User Avatars / Profile Pictures - How to resize? etc.

[Brother_Bliss]

EDIT: This topic has been LOCKED because it's contents are out of date. There is a more recent topic on adding profile pictures here in the FAQ forum. - Bob

---

Please consider adding an avatar, that is, a picture to your profile, that will be displayed on your posts within the forum (much like the handsome one above ). Pictures help identify the poster.

You can do this by going to your Control Panel at the very top of the page, and then choosing the Avatars link on the left side menu within your Control Panel. Or you can click this link to go directly there...

Click on your user name in the upper right hand side of the page and click "My Profile"

Member avatars can be up to 125x125 pixels, and you can store up to 5 at a time and switch between them as you please.

Now what is often the case, is that the pictures you have on your computer are too large to use as an avatar, and you need to reduce them to 125x125 pixels high and wide. There are several programs available to you that you can use to resize a photo. A popular retail program such as Adobe Photoshop Elements can do the trick, as well as most other photo editing software.

There are free programs such as GIMP 2.6 and IrfanView 4.25, and it is hard to choose which one is better but I lean towards the GIMP for image editing. I have written a tutorial on how to resize images with it here. But the most easy program you could ever find for resizing images is PictureGirdle 2.0. However, I think image quality suffers a bit with this one.

(if you need help getting a picture on here, send me a private message)
_______________________________________________

Here are some pictures that have been scoured off the internet that you may use as your avatar (although a real pic would sure be nice). 

[Joey]

This probably shouldn't go here,but I read the info on resizing pictures for

my photo album and I think I am just,well I can't think of any other way to

put it,I'm too stupid.Can anyone explain it in such a way that a really stupid

person could do it?

If I email my pictures to someone and they email them back does that make them

smaller?Kind of like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Mike TV.I don't know what I'm

talking about.

I just want my photos smaller."Smaller pictures for dummys" type info is what I'm looking for.

[Brother_Bliss]

Do you have an image editor on your computer? I use Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 All of us should have Microsoft Paint, and the version I have here on Windows 7 let's you reside a picture pretty easily.

[Joey]

Yes I have windows 7 and microsoft paint.I'm not sureAdobe Photshop element 5.

I'll look at it after my meeting.

thanks,Nancy

[Musky]

I use "PIXresizer" it's free and very easy to use, a simple three step process:

PIXresizer

[Joey]

Chuck,I just downloaded that.I'm trying to figure it out.

Thanks,Nancy

[Musky]

I think you'll find it easy.

"Load picture" button opens a browse window where you choose the picture you want to resize

Then either choose the percentage of reduction or enlargement that you desire or manually input the dimensions.

Then "Save picture" allows you to save it to the same folder or choose another. The good thing is that it renames the changed picture with the size it now is so you don't overwrite the original.

[Joey]

I think you'll find it easy.

"Load picture" button opens a browse window where you choose the picture you want to resize

Then either choose the percentage of reduction or enlargement that you desire or manually input the dimensions.

Then "Save picture" allows you to save it to the same folder or choose another. The good thing is that it renames the changed picture with the size it now is so you don't overwrite the original.

Yes,thanks alot,it's even easy enough for me to do.I already did several pics for my photo album.

[Joey]

Well,I'm not sure which method I used to do the photos Bob's or Chucks.

I'm not real certain how it worked but it did and I can repeat it so thankyou

for your help.

My son will know what to do when he gets home.

[kalada]

Do you have an image editor on your computer? I use Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 All of us should have Microsoft Paint' date=' and the version I have here on Windows 7 let's you reside a picture pretty easily.

[/quote'] Thanx Dismal Bliss i managed to resize my photo thx to your simple instructions:rockon:

[LoneWanderer]

If you feel somewhat comfortable with computers and need a free image editing software, I'd suggest you to try Paint.Net (http://www.getpaint.net/). It might not be even as good as the Photoshop Element series but it does a decent job IMHO, and supports the use of layers too. Handier than MS Paint, anyho' ;)

[Astrid]

But I think the MS Paint that comes with Windows 7 isn't that bad. And for resizing and stuff like that it's a good thing and does a decent job.

