& How To Resize Them
Find Free Graphics
There are at least two great ways to search for images you can use in your course materials (or homework):
- Google Images search
- Website repositories of graphics labeled for commercial or non-commercial reuse
- http://pixabay.com (choose the smaller sizes!)
- http://flickr.com/creativecommons
- http://stockvault.net
- http://everystockphoto.com
- http://wikimediacommons.org
Resize Them
- SumoPaint: http://sumopaint.com (try online or download)
- Pic Monkey: http://picmonkey.com (follow the ‘no registration needed, edit for free’ link)
- Pic Resize: http://picresize.com
- Even faster? http://picresize.com/plugins.php Bookmarklet for your browser – if you use them, if not, do not go down this rabbit trail!
Why resize?
There are two great reasons to resize images: faster load time on a web-page and smaller file size when sharing or storing a document.
How to resize?
Use one of the resources above and change the dimensions of the image and/or the resolution of the final stored image to reduce file size. First, crop the image to be just what you want. Only download smaller images unless you need a very high-resolution graphic for printing!
Efficiencies
Find the product that works for you and stick with it.
Create a folder to save items to and rename images (what they are or how you want to use it) to reduce future time searching.
Extra Tips
Consider sharing a Google Drive folder with your students Put graphics into the folder to help get them started, plus this tip, or your assignment sheet.
Want your students to go out and create images that they share with each other? Consider creating a Flickr group. That’s a cool way to make a pool of images that are clearly free to use.
More
- Learn about Copyright and Fair Use
- Using Flickr in your course
- Google talks image optimization
- Janene McMahan provides more information about online photo editors –
http://elearning.uaf.edu/go/edit-online