Okay y’alll,
I just bought this Nikon Coolpix 3100 camera. So I’m taking photos and I’m trying to send them to people, but there’s a problem. They’re freaking huge. 750kb.
I have to scroll all over the photo to see the whole thing.
How can I make the photo smaller on my computer so I can send it as an attachment on yahoo or what have you? I know you will know.
Thanks,
Graham
There’s probably some software that came with your camera that will help you out. You’ll need to change the image size and/or resolution, both will work. I usually set all images to 72 DPI (which is about all your monitor can use) then resize to whatever feels right.
Besides the software that comes with the Nikons, there are lots of free and not so free software packages that you can use. I’d start with the Nikon software (which can do everything you need right now) and get new stuff if you decide you need it.
It’s also likely that the camera itself can be configured to take lower-resolution pictures, which would also solve your problem.
Why waste all that resolution? You pay the big bucks for a nice camera like the Nikon Coolpix and then not utilize all the capabilities? Bah. Take your pix at full res, then resize if you want to email them or post them on a website. If you take that one-in-a-million great shot, you’ll be glad you saved it at full res.
Irfanview, Paint Shop Pro, and Photoshop all work for me.
Another good reason to take your pictures at full res even if you don’t plan on using all those pixels is so that you can be conservative on the framing (get extra stuff in the picture) and then crop it down just right on your PC. If your desired result is 640x480 (for example) and that’s what you take your pictures at, when you crop it, you’ll lose some resolution, whereas if you take the picture at a higher resolution, then crop it exactly how you want it and then resize it to 640x480, you’ll have a higher quality picture.
Thanks all. I figured it out with your excellent help. Always the best.
Another vote for Irfanview, sometimes known as “squashed cat!”
If you open files with a browser like IE, then just set IE to fit all images into the window.
So, even as a recipient of gargantuan sized clear photos, you can open them in the browser and the browser will make sure they fit the window/screen. In the lower left of the browser window you can click the icon to make the pic original size.
No editting required.
Isn’t it amazing that a 750k image is considered “freaking huge”?
Another vote for Irfanview.
Philster, the problem with these large pictures is not as much that they don’t fit in the window, but that the file size is so large. Try sending someone 20 baby pics at 750kB each - that’s 15 megabytes. Until last week, I was on a dial-up connection and wouldn’t appreciate that.
Since we’re voting, I like Xnview (http://www.xnview.com). I think I had some problems with image quality in Irfanview.
Okay, this doesn’t apply to the OP, but I know there are Mac people that will want to know the same.
Photoshop does everything.
The Gimp probably does this, but I don’t use it, but it’s free.
GraphicConverter has been one of my favorites since 1991!
And iPhoto eliminates the need for all of these if you (1) want to archive your photos logically and (2) want to email a lot of them. It’ll automatically scale photos and insert them into a new email message using the email client of your choice. And it’s free.
I use Ulead PhotoImpact 8, you can make the image any size you want. It can also record anything it sees on the screen & inport from your digital camera directly.
If you’re using Windows XP, if you select the photo in Windows Explorer and click the “Email this picture” link (or “Email these files” if you’ve select more than 1 pic) in the task pane on the left, you’ll be prompted to re-size the picture(s) for emailing.
It appears that this functionality is native to Windows. The photo-resizer that Mahaloth mentions apparently only adds this option to the context menu.