- Setting up a digital darkroom
- Taking memorable portraits
- Share your digital photos
Share your digital photos
Part of the fun of shooting pictures is to share them with others. In this final section, we'll briefly cover how to edit your digital photos before you email them to friends and family.
Unless you resize images meant for printing, email recipients will have to open
an image-editing app to see more of this handsome iguana than its eyeball.
Downsize Your Images
Before you email a image from your digital camera, you should edit the image using image editing software so it's easier for your friends to view the image on their monitor.
Note: In the following example, we're using Photoshop Elements to edit our image but any image editing software will work.
A file that's the right size to deliver a high-quality print is definitely the wrong size to post on the Web or send via email. A 3,000x2,000-pixel JPEG image, for instance, may be about 3MB. If you print it at 300 pixels per inch, you'll get a nice 10-inch-wide print. But if you send it via email, the recipient will have to view it in an image-editing application to be able to see the entire image on even the largest monitor. To spare your audience some grief, select Image > Resize > Image Size and change the width to, say, 600 pixels (with Constrain Proportions checked, the height automatically changes to 400 pixels, retaining the original width/height ratio). Rename the new image so that the original is still available for archiving and printing.
The resized image will now be viewable, and the file size is probably less than one-tenth of the original image. To reduce the file size even further, select File > Save For Web. You'll see two side-by-side images, with the original on the left. Set the quality to zero and note the file size shown below the image. If the image quality is not acceptable, move the quality slider gradually to the right until it is. When you reach an acceptable setting, the file size will still be lower than before, and your recipients will still be your friends.
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Nelsonian
02/07/2008 06:35 PM
Hello Helen, Thank-you, Merci, Grazzi!! At last! An article about Digital Cameras and other related basic information, presented in a simple, concise, well written and easily understood manner, that really gives me the confidence and desire to go out and invest in a camera that will suit my needs. No 'techno-geeky' jargon here or pressure to consider any favoured brand; just plain, honest comment that won't turn your brain to egg omelette. A refreshing change that will encourage many to buy, and start off on a new photographic hobby....not just snapshots!
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