Here is a tip for resizing your images for the Digital Images Competitions. March, 2007.

by Paul Eggermann

All submittals must be no wider than 1024 pixels and no taller than 768 pixels. That is the native size of our projector and is the optimal size to keep the computer from resizing your images and risking the chance of degrading your image.

1. If you are using an Adobe product, there is a crop tool that allows you to set the width and height that you will crop to. Set the tool to 10.24 inches wide and 7.68 inches tall and crop your picture to suit. This will result in a landscape orientation for your image.

2. After you have finished any color adjustments you should save this file for printing and future use.

3. Next, go to Image>Image Size and set the width to 1024 pixels. The height will automatically become 768 pizels. (Be sure that Constrain Proportions and Resample Image>Bicubic are checked.) Pick OK and the image will resize properly.

4. Select File>SaveAs and enter the name you wish to use followed by your first initial and last name as follows: My_Title+I_LastName. Use the + sign to separate the title from your name and the underscore _ where there should be a space. Be sure that Format is set to JPEG and select Save. The JPEG Options box will appear. This is where you set the quality that gets your file size as close to 300KB as possible. At the bottom of the box you will see the current size which will looks like ~507.26KB/89.62s@56.6Kbps. The ~ means this is the approximate size of the resultant file. Adjust the Quality slider until this number is 300K plus or minus a little and select OK.

Voila, you have created a landscape style image at 1024x768 suitable for our competitions.

For Portrait style images set the height in step 1 to 7.68 inches and the width to any number less than 7.68 inches that suits your image and proceed through all the steps. Setting both the width and height to 7.68 inches will result in an appropriately sized square image.

These steps will work in other products but you will have to search for the comparable tools and commands to use.