Learning how to crop or size an image can be helpful when submitting an entry to the DKG International Art Gallery. To size an image, there are many applications that can assist in sizing, but that can easily be done in MS Word, also.
Here’s a photo that I took for fun while walking at the park one day. When I drop it (Insert > Picture) into MS Word, it is much larger than I want. If I click on the image one time, it shows as being selected. Each corner has a mini box on top of the image. Boxes are also on the sides. Those are control tools that allow you to make the image larger or smaller.
Click on a mini box on one corner. An arrow tool will appear when you access the photo. The line with two arrows show that you can move the image in or out to alter the size. Drag the image inward to make it smaller. By using the corner tools, the image will stay in proportion as it is sized. Adjust in this way until the image is the size needed.
The next step is to save, rename and check the file size of the picture. Your simple steps: right click on the picture, scroll down to “save as a picture”, when the “save as” box shows up, rename your photograph, title – first and last name – state organization. Below that, check to make sure to save it as a JPEG file before you save it to your computer.
When that is done, click on the image again, and it will come up in the photo viewer. In Microsoft, you will see three dots at the top, click and scroll to “resize image”. Make sure that the file size meets the Arts Gallery submission image size of 250–450 KB and a maximum of 10 MB. If the picture needs to be resized, make the adjustment there.
To crop the image another tool is needed. Cropping an image means to remove a portion or portions of the image. In MS Word, the tool is found by clicking on the picture, under “Insert” on the top ribbon, the “Picture Format” option will appear.
In a photo editor, the tool will look slightly different but does the same job. It may be a button that says crop or an image with heavy chevrons on each corner.
Before cropping the image, duplicate and save it. This will allow a master copy of the photo to always be available.
To crop the image, click on the photo to select it. The crop box will appear around the photo. You will see heavy chevrons on each corner. Select and drag one of the corner chevrons to adjust what you want to keep in the photo. Drag the chevron. All four corners will move at the same time to proportionally adjust the image. A grid may appear as you drag the image. Think of the grid as a ruler to help keep things straight.
When the image is cropped to your purposes, click off the photo and review the new image. You may need to crop more than once to achieve the image you need.
The
image of the ducks was cropped three times to achieve this view. When you have
the results you want, again, bring up in the photo
viewer and make sure that the file size meets the Arts Gallery submission image
size of 250–450 KB and a maximum of 10 MB. Either use the Done button
within the editor or the return or enter key on the keyboard to save.
Now you will have a new clean image that meets the parameters needed!
The Arts Gallery is now currently accepting submissions for the Spring Gallery. Keep submitting artwork; we look forward to viewing your creative vision!
