How to Crop and Resize Photos

Written by Gail on 22 November 2008

If you have Microsoft Office Picture Manager on your computer, here’s a fast way to get the job done:

Open the software
Click on “Shortcuts” on the left side of the toolbar
Shortcuts has opened a new column on the left side of the page. Search through the files and find the image you want to use. Click on the folder where your image is stored and then double left click on the image.
On the toolbar, click on Edit Pictures

Cropping the Image

On the right column, click on Crop to remove excess size – you should only keep the important visuals in the image and get rid of excess border. This will reduce the size of your image and the space needed to store it on your site.
Notice the “handles” that appear around your image. Click on one to move the handle in – this will be your crop line.
Once you’re happy with the crop definition, click OK.

Reducing the Image Size

Click on Edit Pictures; Resize
Click on Percentage of Original Width x Height
Use the arrows to make the image larger or smaller
The normal width for an image in a blog post is 150 – 200 pixels wide. As you use the arrows, keep your eye on the New Size under Size Setting Summary.
Once you are at the desired size click on OK.

Saving Your Image

Never save OVER the original file. You never know when you will want to use the image again:

Click on File; Save As and give it a new file name. Hint – I usually use the original file name and add “_r” to the end which tells me it’s a reduced image. So…picture.jpg becomes picture_r.jpg.
Once the file is saved – you’re done!

Using Other Software

You can find just about anything on the Internet, but you need to be careful. Many free software programs are filled with viruses to infect your computer or leave tracking devices to spy on your activity. Make sure you are downloading and using reputable sites.

Many people are using Picnik because it offers a valued service with a good reputation. They offer a lot of options such as the ability to crop, resize, rotate and they have special effects. No download to install and works on Mac and Windows computers. Check it out – all FREE.

Be sure to check out the extension Tools you can install for FireFox and Internet Explorer. If you need additional assistance, use their forum to get tips and tricks from other users.

FREE Images

There are many royalty-free image sites online. In fact, one of my favorites is BigStockPhoto. Since originally finding and using BigStockPhoto, they have added more licensing terms…and I just got tired of spending money on images.

Then I found sites where you can download images FREE. Morguefile contains all FREE images; the others have free sections, so be sure to locate them on the site:

Link to this page