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Windows: Fit Your Kids on Your Desktop Using Picnik

You want to have that great picture of your kids, dogs, cats, whatever, on the desktop of your computer. You know how to change the desktop, but the photo is just not working. Part of the picture is cut off or centered badly. Here’s how to fix it, and even add some space around the photo for your icons.

You can use the same directions to resize photos for sending in emails. For email, make the widest dimension of the photo 600 or 800 pixels.

First Step: Find the size of your desktop

Right-click on your desktop, choose Properties. In the Settings tab, note the Screen resolution size. Your picture needs to be resized to be the same as or smaller than these numbers.

Second Step: Resize your photo

If you have a photo editing software on your computer, you can use that to resize your picture. If you don’t, there are online photo editors that won’t cost you anything to use. Here’s how to resize your photo using the online photo editor, Picnik. Make sure you know where to find the photo on your computer. You will end up with two files: the unchanged original and the resized copy.

1. Go to picnik.com. You don’t need to sign up for an account.
2. Click Upload Photo. Direct it to where you have the photo file stored on your computer, then click Upload. The photo will display once it is uploaded.

(If the photo you are using has a lot of background you don’t want, use the Crop tool first, then the Resize tool.)





3. On the Picnik toolbar, click the Edit tab, then the Resize button.
4. In the Resize window, the New dimensions: boxes show the current dimensions of the uploaded photo. If you want the photo to fill the entire desktop, go back to the resolution numbers you looked up in the first step, and set either the width or height of the photo to match the width or height of your screen resolution. The other number will adjust automatically. What you want is to have widest dimension of the photo be the same or smaller than the desktop resolution. If you want to leave space around the photo, resize it to at least a couple hundred pixels smaller than the desktop. (For example, if the desktop is 1680 pixels wide, make the photo about 1400 pixels wide to allow room for a couple columns of icons on the sides.) If you want space all around the photo, keep adjust either your photo’s height and width dimensions to until they are both smaller than your computer’s resolution.





5. Click the Save & Share tab to save the resized photo back to your computer. Type in a name and choose where to save it.

Third Step: Try the photo on your desktop

Access the Desktop Properties to apply the photo to the desktop. If you want the photo to be smaller than the desktop, be sure to set the Position to Center, rather than Stretch (In the Desktop Properties box, Desktop tab).

If you’re not happy with it, upload your original and give it another try. If you have a larger monitor, you might find that you prefer the photo smaller than you originally thought. There is no pixel size that will work for everyone, so you have to find what works for you. Once you find a size you like, you can use those dimension numbers when you resize other photos. Good luck!

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