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How do I shrink photos using GraphicConverter?

Dave, I have been trying to upload photos to MySpace, however, I keep receiveing an error message saying that the photos are too large. The program recommended for resizing is for Windows... so how can I resize my photos? Thanks!


Dave's Answer:

There's really no better Mac OS X tool to resize or reduce the size of your photographs for uploading than GraphicConverter, a splendid shareware application that's been a Mac gem for years and years now. In fact, you probably already have it on your Mac if you look in the Applications folder. If not, pop over to VersionTracker and grab it, or go straight to the Lemkesoft site and download GraphicConverter.

Once you have GraphicConverter, open up your photograph and use the zoom menu on the lower left corner of the image to shrink things down by percentage until you get the size you seek. For example, here's one of my big photos at 13% size:

Graphic Converter displaying image at 13% size

That's a good reduction for me, so I'm going to use that same percentage reduction and resize the image. This is accomplished by Picture -> Size... -> Scale..., which brings up this dialog box:

Graphic Converter scale image dialog box

You can see the very first entry is a scale and one of the options is using "percentage" as a unit. That's what you want to do. Make sure you have "Keep Proportions" checked near the bottom, then type in "13" and click "OK".

A few seconds later, you'll notice that your image now shows "100%' on the lower left: you've shrunk down your picture!

Graphic Converter scaled image at 100%

Now choose File -> Save As... and give it a new name: don't overwrite your original large image!

That's about all there is to it. If you want, you can experiment with Sharpen Edges or Unsharpen Mask on the "Filters" menu as they often help your image appearance once you use an algorithmic reduction as we did.

Hope that helps you create more MySpace-friendly images on your Mac.


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Categorized: Mac OS X Help   (Article 7098, Written by )
Tagged: digital photographs, graphicconverter, mac os x, photo editing
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Reader Comments To Date: 1

Ivan said, on July 14, 2007 5:15 PM:

You do not say WHERE I should type in 13%. Could you please indicate where I should do so?

Thanks,

Ivan

Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











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