Reducing files sizes for blogging.

Using pictures on your blog

 One of the things you simply must do is use images on your blog. Your blog must be full of your images.

 All of your projects should be made up of a number of developmental stages, test shoots, trials and evidence of trying things out, all of this work needs to be on the blog along with the associated reflective work (Gibbs).

 To make using images on blogger easier, you need to reduce the file sizes before uploading them.

 Copy the images that you’re going to upload and paste them into a designated folder used for this purpose “Small blog files”.

Once in there, reduce the files using Photoshop or similar. I tend to use Microsoft Picture Manager/Microsoft office, here's how...

 

Click on one of the images once you're in the folder and right click it. Select "Open with" and then Microsoft office.

In the top left-hand corner of this screen (Below) there are 3 square icons, click the one right at the edge of the page (Furthest left).

You'll then be presented with this screen here (below). With the image you selected highlighted +  the rest of the images in the folder. In the menu bar to the left select 'Edit' and choose 'Select all'.

 All of the images will then be highlighted. Then choose 'Picture' from the menu bar and then select 'Edit'. You will then be presented with another drop down box on the right-hand side. Choose 'Resize' and then 'Pre-defined' and then 'Web page large' and then click 'Ok' at the bottom.

 

 

 Finally go up to the top left hand side of the menu bar and click 'Save'. The images will then be reduced to a small size ready for your upload. The only thing you might want to do then is rename them in the order that you want them to appear in your blog. I think if you rename them 001, 002 and so on they will be automatically placed in the blog in that order.

The only other thing you might want to use this for is to make a quick contact sheet. At the first stage when you open the images in Microsoft office, you'll see in the menu bar 85%, you can type in the size you want and it'll change the view enabling you to see your images larger and smaller as a collective. Once it looks nice and tidy you can print screen and paste into Microsoft paint. Once in there click paste and then crop the edges of the picture away to make an easy to do contact sheet. Don't forget to save as a JPEG and it'll do so at a small usable size.