I've tried a number of photo resizers over the past few years.

Some were unnecessarily complicated, and were more like photo editing programs. Others didn't allow me to view the photos as they were being resized.

Now I've found one that I really like, and you'll find it in the download area of this site. It's called PhotoRazor, and it can turn a photo of over 3 megabytes into an easily viewable photo of around 50 kilobytes - easy to send through any email program, and a good size to upload to a blog or website.

Here are the steps to using the software. (I've also created a PDF showing the steps, with step by step photo illustrations. You'll find that in the download area, too.)

You start by clicking on the 'choose folder' button, and this will open up the list of files in your computer. When you find the folder that your photos are in, you just open it and then click the 'open' button to resize ALL the photos in the folder. If you want to resize only one, just click on the one you want, and then on 'open'.

If you have more than one photo, you'll be able view a larger snapshot of each one in the column on the right when you hover the cursor over them.

If any photos need to be rotated, click the buttons on the bottom to do this before you resize them.

The book cover photo I'm resizing here had an original file size of over 3 megabytes, which is WAY too large to upload to websites or to send via email.

Click on any photo, and then start playing with the 'size' and 'quality' buttons on the left. You'll find that if you keep the quality to around 70% to 80%, this will be fine for viewing on the Internet or via email, but the file size will still be nice and small.

The slider will give you a maximum height or width of 600 pixels(it judges this by the longest side of the photo.) You can make the photo larger, if you want, but clicking the up/down arrows at the side of the slider.

You will see the PREVIEW of the size, at the top of the window, changing as you move the slider. I've settled on a maximum height of 500 pixels for this photo, and a quality of 80%. The picture has dropped from that huge file size of over 3 megabytes, to only 51 kilobytes!

This program can do one other nifty thing... recolour your photos so they are black and white, sepia, or just one colour. To achieve this effect, just click on the 'convert to black and white' button on the bottom of the screen. Play around with the sliders until you get the effect you want. To return to full colour, click the trash can icon.

Now for the final step. Under 'Resize and Save', you can choose whether to apply the re-sizing and picture quality you have chosen to all the photos in the folder, or just the one you're working on. Click the button next to your choice, and then click 'Resize Photos Now'. The program will resize your photos to the size you chose, and automatically create a sub-folder called SMALL PHOTOS in the folder containing the originals.

Your original photos are still there, ready to print out as high-quality photos - but meanwhile, you have small photos ready for email and the Web.

You can download PhotoRazor from the download area on this site, or from www.stormdance.net