How to resize and crop images in Photoshop

In this post I will show you how to resize and crop images using Photoshop CS4 (the process is pretty much the same for all versions, so don't worry if your version is different).

There are many applications that can perform image resizing (online, free download, or even software that came with your camera), Photoshop just happens to be my favourite program for anything to do with images; being one of the most powerful software applications for image handling and editing - you can do pretty much anything you want - and there is always more to learn!

If you are new to Photoshop, learning how to resize images for web is a useful skill that will come in handy a lot if you are blogging, managing your own website, or emailing photos to friends. Hope you enjoy.

Resizing an image 

First start by opening the image you want to resize in Photoshop. In this example I have opened a photo taken with my digital camera.

To resize the image - click the Image link in the top menu and select Image Size (see above) OR use the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Alt+I to open the popup (see below).

As you can see the original image size is quite big (4000 pixels wide by 3000 pixels high) - and it makes sense to reduce the size when uploading to the web or sending in emails. Before you enter a new size make sure that: Scale Styles, Constrain Proportions and Resample Image are all ticked  (they are by default).

Now enter the new width or height you want the image to be - In this example I changed the width to 600 pixels. You will notice that the height (or width) automatically changes to maintain the image proportions, which prevents your image from becoming distorted.

When you have entered the new image size - click OK to accept.

Cropping an image 

Sometimes it is not enough to resize an image before saving it for web, there are times when you need to crop an image to a specific size (for example a profile image for an online forum, or a website image that needs to fit in a pre-defined layout). Sometimes your image will simply look better if you crop away the unnecessary fluff on the side... So before we save for web we are going to crop this image slightly:

Click the Image link in the top menu and select Canvas Size - OR use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+C to open the canvas size popup window:

Use the Anchor grid to define which part of the image gets cropped away - in the example above I set the anchor to centre bottom, which means that the TOP part of the image will be cropped away. Basically, decide which part of the image you want to keep and click the corresponding square in the anchor grid.

Next enter the new height or width - in this example I changed the height from 450 pixels to 350 pixels. When you are done, click OK to accept:

When cropping an image to a smaller size, Photoshop will alert you with a popup window - click Proceed to accept:

Saving image for Web 

Now that the image is both resized and cropped, we are ready to Save for Web...

Click the File link in the top menu and select Save for Web and Devices - OR use the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S - this will take you through to saving for web.

First make sure that you are viewing 4up - that is 4 image options in a grid on the left (with the top left one being the original image followed by 3 optimized versions at different quality). Select the top right one, and then on the right - select image type: JPEG (you can save GIF, PNG and BitMap images as well, but for now we are going with a JPEG). Next, set the quality slider to 60 (anything from 50 to 70 is good for web and email, remembering that the higher the number the larger the file will be).

When you have defined the image quality - click the Save button at the bottom of the screen. Make sure you save the resized version in a different location (or with a different name) or you will end up overwriting the original file (you don't want to do that).

That's about all there is to it - resizing images doesn't take long, and with the powerful save for web feature in Photoshop - your smaller version will maintain visual quality while being a fraction of the original size.

In the example above - my original image is 2.74MB and the resized, cropped version is a svelte 76KB.

Video Resources:
How to Resize an image and Save for Web - using Photoshop CS4

How to Resize and Crop an image before saving for Web - using Photoshop CS4

Why you should backup your data

If you calculate what you would need to outlay in time, money and sheer frustration caused by hardware failure and lost data:

• Paying a computer technician to trawl through a crashed computer hard drive attempting to restore your precious data - with a possible unsuccessful outcome resulting in tears and frustration.
• Re-purchasing software that you don't have copies of on CD 
• Begging friends and family for copies of their photos (so you at least know what they look like...)
• Drinking bottles and bottles of vodka to numb the pain and put off telling your boss that all your important work files have mysteriously gone down the drain 

Compare all the above, to the cost involved in purchasing an external backup storage device, plus the short regular increments of time spent to backup your valuable data... Most people will agree that the value of data far outweighs the time and cost of backing up. If you have ever lost valuable files, you will most certainly agree that it is more than worth your while to have a process of backing up.

So which is the best way to backup?

