E-mailing photos is a great way to share your memories and the fun things that happen in your life. You’ve no doubt at least wanted to share a digital print if you shoot with a digital camera. But have you felt a little intimidated by getting the files the correct size? If so, don’t worry. You’re not alone. Below are some practical things to remember and try when resizing your digital files so they’re ready to e-mail to all your loved ones!
The first thing to remember is that most digital cameras these days take pretty large photos. There are a huge number of pixels per inch, which makes it great if you’re trying to print your images (because they will print more clearly), but the files are also a lot larger because of the extra information stored in each file. Since most e-mail programs have limits on the size of files you can send, it’s important to know how to resize your images so they’re small enough to send (and so they don’t take forever to download if they go through).
So let’s get started! Start by opening whatever photo software you have. This software might have come with your camera or you may have purchased it separately. Whatever program your photos are in will have this capability. Open the file(s) you want to send.
Remember, just because you want to e-mail a small version of the photo doesn’t mean you won’t want the full size later on. If you save over your original file with a smaller size, you can’t go back and get the larger one. So first thing to do is to save your image with a different name. I like to add a “_small” tag to the back of my file names.
Once your file is renamed, look for an option such as “Resize,” “Document Size” or “Image Size.” After selecting this option, you should be able to enter a new size for your photo in either pixels or inches. Most people have a better idea of the photo size in inches. If you leave the dimensions constrained, you will only have to adjust one side of the photo, and the other side will automatically resize to the same proportions so your photo doesn’t get stretched or cut off. General guidelines are to keep images below 300k per image, so check your file size once you’ve resized your photo.
Save your work, and you should be ready to send your photo(s) in your next e-mail.
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