BleepingComputer.com: Resizing Images for Desktop Background / Avatar

Can anyone suggest how best to resize an image to use for my desktop background or for a forum avatar?

Tools? or better yet, a tutorial to help me understand how to manipulate images.

This is something I'd really like to learn and find it overwhelming

Here you go:
Resizing An Image Using Irfanview

If you have any questions, just ask.

tg1911, on Jan 21 2010, 08:36 PM, said:

I've heard a lot about Irfanview, but don't want to inundate you with questions -- that said, hope there's enough info in Faq's to get me started.

Thanks!

You're welcome, hunnybunny.
I don't mind questions, that's what we're here for.

tg1911, on Jan 21 2010, 09:11 PM, said:

tg:

I do have a question for you re: Irfanview: resizing an image for desktop background.

I was able to resize a favorite image of mine for my home monitor res: (1024x738) however, I would like to resize the same image for my work monitor (1280x1024) but this size doesn't seem to be an option. Can I customize this in some way?

Open the image in Irfanview.
In the toolbar click Image, and select Resize/Resample...
When the dialog box opens put a tick next to Set New Size.
Enter the Width, and Height you want.
Put a tick next to pixels.
Under Size method, put a tick next to Resample, click the dropdown arrow, and select Lanczos filter.
Click OK.

That should do it for you.

NOTE:
You have just so much information stored in that smaller image.
When you try to enlarge an image, you're basically pulling the pixels apart, and the program has to "guess" what is to occupy the additional space between the pixels.
Most programs aren't very good at "guessing".
I imagine, there are some high-end (expensive) image editing programs that are better at "guessing", than other programs, but I can't say for sure.
Even then, I'd imagine the results would be mediocre, at best.
So, don't expect to have the same image quality with the enlarged image, as you had with the smaller image.

tg1911, on Jan 27 2010, 12:20 AM, said:

I tried your suggestion, however when I entered "1280" the Height defaulted to "960". I noticed in the "new size" drop down list there were 2 options: 1280x800 and 1280x960. Can I assume that 1280x960 is the closest I'll get?

Quote

That's because the program automatically calculates the new dimension to retain the exact proportions, when reducing or enlarging an image.

As tg1911 pointed out, enlarging an image from the original will cause the pixels to stretch and result in loss of quality in most cases.
On the other hand, reducing the size of an image will in most certainty, retain the quality.
However, reducing it drastically will result in the loss of detail.

In your case, i.e for a desktop background (wallpaper), you can use a slightly bigger image size over the supported resolution and let Windows re-size it to fit your screen perfectly.

For an avatar, make sure the original image isn't too big. I suggest you CROP the required section out of the original image and re-size that (cropped selection) to the specified avatar resolution.

This post has been edited by ReviverSoft: 27 January 2010 - 07:50 PM

Open the image in Irfanview.
In the toolbar click Image, and select Resize/Resample...
When the dialog box opens, make sure Preserve aspect ratio is not checked.

That's why your image defaults to a given height when entering the width.
Removing the checkmark will allow you to enter the dimensions of your choice into the Width:, and Height: boxes.