Some pages and Resizing for Web Tutorial

I've been busy scrapbooking again. I felt like I was working on these two pages forEVER, but I think I like how they finally turned out. I've vowed to get caught up on my pages this year (I've only got about 2 albums worth of pictures to do until I'm caught up) and I've been doing a couple of pages a night, roughly. What I love about these pages are the transparencies (sp?) that I made using some digital brushes, some transparency sheets from Staples, then printing them on my printer. The best part was being able to personalize the little frames etc. You'll notice, I also USED some of my chipboard letters. I buy these things, I LOVE these things, and I refuse to actually USE them. Is anyone else like this? Get a grip girl - and USE your supplies! I'm living dangerously and using my letters. Heaven forbid I run out of 'S's or "E"s. It makes me feel naughty to be reckless with my chipboard letters...tee hee hee. Did you hear that, Joanne? I've discovered a new way to feel naughty scrapbooking! Ha!

I had a question on how to save photos for the web. Resizing photos for the web allows you to upload your photos much more quickly and allow for smoother viewing. For example, if you want to put photos on blogger - you may have to upload one photo at a time - and that alone takes forever. Here are 2 simple ways to resize for the web using Photoshop (click on the photos to see them larger):

1. Open your photo (or image) that you want to post online. (this version uses CS2, but the principle applies to any image editing software. Just keep reading.

2. Now, using CS2, you can go to FILE>>SAVE FOR WEB. If you don't have CS2 and the older versions of photoshop don't have this feature - keep reading. I WILL explain how to do this another way.

3. A new screen will pop up and you will see a really big picture of your image on a screen that looks like this (it may take a minute for your photo to load if it is really large - just be patient and wait a minute or two) To the right you'll see a little tab that says "Image Size" (I've circled it in red for you). Click on that.
4. You can either a) change the width or height to 600 pixels (width if the photo is a horizontal photo, and height if it is a portrait or vertical style photo) making sure that you've got the "constrain proportions" box checked. It will automatically fill in the other box for you. Or you can b) just change the percent number to "50". When you've done this, click "Apply" and then "Save" at the top.
5. A box will appear and you will save the image wherever you'd like it to be on your computer. I think it will automatically save in it "My Pictures" if you don't select somewhere else. I usually save the image under it's name with "web" at the end - so i know it's the web-sized version.
That's it! You can now go back to your original and close it. If you don't have CS2 - you can save it another way (actually there are a few ways to resize for the web, these are just a couple). When your document is open, go to Image>>Image Size and click on it. In Elements you go to Image>>Resize>>Image Size and the same screen should pop up:
A new little screen will pop up and here you are simply going to change the pixels/inch from 300 (or whatever number is there) to 72. Then click "OK". Your image will become tiny on the screen. That's what it's supposed to do. Now you will go to File>>Save As and save the image the same way you did in the previous example - save it with "web" at the end or anyway you will be able to remember it's the websized version.
When working on an image that you will be printing(ie. a photo, a scrapbook page, or a card) be sure you are working on an image that is at a resolution of 300 pixels per inch (or dpi). Have you created a file or edited a photo that has come back from the printers completely fuzzy and of a terrible quality? It's probably because you were editing it at a low resolution like 72. When you open a new document in photoshop - a screen pops up asking the dimensions you want your new document to be (eg. 4X6 etc.) On that screen, be sure the resolution is set at 300. Also, when you open a photo to edit it, and you decide to crop it, be sure the resolution is set at 300 (you will do this at the top of the screen). This will always ensure that your images are at a high resolution for printing. When posting on the web, however, you want it to be LOW resolution so it will load fast for you. That is why you do the steps in the tutorial above for resizing for the web. Hope that has helped. Let me know how it works for ya!