How to resize an image for posting using Microsoft Paint

[Mike S]

  I have seen this question comes up a few times so I decided to create instructions to outline the basic steps necessary to rescale an image to a size acceptable to post on the CRG Discussion Forum. Using the Microsoft Paint program that is part of the Windows PC operating systems you can basic achieve image reduction without needing third party aftermarket products like Photoshop.

1.Select Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Paint

2.When the Paint interface opens select File -> Open

3.Browse to the folder containing the file, select file and click on Open.
Depending on the size of the original image it may look very large on the paint board.
You can use the right and bottom scroll tabs to move it around.

4.Make a backup of the original image file in case you have to resort to it again. Being the intent is to make a smaller version to post I typically append the word –small in the file name (example: cam-replace.jpg with be saved as cam_replace-small.jpg).
To save the image select File -> Save As and use the new name.
Once saved this will be the current file you will be working with.

5.Next is to get the current image information. Select Image -> Attributes to display the image information (shortcut is to press control e)
What you want to note is the Width, Height and Size on disk values

6.Select Cancel to close the Attributes window

7.To resize select Image -> Stretch/Skew (shortcut is to press control w)
The Stretch and Skew window opens

8.Using the information from step 5 you can adjust the image file size recommendation of 150kb or less to be within the CRG requirements by changing image scale (Horizontal/Vertical) in the Stretch section. Depending on the size of the original image you will have to experiment with the percentages. I typically strive between a size of 480 to 600 pixels wide to give a good view for details and this size typically brings the file size within the recommended size of 150kb or less. To maintain the same aspect ratio use the same percentages for Horizontal and Vertical then select OK.

9.The image size will change on the paint board. To check the new size press control e (step 5) to display the new attributes for width and height. Note: the Size on disk value will not change until the image is saved by doing a File ->Save (shortcut is to press control s). Pressing a control e after it is saved will show the new file size in bytes.

10.If the image size is still too large or too small then you can back out by pressing control z which will restore the image to the original size. If you mess up and can't restore to the original size then close the image and reopen the original. Don't forget to save a backup again as mentioned in step 4.

11.If you are satisfied with the image size (width and height) and the size (150kb or under) then you are done

 I tried uploading a PDF with pictures but the file size exceeded the limit. If you would like a PDF copy PM me and I will send you one in email.

Below are a before and after resizing examples.
Hope this helps!
Mike

[lakeholme]

Good, thorough explanation, Mike!      

11.If you are satisfied with the image size (width and height) and the size (150kb or under) then you are done.

Getting decent detail and size at under 150KB still takes me several tries....  I usually try to get close to 640x480 and then as close as possible to the 150KB maximum.

I've posted a pic that I re-sized and posted for Victor a while back.  This is about as close as I can generally get.

Do any of our engineer/mathematician/computer experts have any hints about "maximizing" pixels for detail?    Ed, Kurt, anybody?

[Mike S]

Hi Phillip,

  Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. As for resizing images and the final quality, that depends on the software you use. More expensive image processing software such as Photoshop (I use CS4) have several methods available to resizing images and maintain good quality in details. They off such interpolation methods as bicubic, bicubic sharper and bilinear for image reduction and control aliasing very well (bicubic methods can be used to enlarge images too). Personally, I use bilinear for image reduction because it maintains slightly better details and sharpness but I will compare to a bicubic version to see which looks better. I process primarly with astro images so details are very important to maintain. Keep in mind that when downsizing an image, pixels are being discarded so finer detail resolution will also be reduced. You can apply mild  sharpening to the reduced image to give the perceived look of details to an extent. Microsoft Paint is a basic image processing program and offers limited reduction quality.


 That is a hell of a nice looking car!
Mike

[KurtS]

I use www.irfanview.com. Works better than several other programs I've used - relative to size and distortion. And it's free.

Drag a box around what you want and >edit >crop.
>image>resize and set the pixels to about 6-800 (if larger).
Save it with about 70% jpg compression and the file will be a good size.

You can also rotate and change the image shading. All the commands also have keyboard shortcuts.
And can convert from almost any other format to jpg. Nice little program.

[tom]

Don't forget to crop out background or border stuff before resizing. This will improve the quality of the smaller photo because you won't need to reduce it as much.

[lakeholme]

Again, thanks gentlemen!
Kurt, I tried Irfanview and it works like a charm!
    

[JohnZ]

I use VSO Light Image Resizer - it's also free, and it integrates with Windows when you install it. Just find your image, right-click on it, and VSO Resizer appears in the drop-down box; click on it, and the program appears, and you can re-size the image any way you like. It creates a new image with (copy) appended to the filename, and keeps the un-altered original image. I use it all the time.

http://www.obviousidea.com/windows-software/light-image-resizer/

[KurtS]

That sounds really handy if you're happy with the pic and are just resizing it. That would work for what most people want, including sending pics to friends.

I deal enough with pics that I'm also cropping and rotating and fixing, so I use more features most of the time. But I'll still try that one too.