Preparing Images For Emailing

Before you attach your photos to an email and launch them into cyberspace, you’ll need to follow a few easy steps or they’ll take forever to send (and receive) and usually be too big to be viewed without scrolling,. In most cases, they’ll have to be resampled in your imaging program, not just re-sized. What’s the difference? When you re-size an image, the file size stays the same- pixels are just pushed together or spread apart to make the picture smaller or larger. This also changes the image’s resolution. It becomes higher (with more pixels-per-inch) if those pixels are scrunched closer together or lower (with fewer pixels-per-inch) if they’re spread apart.

When you send photos as email attachments, you’ll want to specify resolution -such as 72 pixels-per-inch (ppi) for display on a monitor- and an exact image size so the picture won’t look too large or too small on the screen. To achieve this, the image will have to be resampled and "interpolation" will be used to add or subtract pixels in order to give you exactly the size you’ve specified without changing the resolution you’ve selected.

Once that's accomplished, you’ll want to sharpen the image a bit and then compress it so its file size becomes smaller yet. The smaller the file size, the faster the picture will fly to its destination and the quicker it will download at the other end. It can then be brought up in any imaging program or browser for viewing. Let’s go through it step by step:

1. Select the image to be sent, copy it, and bring the copy into your imaging program.

2. Trim (crop) the photo, and make aesthetic changes, if desired.

3. Bring up the "Image Size" or "Resize" dialog box (found under the "Image" menu in most programs.)

4. If your program has a "Resampling" option, checkmark it and choose "Bicubic." Also checkmark "Constrain (or Keep) Proportions." If your program has a "Keep File Size" option, make sure it is NOT checked. (If your program doesn’t have a "Resampling" option, checkmarking "Keep Proportions" and NOT checking "Keep File Size" will put it into the resampling mode.)

5. Set the "Resolution" box to 72 pixels per inch (or ppi). Then type in new image dimensions. If the picture is horizontal (or "landscape") type in 5 or 6 inches in the width box. If it’s vertical (or "portrait") type in 4 or 5 inches in the height box. In both cases the program calculates the other dimension so the photo keeps its original proportions. If you stay within these width and height sizes, recipients will usually be able to see the entire image without scrolling.

6. Images whose files sizes have been upsampled (increased) or downsampled (decreased) almost always need sharpening. The "Sharpen" or "Sharpen More" filter will do a perfectly adequate job. Always sharpen after re-sizing or resampling, otherwise picture quality may degrade.

7. From the "File" menu, choose "Save As." You’ll be asked to rename the picture and be given a choice of formats. Choose JPEG and click on SAVE. Another dialog box will appear offering numerical and/or listed compression options. Choose "0" or "Low." Leave other format values at their default settings.

8. Now locate your image on your hard drive and check its file size. It should be between 20K to 50K. Bring it up in your browser to confirm its size and quality. If it looks posterized or blotchy, redo it using a higher numerical value ( 2 or 3) or "Medium." Bear in mind that you cannot remove all artifacts.

9. Before sending, make sure it has the .JPG suffix on it; if it doesn’t, add it yourself. Many times images cannot be opened by WIN applications because they don’t know its file type. Adding .JPG usually solves the problem.

10. Send only one image per email. If you must attach more than one, the sum of their file sizes should not exceed 100K. Even with a 56K modem it takes almost a minute to download 100K and that’s a long time. Try it.

11. If you input incorrect numbers, select the wrong options, or make sizing mistakes that cannot be undone by "Undo," close the image, click on "Don’t Save" in the dialog box, and start over.

Remember that these steps are for images that will be viewed on a monitor, or printed out at very small sizes (3 by 5 inches at the most). If you want your recipient to print your photos at bigger sizes, you’ll have to bite the bullet and send them as large files.