Images from a camera have very large file sizes to optimize for printing. Publishing on the web, however, does not require the same detail (number of pixels) for clarity.
So, it's important to always resize your images before uploading them to your blog, so as not to make your site drag. Small images are much more streamlined and efficient.
Web Resizer is a quick and handy tool do so. It also has some basic, yet functional editing options that add to the fun. Here's how it works:
Click to view How to Resize & Edit Images Online Quickly.
Here at BloggingWithAmy you'll find tips, tools & tutorials about blogging and websites. In plain English. Want to 
I am loving these tips!! I have been wondering how to do that. I really appreciate all of your hard work. I am so glad that you let us know about privacy as well. I was really surprised to see all my personal info available to anyone. Thanks so much for these posts. They are so helpful!! Rene
Rene, I'm so glad! Thanks for stopping by.
I really need this! I'm off to check it out. Thanks for sharing! I guess I've been under a rock, I didn't know you had this blog. It's great!
~Liz
Glad it's helpful, Liz!
This is a great tip! I have been using Picnik but this looks cool as well.
Picnik is definitely good…this is just quicker and easier when its only the basics you need.
Oh I am so glad I found your site. I was just struggling yesterday with getting my picture to fit my blog header. I will enjoy exploring your site!
Awesome! Thanks for stopping by!
I just had to come back and say THANK YOU!!! This site is great, I've been using Picnik, and I still like it for editing exposure etc, a bit better than Web Resizer, but for re-sizing, this is awesome!
I have been struggling for a very long time with my photos. I discovered a couple days ago after comparing my posts on my dinosaur desktop and my new (to-me) laptop, that the desktop monitor is going bad. Not too good to edit photos on a bad monitor.
Thanks again for telling us about this site and your video on it was great too.
~Liz
This is what I use but do they have a bulk resizer? I haven't been able to find a good one that shrinks my pics enough. I was using photobucket and a few other things but they still didn't get them small enough. After trying many things, this site it the best I have found as well, but I do it one pic at a time which takes FOREVER!
Hey Jen, are you on a Mac or PC? There are bulk resizing products you can purchase, however, knowing you and your frugal rockstar status
here are some free options you might try first.
On a Mac, check out this tutorial using Preview.
If you're on a PC, try this download from Microsoft. (Find the "Image Resizer" download link in the right column.)
By the way, I should probably mention I haven't used either myself (that would be because I'm the world's lamest photo taker), but I hope they'll work for you!
When you resize an image this way, is the original resized or does the computer retain the full size original?
Thanks for a great tutorial!
Kate
No, the original on your computer stays the same.
Can you suggest some good websites to obtain free images for blogs?
thanks!
Thanks, Amy! I just got a new camera that takes even larger photos and I was wondering how small I should resize them down to. I'll start around 400 and "play" from there, I think.
I've been using Picasa where I can crop, collage, add a watermark, change the file name and then export as a new size to use them, but I'll have to remember Web Resizer too.
So helpful!! Thanks!
Question though – I've spent hours and hours taking photos and trying to reduce them to an appropriate size [for a post I was going to publish days ago]. I've been having trouble getting the images significantly reduced AND still maintain high quality AND a prefered pixel size for the image.
I finally decided I was going to have to retake all the photos. My camera setting was 2M, I retook all the photos (30-ish to narrow down to 6 good ones to publish) with a much smaller file size setting, but now I'm not happy with the quality of these photos. The 2M camera setting images are (without editing) 633-ish kb. I can get them down to around 40-50 kb using the Web Resizer site. However, ALL the examples Web Resizer uses to show-case the before/after, START OUT smaller than 40-50kb.
What parameter of image size would you recommend for photos before they are uploaded to a site?
So sorry Web Resizer isn't working very well. Some other alternatives would be to upload to Flickr and then host from there. Or, you can try the Smush.it plugin (search via your Dashboard).
Amy, this was great. I was breaking my head trying to do this so that the pictures would be completely visible on fb. Thanks so much
You had posted once the correct size of the photos so they could be seen completely. How much is that?
The size depends on the dimensions of your theme, but for most themes, I'd say up to 500 pixels wide should work. You'll have to make sure it does in yours though.
Oh wait, do you mean the correct size on FB? For a landing page? If so, for a Facebook landing page, it can be no wider than 520px wide.
I thought it was something like 300 x 600 pixels?
There's no set size (depends on your theme) but somewhere around 500px by 500px or less is definitely better than the size an image is when it comes straight from your camera (like 2000+px). Large images like that slow your site down significantly.