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Here's a screenshot of IrfanView in use. Note the handsome goofball in the photo. ;o)
Dec 28, 2001
First, for quick and easy photo editing and resizing, you can't beat IrfanView. See the screenshot I've included.
If you want a program which will allow you to do basic editing like cropping and adjusting your contrast and color, download the free IrfanView image viewer at http://www.irfanview.com/english.htm - It's a small program which uses very few system resources so it won't bog your system down.
When you install IrfanView, I'd go ahead and let it make itself the default viewer for image files. That way, when you double-click on one of your pictures, IrfanView will automatically open it.
You can hover your mouse over the various buttons at the top of the IrfanView screen to see explanations of what each button means. Explore them - they're handy! :o)
I prefer having my image fit the Irfanview window so I can see the picture in its entirety. To do this, click VIEW --> FIT IMAGES TO WINDOW
Now, crop your picture however you need to. You always want to crop pictures BEFORE you re-size them (lowering the image resolution before cropping makes your pictures come out blocky and fuzzy).
Then:
Click IMAGE --> RESIZE/RESAMPLE
If it's a landscape (sideways) picture, click the
button next to where it says 640x480 OR...
If it's a portrait (up and down) picture, under NEW SIZE, type 480 in the width and 640 in the height.
NOTE: 800x600 also is okay for posting, but it's kind of big. Experiment - you can always click the little backwards arrow icon up top (same as EDIT --> UNDO)! :o)
Click OK
Now that you have your picture the way you want it, click the little disk icon in the menu bar at the top of the screen. This will let you save your image with a new file name. When you do this, IrfanView saves a copy so you're not saving over your original.
When you save your picture, click OPTIONS
Slide the JPEG "Save Quality" slider over to between 50-75%. The higher the number, the better the quality (the less compression), but the larger the file.
Click OK
Navigate to your preferred folder for saving pictures, just like you would click through to the desired folder in any program