The short answer is: It depends. Basically we all work differently and use our files and computers in a way that suits us. For some people the best option is to use the built-in (Windows) backup feature, which enables you to select folders (or entire drives) on your computer - and have the system regularly perform a backup on these files. Other people choose to backup or sync (Synchronise) their data using paid or open source (free) software. Another solution that is quickly becoming more common is to backup to a "Cloud" environment (meaning that your data is stored on a server accessible to you from any computer).

The main thing is that you DO backup your important files... 

I have used SyncToy and SyncBack for keeping identical copies of all important files in several locations. Currently I'm using SyncBack and haven't had a problem with it so far. It is quick and easy to set up profiles and have them run automatically (on start-up, daily, weekly and so on), there are also a range of settings you can tweak to suit your needs.

Technical description of Storage Devices

I have borrowed some of these descriptions from my younger brother (who is a whiz at explaining things)...

There are two major types of USB storage:

1. Flash storage ('Solid State', so called because there are no moving parts inside it) Most mp3players, 'flash sticks', 'thumb drives' etc.
2. IDE USB storage (or External USB hard disk drive - this is just a converter to allow a hard disk to live outside of a computer and usually needs to be plugged into the mains socket). 

Consider both storages in terms of a stone tablet: With flash, we chip our words into the tablet. With external hard disc drives, we paint ink on the tablet and then swing it around a couple of times so that the ink dries.

With flash, we will eventually chip away so much of the stone that the tablet breaks. With an external hdd, we will never break through the tablet, but inevitably, we will slip one day while drying the ink and the tablet will go flying and break.

The bottom line is that hardware does fail at some point in time - if you make sure that your your eggs are in more than one basket (so to speak), you will be less likely to cry when one of your storage drives conks out for good.

A dummy's guide to downloading programs from the internet

OK, so you have found great piece of software that you would like to try out on your computer. The big Download Free button is there staring at you, and you are tempted – because if it works the way it says it does, you will be able to rule the world with this fancy gadget!

But wait... IS it safe? or will an ugly monster rear its 3 heads and make life a misery...

This post will give you a few tips on safe-guarding against some of the pitfalls associated with downloading programs from the internet. Because let’s face it – with zillions of files online, you are bound to stumble across an unsavoury one at some point or other...

First, put on your detective hat and do a little background research on the file or tool you want to download: Run a search using keywords relating to the file or name of the tool - make sure to include words like review, feedback, comments, good, bad etc in your search phrase (I use Google - but you can use any search engine you like). Try to be critical when you scan the search results... “Fabulous tool, an absolute dream to work with...” may sound great – but only if it was written by an end user (i.e. not the maker/vendor of the product) – check the URL (website address) for each review, as this will help you somewhat in determining which reviews are genuine and which are not. For example, if you are looking for reviews on ‘Fantastico Photo Editor” and the best review comes from www.allproducts.com/downloads/review/fantastico - you can say AHA! and tip your detective hat before moving on.

Things to look out for BEFORE you download:

• Is it really FREE? Often software is marketed as "Free Download", which in general means that you can download the software for free (wow!), but you will have to pay in order to use it... 
• If you are looking for free software, you might want to check out SourceForge or do a search for Open Source software bearing the GNU General Public Licence.
• Do you need to register before you download? If you do, it is generally a good idea to avoid using your real name and main email address (it takes 2 minutes to setup a free webmail account with Gmail, Yahoo or any of the other clients out there), that way you can avoid unwanted spam in your main inbox.
• If the site you are thinking of downloading from looks fishy (in any way) - leave the site and go looking elsewhere! For example; content on page appears to be written by a 12 year-old or someone with little grasp on the language they have used (think cut and paste Google translator...), fake looking testimonials and success stories, dubious (or no) information about the site owner, and so on...
• If you think the software may be copy-protected, counterfeit or 'not the real deal' - be very careful, you could land yourself in more trouble than you bargained for...

If your detective work suggests that you have in fact found the next best thing to sliced bread...

