welcome
I like to set the width of “wide” pictures to 500 pixels. I set the height of “tall” pictures to 700 - this comfortably maximizes the size of the pic for a 600 x 800 display.
Then the image needs to be compressed in order to ensure that it renders promptly, and is efficiently stored on the web server. Here's how:
iPhoto
For all you mac users out there, you can simply select the photo(s) you want to use, and then click Share
→Export
. Enter a width value of 500, and follow the instructions to finish exporting.
Adobe Photoshop
- Open the image and rotate it as necessary
- Resize the image
- Click
Image
→Image Size…
- Enter a width of 500 pixels, the height should change automatically.
- Click
OK
- Save for Web
File
→Save for web…
- Choose
JPEG
andMaximum
from the dropdown options. - Click
OK
and save the new image in a place where you can easily retrieve it for uploading.
GNU Image Manipulation Program
If you can't get your hands on a copy of photoshop, this software can stand-in for most uses and it's free… http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html
- Open the image and rotate it as necessary
- Resize the Image
Image
→Scale Image…
- Enter a width of 500 pixels
- Click
Scale
, the height should change automatically.
- Save the Image
File
→Save As
…- Rename the file appropriately
- Expand
Select File Type (By Extension)
- Select
JPEG image
- Click
Save
- Check the box
Show Preview in image window
- Move the slider to the desired quality (I like 95 or better)
- Click
OK
Irfanview
Here's another one that should be pretty simple to setup and it's free to download and use. I have not tried resizing/optimizing for the web with this one but it should be pretty easy. Directions forthcoming… http://www.irfanview.com/