[Brother_Bliss]

But I think the MS Paint that comes with Windows 7 isn't that bad. And for resizing and stuff like that it's a good thing and does a decent job.

The new one is much better. In the past, I could never figure out how to resize and crop with MS Paint (thus this topic here)

[LoneWanderer]

But I think the MS Paint that comes with Windows 7 isn't that bad. And for resizing and stuff like that it's a good thing and does a decent job.

Yeah, sorry, I think you're right. I was thinking of MS Paint that comes with other Windows systems than Vista and 7 isn't much help

If there's a need for batch resizing/resizing many pictures at once -- as when uploading on the internet, well, then a separate program for that might be good. There used to be this PowerTools program for some versions of Windows but with the newer systems there's nothing as handy as that anymore, me thinks. But I used to have on my computer something called PowerTools Clone (?) which emulates the original Microsoft-made program and makes it a swell to resize your hundreds of photos for web use.

[Musky]

This little free program does everything needed. I use it constantly, it is very easy and fast.

http://pixresizer.en.softonic.com/

[sianrose]

I downloaded that pixey thing ...musky it is very neat...I recommend it

all so Paint.Net....which Julius recommended...I have used that for a long time....and also Gimp...which Bob recommended somewhere...I read reviews on Gimp which say it is as good as Photoshop...but it is more complex to learn...

all these are free software...

[Tala]

This little free program does everything needed. I use it constantly, it is very easy and fast.

http://pixresizer.en.softonic.com/

What about on an ipad? Cannot figure out how to get my picture on here.

[timpin]

What about on an ipad? Cannot figure out how to get my picture on here.

...   or an iMac?

[Musky]

Do you mean a profile picture (avatar)? Or just to add a picture to a post?

 

If you want to add a picture to a post, choose "use full editor" from the compose window. Then you will see "attach file" at the bottom left of the screen. Click that, and browse to the picture file on your computer and select it and click on "OK"

 

Then, after it is done uploading, look to the right side and click on "add to post".

 

You can then "preview the post to make sure the picture is where you want it to be. And then click "post"

[timpin]

Chuck I finally got that far - then it tells me its too big, I tried cropping, still too big - how else may I downsize and what are my size limits (Max or min) ?

[Musky]

What resolution is the picture? What is the file size?

 

Usually the forum software will resize the resolution if needed, but the file size is limited to 2 mbs (I believe)

 

I have no idea how to scale it down on a MAC, There are many ways on a Windows computer. 

 

You might try this online resizing tool:

 

http://www.picresize.com/

Edited May 17, 2014 by Musky

[timpin]

when it says this : "This file was too big to upload "     how do I shrink it?   ....... oooppss i just saw your edit addition   .............    I tried it at 50%   -  now I get this:You aren't permitted to upload this kind of file

Edited May 17, 2014 by timpin

[trottigy]

Do you have an image editor on your computer?

I use Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0

All of us should have Microsoft Paint, and the version I have here on Windows 7 let's you reside a picture pretty easily.

Notice his info isn't about cropping, but RESIZING. this is what you want to do. Reduce the size in half or 50% first.

In his pic he is doing it by pixel, but you can resize by percent also. That is what I use.

Edited May 17, 2014 by trottigy

[timpin]

What resolution is the picture? What is the file size?

 

Usually the forum software will resize the resolution if needed, but the file size is limited to 2 mbs (I believe)

 

I have no idea how to scale it down on a MAC, There are many ways on a Windows computer. 

 

You might try this online resizing tool:

 

http://www.picresize.com/

thanks to all of you and Vern too, she gave me this  ... "I used paint to resize them but I also use this program: http://www.online-image-editor.com/

 

It is very easy to use."

[Astrid]

try to save the picture as a jpg instead of png or bmp - file size will be much smaller that way