The Consumer Electronics Association notes that the digital camera was the most popular electronic gift in 2004. So now that you’ve gotten your new digital camera, we are sure you are eager to send photos as email attachments to your loved ones. But before you dive in, you should know that many of the photos will be too large and may jam the inboxes of intended email recipients. There are, however, some simple steps provided by Sierra Tel Internet and Cornerstone Publishing that you can take to ensure your photos are easy to open by your intended recipients.

Most Windows-based operating systems include Microsoft Paint which can be used to adjust the size of photos before emailing them. To find Microsoft Paint in Windows XP, click your cursor arrow on the START menu at the lower left side of your screen and click on "All Programs." Through subsequent menus and submenus, locate "Accessories" and then "Paint." Click your cursor arrow on "Paint" to open the program. Here's how to reduce the size of a picture:

1. Open your specific picture in Microsoft Paint by using the "File" menu and clicking on "Open." When the "Open" dialog box appears, navigate to the picture you want to modify and select it. Then click the "Open" button.
   
2. Check your file's size by going to the "Image" menu and selecting "Attributes." You will see a line that says "Size on Disk." It will show the size of your picture in bytes. Anything over about 100,000 bytes (or 100K) will be slower to send -- especially if you are sending more than one photo as an attachment to a single email. (FYI - 1,000,000 bytes is one megabyte.) Close the "Attributes" dialog box when you are done.
   
3. Go to the "Image" menu again and select "Stretch/Skew" from the drop-down menu. The "Stretch and Skew" dialog box will appear. You'll see both a "Stretch" area and a "Skew" area. You'll work only in the "Stretch" area for this exercise.
   
4. You will want to reduce the stretch percentages of your photo by the same amount both vertically and horizontally to keep the image from being distorted. Start out with 50 percent both vertically and horizontally. Click "OK." The photo will become visibly smaller.
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5. To save your new photo while preserving your original image, go to the "File" menu and drop down to "Save As." When the "Save As" dialog box appears, give your reduced photo a name in the "File name:" field and then click on the "Save" button.
   
6. Go to the "Image" menu once again and recheck the "Attributes" of your new, smaller image. If you think you've reduced the file size enough, you're done. The new photo is now ready to send to your friends and family. Otherwise, repeat the process by making adjustments to the percentage of reductions. If you aren't satisfied with a result, simply throw the smaller copy away and start over with your original. Remember to always use "Save As" to avoid losing your original image.

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