Don't send a picture the size of a poster to show at the size of a stamp

When you're sending photos by phone, whether your mobile costs are totted up by minutes or by megabytes, big pictures make big bills.

To add to our phone pic obesity woes, the phone gnomes are churning out new megapixel camera phones like there was no tomorrow. Wonderful of course. But more megapixels doesn't necessarily mean better pictures and it certainly means huge files.

The same goes for sending fat pictures by email from your desktop. Your recipient may not thank you if they don't have broadband. Besides, you could clog up their mailbox.

Likewise if you're posting photos on a website. Everyone doesn't have a fast connection.

If you can't make your pictures small in the first place, slim them down. For multimedia messaging direct from a megapixel camera phone, you'll probably be offered the option of downsizing before sending. For email or website graphics, an inexpensive desktop art editor like Photoshop Elements makes image reducing easy.

Here are two very common misconceptions that could cost you money - or friends!

WRONG IDEA 1

"The size of my picture is the size I can see on my screen."

Actually a digital image can be three kinds of 'small'.

Your picture can be small in dots, inches or bytes.

1. DOTS. The image contains a limited number of computer screen pixels or printer dots. For instance, a one megapixel photo is made of a million pixels. A megapixel isn't exactly small, but the dots can be squeezed together to look small, as they do on your phone screen. Alternatively they can spread out wide to display at a larger size, as they would if you printed the same photo at poster size.

2. INCHES. The picture is displayed at small size - as measured in inches on a screen or on paper.

3. BYTES. Thirdly, an image can make a small computer file - as measured in bytes. This is something different again. Of course the more pixels you have, the bigger your file. But various compression techniques, plus the content of your picture can make a big difference to your file size.

Result. In a desktop art editor, there are more ways than one to slim down a photo for the post. 'Reduce image size' will shrink your picture only by reducing the number of pixels it contains.

TWO WARNINGS
when you reduce an image size

Save the result with a new name, or else it will replace your original and you'll lose it.

Conserve the aspect ratio (relationship of the sides) or else your portraits could look like reflections in a fairground mirror!

Start the reduction process by viewing your original at 100%. That's the size it will look on most computer screens. See if you can crop it first.

Cropping is a vital step if you want to create an image with impact. Automatic processing will only reduce the whole scene. Only you can home in on the most important part of your picture. Cropping to that not only adds emphasis and reduces size. One bold simple shape makes the image easy to recognise if it's really small.

...Now rush out and buy Photoshop or Photoshop Elements! Both have a marvellous menu item called 'Save for Web'. This will not only reduce the image dimensions in pixels. There are several options for differing degrees of compression, plus all kinds of other aids.

WRONG IDEA 2

"My gallery on the web shows my pictures at small size, so I don't need to cut them down myself."

Oops!. You could be transmitting an unnecessarily large file to a fotolog or other online gallery. From a multi-megapixel camera or phone, it could be very large.

Your gallery of course can only resize for you after receiving the photo. Obvious when you come to think of it, yet even professional artists have been known to make this mistake.

Worse. Your gallery might not even be cutting down the files you're so happily sending. It might be storing the whole fat mega-files (in storage space you may be paying for) - and only displaying your pictures smaller. (See Wrong Idea 1 above.)

Web designers have been known to make a similar mistake, loading a picture to a web site, and setting it to display at smaller dimensions. This means the browser not only has to load the whole file. It then has to resize it to show at the smaller size. All this slows down the page, as well as using unnecessary bandwidth and storage space.

SO... Find out the maximum size your picture will be shown at. Reduce it to that size before you send it out into the world. (Make sure it's a copy you're downsizing. Not the original.)

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Remember. Don't send a picture the size of a poster to show at the size of a stamp!