Get ready to download:

• Click the Download button (or right click and select 'save as' if there isn't a button)
• Depending on your settings the file will either download automatically to your 'Downloads' folder – or you select the folder you want to save it to before download commences. Either option is fine, as long as you know where to find it once it has downloaded. If the file is a Torrent,  you will need a special program (for example uTorrent or BitTorrent) to download the file. 
• Run a virus scan on the downloaded file. Generally all you have to do is right click the file and your virus software should be in the menu with a 'Scan with xx' command. Alternatively you can open your virus program, and from within the program navigate to the place you saved the file to perform a scan.
• If you want to play things really safe you can create a System Restore Point BEFORE you install the program (the steps below are for Windows 7): 
• Click on the Start button > right click on computer > select properties > then on the left side of the page that opens click: Advanced System Settings
• Click the System Protection tab and click the Create button (see below) 
• In the next popup type a name to identify the restore point (the time and date will automatically be set to the current time). If your computer behaves strange after installing a program, you can revert to the way things were before the event by clicking System Restore, selecting the restore point you just created.

Time to install and see if the software lives up to your expectations

1. If the program is small it may simply be an executable file (.exe), which you double-click to start the installation.
2. The software may be compressed in a .zip .rar or .gz file – to unpack these types of files you need something that will extract the files inside. If you find you don't have the required application to do this (double-clicking the compressed file will generally alert you that your computer is not going to make things quite as smooth as you had hoped...) you can download 7-zip (which is free and easy to use, although you may want to run the steps above and not take my word for it). 
3. Once you have extracted the files – double-click the .exe file to start the installation. 
4. During the installation – make sure that you are aware of any automatic 'bonus inclusions' and un-check anything you do not want – generally this would be everything but the actual software you downloaded. Common so called bonus inclusions are: 30 day free Norton trial, internet search and tool bars, PC tools registry mechanic, Make xx  my home page, Make xx my default search engine... and so on. 

If all went well and you are happy with the software – fabulous. Time spent safe-guarding your computer is never wasted. However, sometimes things don't go to plan – maybe the software doesn't perform as well as you hoped, or you have to upgrade to a paid (ridiculously over-priced) version to use the exact features you wanted, or your computer starts behaving strangely and you think it is because of this new addition...

Tips for when things don't go to plan

• The paid upgrade you didn't want. I would avoid paying for an upgrade to something that was supposedly free to use. You may be able to find an open source program that can do the exact same job.
• Need to Uninstall? Go to Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features > Find the program in the list and select it. Then at the top of the list (top of the page) click the Uninstall link (and make sure to click OK to remove all the files/features associated with the program. Once the uninstall process is finished you may want to go to your Program Files folder (generally in the C drive, but could be different depending on where you install programs on your computer) and delete the folder associated with the program you just uninstalled – if it is still lurking there...
• If things are still not right after you removed the program, you may want to do a System Restore – to the point you created earlier.

Hopefully this guide gives you some insight into what to look out for when downloading programs. There are plenty of fabulous free tools and resources out there, as long as you arm yourself with a little research and knowledge about what you are downloading.

Windows 7 Aero features taking over your Pen & Tablet?

Windows 7 has some great features, but there are times when you may want to dive in and disable a feature or two, to avoid going around the bend... A while back I revamped my computer with a clean install of Windows 7, all was going fabulously well until I discovered that my trusted pen and tablet were behaving in a not so trusted way. As soon as the pen touched the tablet, aero style rings (like pond ripples) appeared around the cursor, making it near impossible to see what I was doing...

I went searching for answers to rid myself of this problem and discovered the following solutions:

Prevent Aero style ripple animation around cursor when using pen on tablet

1. Click the Start button, and type: gpedit.msc in the search/run field: hit enter
2. This will open the  Local Group Policy editor 
3. Use the left side navigation tree: Go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Tablet PC > Cursors 
4. Right click on Turn off pen feedback & select Edit
5. Select Enabled, Click Apply            

Prevent right click menu from launching when you press and hold pen on tablet

1. Click the Start button, click Control Panel
2. Select Hardware and Sound (or if you are viewing icons go straight to Pen and Touch)
3. Click Pen and Touch 
4. Select Press and hold, then click settings….
5. Un-check Enable press and hold right-clicking 
6. Click OK and Apply to save

Prevent the handwriting dialogue from showing on the edge of the screen when using the tablet

1. Click the Start button, click Control Panel
2. Click Programs (or if you are viewing icons, go to Programs and features)
3. Click Turn Windows features on or off. 
4. Un-check Tablet PC Components
5. Restart