Back to Self-Publishing Home

Please note: This is not a comprehensive users guide for Adobe Photoshop. It merely covers sizing, cropping, and saving which are usually the steps necessary in preparing a digital image for the web. For general Photoshop information, use Photoshop's Help feature.

PREPARING WEB IMAGES IN ADOBE PHOTOSHOP

Open Adobe Photoshop.

1. Under File, choose Open.
2. Choose your digital file.
3. Double click on the side or the top in the ruler area.
4. Under Units, set Rulers and Type to pixels.

CROPPING IMAGES IN PHOTOSHOP
If you have a specific pixel dimension in mind, you may need to crop your image accordingly.

1. Choose the Rectangular Marquee Tool in the top-most corner of the tool box which is the tall narrow floating box generally on the left. If the tool box is not visible, under Window at the top, choose Show Tools. If the Marquee Tool is not a rectangle, but rather a circle, click and hold on it and a variety of choices will appear.
2. Put your cursor over the image and click and drag the rectangle across it. Pay attention to the rulers at the top and side to keep track of pixels.
3. Under Image at top, choose Crop.

SIZING/SAVING IMAGES IN PHOTOSHOP
1. Under File at top, choose Save for Web.
2. In the dialog box that pops up, choose the tab Image Size in the lower right hand side.
3. Set appropriate pixel dimensions. Make sure the “Constrain Proportions” box is checked or image will distort.
4. Under the pull down menu in upper-right portion, choose the appropriate format. Photographs should be saved as jpegs. Text graphics should be saved as gifs. Make sure the “Optimized” box is checked. You can choose the quality of your image. If you change from JPEG HIGH to JPEG LOW, the image will change in the center.
3. Choose OK.
4. Name your file and pay attention to where you are saving it.

SPECIAL WEBMASTER’S TIP: Often, to size your images perfectly when you have a size in mind, you must use a combination of Image Size and Cropping to get it right. For instance, if you know you need a square image, crop into a perfect square and then in image size while saving, you can reduce it to the size square you need.