use good photo paper. You can put several on one page to be thrifty. You can buy at Office Depot, or STaples,. or online at www.avery.com
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So, now you’ve gotten pretty good at this, and you want the world to see just how good you are! There are many Photo Sharing sites, like Photo Bucket, and Flickr.com First, you need to join (they need to know who you are..) and READ THE RULES.
Note: Don’t be stupid, and put sexy photos of yourself or anyone else on ANY site! Some teenagers use no common sense at all.. and I’m afraid they may grow up that way!
