Learn how to send pictures by e-mail in 4 easy steps

I am still surprised when I get pictures as attachments in e-mails that I receive. The surprise is that I see humongous file sizes like 3 or 4 Mb. It is obvious to me that those who send me these pictures are sending full size images. Even using DSL, if I have six or seven of these pictures it still takes a while for me to download them and see them. In addition, I am sure that it takes the sender a lot longer to send the email since the upload speeds are much lower than the download speeds on any internet connection. So, how are we to e-mail pictures as attachments? Why is it still difficult? Well, read on.

Why does it take so long to send e-mail with pictures in it?

The answer is simple: it’s because image files are large files. So, unless you make them smaller it will always take a long time to send e-mails containing pictures in them. The more pictures you attach to your e-mail the longer it will take.

Image files are very large files. If you include images the way they come from your camera you will always have a hard time e-mailing pictures. What’s the solution? Well it’s simple: you have to resize your pictures.

How do I resize my pictures so I can include them in my e-mails?

While the solution sounds simple, it is not very simple to actually do it. I will list two ways by which you can easily resize your pictures and send them as attachments in an e-mail. Remember the key is to resize the pictures before sending them.

1. You must use some software that allows you to resize pictures (i.e. Picasa, Faststone Image Viewer, XnView, etc.)
2. Select the pictures you want to send.
3. Locate the option in your software that allows you to resize the pictures (in Picasa it’s File>Export, in FastStone Image Viewer it’s Tools>E-mail). Select this function.
4. Normally the software you’re using will ask you where you want to place the resized pictures. I suggest you place them in a special sub-folder called email under the folder containing the pictures for the event you’re interested in. Then choose the size you want (read on for what size I recommend) and click OK or whatever other action executes this step. See the example below.
5. Then open up your e-mail program and create a new e-mail message and then click the attachment button or link. Navigate to this folder where you placed the resized images (i.e. email) and select all the pictures you have just resized and then attach them to your e-mail message.
6. You’re done…you can click the send button.

The important part of the solution is that you create new pictures that have been re-sized from original pictures you have taken with your camera. Once you place the new pictures in a folder that you can find then you just attach the new pictures to your e-mail messages.

If I have taken some pictures at Maria’s birthday party at the park and I want to send some pictures by e-mail, then my folder structure will look something like this:

My Pictures
  2009
    2009-09-18-San_Diego_family_trip
    2009-10-15-Park_maria_birthday
      email

As a side note, if you have GMail e-mail account use Picasa to send e-mails. Picasa makes it very easy for you to send e-mails with pictures as attachments especially if you have a GMail e-mail account. If you do, then Picasa is probably the easiest way for you to do it and you don’t have to worry about the steps above.

How small should I make my pictures ?

I usually send pictures that are 1600px by 1200px by e-mail. This size is large enough for the internet and provides enough details for viewing.

Remember that Facebook for example makes them even smaller at 640px by 480px I believe, if not smaller.

Essentials for organizing your digital photos

Here are the essential products and services I have come to rely on for many years to keep my media collection organized and safe. Even though these are affiliate links, I wholeheartedly recommend them.

Excellent Lightroom and Picasa alternative. If you need a cheaper and simpler photo manager then ACDSee Photo Studio for Mac (save 20% until Feb 15) or ACDSee Pro for Windows (save $20 until Feb 15) is my preferred solution for organizing all my media. It has a very fast browser, great image editing and it's simple to use.

If you do a lot of image editing like I do, I recommend using Adobe Lightroom Classic CC via the annual Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. Lightroom has best photo editing capabilities even though it comes with a steeper learning curve. If you do image editing, Adobe Lightroom is my favorite.

I recommend Backblaze Cloud Backup for affordable & reliable unlimited cloud backup. I have been using Backblaze for backing up all pictures & videos for more than 5 years now. All my invaluable digital memories are safe and secure. This is the best solution especially if you have a large quantity of media files.

Use a reliable & affordable external hard drive for backing up everything on your computer. It is absolutely essential for keeping all your memories backed up and safe.

Start organizing now using detailed, step-by-step instructions and videos:
Personal Coaching (closed) Independent Course Private Lessons
Reference book Basics book Picasa book

YOURS FREE! 10 crucial steps most people miss when organizing their digital photos

Most people want to just organize their digital pictures and ignore these crucial steps right at the beginning...when they are shooting and transferring their digital pictures. Then they wonder why they can't organize their digital photos! Avoid most people's mistakes and start on the right track!

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