Christian Photographers Community

Many of you use Paint Shop Pro as your preferred software for resizing photos and compressing but many are unaware of exactly how to do this.  We see photos that are massive on here and yet we know that the person uses Paint Shop Pro.  

Because of this, we are sharing with you some simple steps  that you might like to print out and keep close by to make this process easier.  We will automatically resize any large photos that are more than 600 pixels on their longest side or more than 175K in size.  But if you use, Paint Shop Pro, why not complete the process yourself?  It's really a lot of fun to learn!


Please put only three photos in a post.

If you have multiple photos to post, we ask that you DO put three in a post so that the topic doesn't fill up as quickly!



All changes must be made BEFORE compressing.  Compressing is the very last step that you make before uploading your photo.  

Here are some steps for you:

• Open photo in Paint Shop Pro.
  
  
• Make ALL of your changes that you wish to make whether it be cropping out some of the background  or lightening if the photo is too dark.  
  
  
• Most photos coming from a digital camera or after being scanned are much larger than SeniorNet's preferred sizes.  Click on Image/Resize and type in 500 for the largest side.  It may be that your photo is a vertical photo so put 500 for the height.  The other dimension will automatically change in ratio to the original size of the photo.   This is the same if the photo is wider than high...just type in 500 for the width of the photo.
  
  
• After resizing, your photo will not be as sharp as the original so, go to Effects/Sharpen/Sharpen.
  
  
• If you wish to add a border or frame, this is when you should do that.  BUT if you add a frame or a border, you have now made your photo larger than 500 pixels on its larger side so now you must resize it again.  So, click on Image/Resize, type in 500 for the largest side, and then you will have to sharpen it again so click on Effects/Sharpen/Sharpen.
  
  
•  After you have made all of the changes you wish to make and you are satisfied that this is the way that you want us all to see the photo, it's time for compressing since photos must not be more than 35K in size.  Go to File/Export/JPEG Optimizer and click til photo size is 35,000 or less and then click on OK.
  
  
• You will be prompted to name your photo and this is when you do it.
  
  
• Upload your photo to your web space and let us see it!

Feel free to use our Practice section to see if you understand how to post photos before you put them in the Photography area.

Using Photoshop Elements

Have your photograph or graphic open in Photoshop Elements.

Click on "Image", holding down your mouse and drag to "Resize", then "Image Size" and release the mouse.

In the window that appears, change the pixel size to 500 (or less).  Be sure there is a check mark next to "Constrain Proportions" and "Image Resample".  In the drop-down menu choose "Bicubic".  Click on "OK"

Click on "File" and "Save for Web".

The panel on the left will show the quality of the original.  The panel on the right will show the quality of the compressed graphic as you change it.  Below the panel on the right you will see the file size and the time required to view it with various modem speeds.

On the right of the screen choose jpeg for a photograph or still graphic, or gif for an animation or a graphic that has transparent areas.

Click on the little right-pointing arrow and slide the arrow you see to the left or right, watching the file size information, until you have it under 35K.  

Click on "OK".  This will bring up a "Save As"  screen where you will name the picture file and decide where to put it on your computer.

Now it's ready to upload to your website.