Easy online image editing tools

Everyone knows “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and the adage still rings true, especially online. Images on your website and social media accounts engage audiences, grab attention, and bring your words to life. A strong image should be able to show a product or service solving a problem while portraying a lifestyle or feeling that speaks to your target audience.

Where can I find images?

Surely we aren’t all top-notch photographers, but don’t let that limit your image potential.

While candid shots are great, and make sense to showcase your product or service, don’t shy away from stock images to communicate your message, too. Shutterstock (paid membership), Pixabay (free membership), StockSnap, and Unsplash are some great online resources for high-quality images available to legally download for your use.

Hiring a professional photographer is always a good option. They will capture images that properly highlight the selling features of your product or service and can produce the quality photographs you are hoping for. Working with a professional for a few hours and utilizing different settings and backgrounds, and an assortment of styles, should provide you with a large range of images to showcase over time.

How can I check image sizes and quality?

It’s one thing to know the standards for sizing, but how can you be sure your image works for this?

1. Open the folder where you have your image saved.
2. Right click on the file and go to “Properties.”
3. Select “Details” to see more about your image and look at “Image.”
4. You should see the dimensions in pixels with the width and height specified; below will be the resolution of the image.

How do I edit images?

While there is a range of paid image editing programs (many of which are quite expensive), there are free options online for your basic editing needs.

We recommend Canva Photo Editor. It offers great templates that are already created in the appropriate size based on your intended use, i.e. newsletter, blog, social media, etc. While some layouts, templates and images require payment, creating a Canva account, uploading your own images and utilizing basic options are all free. Similarly, Fotor works well, too.

Google Photo (if you have a Google Account) is also a good option for simple editing.

What are the image requirements for a website?

Overall, the rule is the bigger, the better. We can always edit an image to make it smaller, but there is no way to maintain the integrity of an image while increasing the size.

When building a website, having a significant image size to work with allows viewers on all types of screen sizes to see a professional image. It is best to utilize an image with a maximum of 1800 pixels wide, at 72-150 dpi. The best image types are JPG or PNG. If the image has a transparent background, it has to be saved as a PNG, but otherwise JPG is recommended.

How do I send large image files?

While the size of your image may be great, you don’t want to compromise the quality by decreasing the size of the file to send it to someone. A few options include:

1. Share the file on Google Drive
2. Share the file on Dropbox via a direct link or shared folder.
3. Send the image utilizing WeTransfer.

Any of these methods will maintain the high quality and resolution of the image to ensure the receiving party has the best to work with.

Help, I need more information!

If you have any questions or are looking for support, please feel free to comment below, send an email or give us a call at 604.474.3631.