Resizing Images

I'm taking the liberty of posting Barbara's question because I think it's a good question that might not get read in the comments thread.

Barbara said...
I have Photoshop and use it, but I'm wondering if I am making the best use of it. Please share what "Tools" are your favorites, and I've noticed this -- if I reduce the size of a photo *too much* it will not enlarge when clicked on my blog. Instead it stays the same size. Folks have told me how they wish they could see it enlarged. Do you have a particular percentage or number that you use when re-sizing a photo? Please share details of this program, thanks.

Gerry's answer: When I download photos to the computer they come in around 3500-4000 pixels... The majority of the time I reduce them to 700 pixels which allows them to fill most screens when clicked. If there it is a lot of detail I will reduce only to 1000 but then people have to move it around unless they have a big screen.
I do a lot of photo editing for my son's business and anything lower than 700 cannot still produce a good glossy print with lots of detail ..... My opinion only!!

My one really important tip::: Do your cropping BEFORE you reduce your photo's pixel size. If you reduce then crop you lose additional pixels that may bring your photo down too low. I almost always "sharpen" every photo... my favorite tool!


I use both Photoshop and Image Composer (part of MS Front Page Web software) each having their strong points... BUT without spending any money Googles's Picasa (FREE) has amazing photo editing abilities which are presented in a easily understandable way... I would recommend it highly for those not too sure of their computer skills or don't want to invest a lot of money..


There is a good book "Photoshop Elements for Dummies" It's well worth the money and time to go through it chapter by chapter. Even though I was very comfortable with Photoshop, I picked up a lot of little extra tricks from it...

BTW Robin thanks for the camera info and I did find one last night on E-Bay (used) and bought it... I wanted a Nikon D70 like Susan Elliott uses but out of my budget range right now.....definitely on my wish list tho.