# Resizing a square picture into a rectangle size for a banner



## hotskates

I have a picture that is currently in the shape of a square. The width is 2607 pixels and the height is 2127 pixels. DPI is 300. Ok, I need to make this a rectangle shape to use on a website and these are the dimensions: 72dpi with 150dpi height and 450 width

I don't even know what program to use to resize the photo. I have Microsoft Publisher, and Microsoft Digital Image Pro 10, and Infranview. 

Where do I start?


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## Noyb

Sounds like you&#8217;re going to have to crop the Picture so that it&#8217;s 3 times wider than tall &#8230;
&#8230; Then resize it to 72 DPI.

I&#8217;d start with Irfanview&#8217;s &#8220; Create Custom Crop Selection&#8221; &#8230; set to 450 pixels wide and 150 pixels tall.


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## slipe

If you want to keep the entire image and stretch it, just open the image in Irfanview and Image > Resize/Resample. Uncheck "Preserve aspect ratio" and put 150 pixels in the height and 450 pixels in the width. DPI or PPI is immaterial. It will display at 150 X 450 pixels with the resolution determined by the screen resolution of the viewer.

If you want to crop out part of the image, follow *Noyb*'s instructions for Irfanview. I don't find Irfanview very good for that sort of thing but it works. Your M$ Digital Image Pro might be easier but you might have to figure it out yourself as few of us use that.


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## hotskates

Noyb said:


> Id start with Irfanviews  Create Custom Crop Selection  set to 450 pixels wide and 150 pixels tall.


 Ok I'm stuck......I did this and it just leaves the picture huge with a black rectangle outline on the top left of the picture. like a frame?


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## hotskates

slipe said:


> If you want to keep the entire image and stretch it, just open the image in Irfanview and Image > Resize/Resample. Uncheck Preserve aspect ratio and put 150 pixels in the height and 450 pixels in the width. DPI or PPI is immaterial. It will display at 150 X 450 pixels with the resolution determined by the screen resolution of the viewer.


Tried this and the pictures is squished.........the right size rectangle but the writing at the bottom is all squished and unreadable.


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## Noyb

hotskates said:


> Ok I'm stuck......I did this and it just leaves the picture huge with a black rectangle outline on the top left of the picture. like a frame?


This Tool isn't too intuitive to use …
From the Irfanview "Create custom crop selection" help ...

To resize the outline rectangle, put the mouse over the border line of the side you want modify. The mouse pointer changes to a thin double arrow. Press and hold left mouse button and drag the border.
 *Press the CTRL key during resize to keep the actual ratio of the selection.* 

If you want to change the position of the selection, press and hold right (or reversed left) mouse button inside the area. The mouse pointer changes to a cross of thin arrows. Drag the mouse until the outline has reached the new position you want and release the mouse button.

Once the crop rectangle is set … then Crop it …


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## slipe

To make a nearly square image into one that is three times as long as it is tall you basically have two choices. You can stretch the image which obviously squishes it. Or you can take a slice out horizontally in the right ratio and then resize it. If the lettering is on the bottom you will have to take the slice from the bottom or put the lettering back yourself.

To expand on *Noyb*'s instructions:

After you take the little rectangle and expand it while holding the Ctrl key, you crop by going Edit > Crop Selection or hitting Ctrl + Y.

If you expand the box by dragging with the Ctrl key it will no longer be 450 X 150 pixels, but it will be in the correct width to height proportions. You can then go Edit > Resize/Resample and you can put it back to 450 X 150 pixels.

What I suggest you do is just resize the original image in resize/resample to 800 pixels wide with "Preserve aspect ratio" checked. "Save as" a JPG at around 80% with a different file name and post the image here. We could make some suggestions on what you need to do.


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## hotskates

Thanks everybody.......I've got it now. 
I ended up just cropping the bottom row of text that had the squishing problem. Now the picture looks good as a banner!

One thing I still want to understand is this: what does the 72dpi have to do with anythng? After you set the Height x Width, isn't that all you need? It seems like if the H x W is larger the dpi would be larger too.


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## slipe

If someone has their screen resolution set to 600 X 800 a 450 pixel wide image is going to take just over half of the screen width. If you have the resolution set at 72 or 500 or 10 PPI it is still going to display the same and take a little over half of the width of the screen. PPI is significant only if you set a print size. That's why I said in my first post that *DPI or PPI is immaterial* for what you are doing.


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## hotskates

slipe said:


> If someone has their screen resolution set to 600 X 800 a 450 pixel wide image is going to take just over half of the screen width. If you have the resolution set at 72 or 500 or 10 PPI it is still going to display the same and take a little over half of the width of the screen. PPI is significant only if you set a print size. Thats why I said in my first post that *DPI or PPI is immaterial* for what you are doing.


Ok, thanks for the explanation slipe. For me, this is like learning a whole new language............I'm getting it little by little.


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