I am cheap. Or, how I resize photos for the web.

I posted this over on Paper Heart Camera today and I wanted to share it with you all as well, because, well, because I like you!

Did you know Blogger has a maximum photo album storage size?  And after you fill it up you have to PAY FOR more storage?  OK, I've heard rumors that maybe it's only like $5 bucks a year, but I'm cheap, and I'd much rather spend that on a decaf tall vanilla non-fat latte.  : )

Here's how I plan on making my free storage last a very long time:

First off, I edit my photo until I'm happy with it, or until I'm happy with it for today (am I the only one who goes back and re-edits photos weeks or months later?).  Then I save a full size copy of it in my pictures.  I keep my photos named by the date they were taken and organized in a folder by year.  You may have a better way...

So, anyway, click "save as":

I choose to save mine "in a version set with the original".  This keeps your original (unedited version) and your new version stacked on top of each other in the photoshop elements organizer.  It adds "_edited-xx" to the name of the photo.

I save it at its maximum size, that way I can always go back and print a poster sized photo if I wanted to.  : )

OK, so now I have my "good" copy of my edited photo, all safe in my archives.  Next I put my watermark on the photo (my daughter, Grace, taught me how to create a watermark brush!).

Then I click "Save for Web":

The following screen pops up.

I change the "preset" to "JPEG High", and I change the largest sized side to 790* pixels, making sure that "constrain proportions" is checked off.

This changed the size of my photo from 1.23M to 20.4K.  I have NO idea what that means, but it sounds like a LOT.  I save this copy on my desktop, because really I only need it long enough to upload to blogger.  (Remember, I have my full sized, not watermarked, "good" copy, safe in my pictures folder).

Oh, and I almost forgot, another HUGE plus?  It takes mere seconds to upload these smaller photos to blogger, rather than MINUTES.  I don't know about you, but MINUTES is way too long.  What are YOU going to do with all your new free time now?  I mean since you're not waiting for blogger to upload?

*I used to do 800 pixels, but then I read that images under 800 don't even count in your blogger/picasa photo album size limit!  So now, I do 790 and theorhetically will never run out of space.