Image Manipulation

There are a vast number of image software products on the market, some which have hundreds of functions but also cost hundreds of pounds. There are also a number of free options out there that will allow you to do the basics well.

For the basic tasks of cropping and resizing images for the web, we have included basic instructions for some of the more commonly used software packages.

Photoshop
Price: ~ £500
Availability: Most software stores

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Photoshop is viewed as the Rolls Royce of photo editing suites by many - this means it comes with a price tag. There are many options in this tool that you will never use and many others that will take a lot of work to master. However you can also buy 'Photoshop Elements' which is the very basics of Photoshop in a nice little package for around £50.

Cropping Images:
Firstly open your image in Photoshop. There are a number of ways to crop your image, the 2 easiest methods are explained below:

Using the crop tool:

Firstly, select the crop tool from the tool bar. Use it to select the area of the image you want to use. When you release the mouse the rest of the image will be shaded leaving the selected area highlighted. To confirm the crop, double-click the selected area and the image will be cropped.

Using the Image menu:

Firstly, select the marquee tool from the toolbar. Using this tool drag an area around the section of the image you want to use.
The second step is to select 'Crop' from the 'Image' menu. This will crop the image in line with the selection you have made.

Resizing for the web:

After you are happy with how the image has been cropped, you are ready to resize. The first thing to do is make sure the image is in RGB format. This is the format for the web, if your original image was created for print purposes there is a chance that it is in CMYK format. To alter this go to the 'Image' menu and hover over 'Mode'. The 'Mode' menu will give you a number of options,make sure you choose 'RGB'
The next step is to choose 'Image Size' from the 'Image' menu.
In the resize pop up window you have a number of options. You can alter the image size by specifying the pixel dimensions or the physical width if presented at a particular resolution. You can also resize the image as a percentage of the original size. An important point to note is the 'constrain proportions' check box. If you check this, then when you change the width of the image, the height is automatically calculated to keep the proportion of the image at the new size. If this isn't checked you can alter the height and width independently and stretch the image.

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