How to work and save photos for blogs and magazines

Oh how us bloggers LOVE using photos and lots of them to convey our messages in our posts! But did you know there's some easy tweaks you can do to your photos to allow them to load quicker and keep them safe?


Now what about if a magazine should come knocking on your virtual door? Would you have any idea how to prepare for such an event?

Worry no more. I have some info to share on both fronts that will help you get on the right track immediately.

Take photos in high res

 What is it?

High res, or high resolution is taking pictures at a high quality from the get go.

How to do it

Go into your camera settings to ensure they're set at the highest quality possible. While you won't need the best quality for blogs, you'll need it for online features and magazine spreads. Save yourself major grief in re shooting and do it right the first time.

Always leave your originals untouched

 What is it?

Blogs, online features, and magazines all require different photo particulars. For this reason, NEVER touch your original high res photos.

How to do it

 When going to post on your blog, select your photos, then EXPORT them into a new folder. This allows the originals to remain untouched.

Why tweak copies? Why not work on originals?


Every time you work on a jpg, you lose quality. So while you can go back to that photo, unsave and edit to your heart's content, your photo will get grainy over time. When tweaking jpg  photos, you want to do just what you need to do, then stop.

You can take your pics in raw format, which allows tweaking to your heart's content, however you still want to leave an untouched batch for magazine purposes.

What magazines want

Magazines or online features desire higher resolutions to accommodate full page spreads. Leaving your originals untouched allows you to export copies of them in any pixel rate desired.

Decide on the resolution

 What is it?

Click a photo on a  blog. Does it open up crazy big? No difference? Something in between?

A photo will open only as large as the pixel rate you've chosen. Straight out of the camera high res is around 4000 which is total overkill. Other sizes that Blogger accepts are:

small 200

medium 320

large 400

in between L and XL 576 (not a blogger standard)

XL 640

XXL 800 (not a blogger standard)

(How to post non blogger standard sized photos on blogs is HERE.)

Why it matters

In my early days of blogging, I'd publish photos straight from the SD card, size it in Blogger and call it done. Big mistake. A computer screen will only show so much resolution.  High res photos make your blog page load slower.

Blogger does indeed allow you to size your photos in S, M, L. or XL, however how you export them will determine how large you can view them. If you're only exporting your photos at 400 pixels, you'll never be able to show them on your blog in XL, which is 640 pixels. 

Then again, if you're exporting them at 200, while they tend to look fine on 15" monitors, they look like ants on a 27" monitor. To keep everyone happy, decide on something in between.

I personally like using 800-1200 on my blog. This allows me to photo edit them easily as I like seeing every detail  plus when YOU click on them, although I show them as XL on my blog, you can view them larger than that.

How to do it

I bring my photos into my computer via SD card. Then I crack open a photo editing program of choice,  select the ones I wish to publish, and EXPORT them into their own folder on my desktop (easier to delete later)  as, say, "Junky Ladders 1200", at 1200 pixels. I then open that folder and start editing and watermarking them.

You can do this in most photo editing programs. I personally use (free) Picasa, ($) Photoshop Elements and ($) Lightroom.

What magazines want

All editors ask for something different. Some that wish to do full page spreads will request your photos at 4000 pixels right out of the camera. Others wish for you to reduce them to 600. Every one is different. This is why it's so important to retain those originals.

Watermark it

 What is it?

Watermarking  is putting your logo, or copyright info right on your photos.


Why do it?


I was recently featured in an online thrift store ad. They used some of my junk photos to help promote the wares they sold. Not cool and here's why.

#1. They did not link back to me. They worded the ad in such a way that sounded as if they made the projects themselves with their stuff.

#2. They didn't ask me. I was spotted by another blogger thank goodness! (thanks L! )

#3. My photo WAS watermarked! But that was the only indication that it was my work.  There were many others on there that were not labeled so I couldn't even tell anyone else they were being used if I wanted to.

#4. They used me (and others) for their own monetary gain. So not cool. The issue was dealt with but it was pretty stressful for many involved. (thanks S!)

In the land of social media and places such as Pinterest, you just never know who will help themselves to your work and not all understand nor care about copyright issues. It pays to watermark your photos or at the very least, your NICE photos. :)

How to do it

I personally watermark through Picasa with typed out text. I do it once, then select COPY TEXT. For the remaining photo, I select PASTE TEXT. Fast and easy!

How to work with Picasa is HERE.

Easy does it

Is your watermark screaming back at you?

I bypass featuring photos if the watermarking is too heavy or runs through the middle of your photo. I want to feature your WORK first, watermark 2nd. Put it on there, but allow it to  enhance your photo, not take over. A smaller watermark looks more pro anyway. And don't forget you can cut down the intensity of a color and make them whisper.

What magazines want


Magazines do NOT want watermarked photos. This is yet another reason to keep your mag potential photos separate from your blog photos.

Tone down or eliminate fancy schmancy

It's fun to play with our photos and add fancy settings. However many of the funky features make viewing your photos hard on the eyes. Use and choose them wisey or better yet, leave your photos crisp, vibrant and easy to view without the self inflicted hazes, overly crazy tilts and fuzzy vignettes.

What magazines want

The above. They are watching you so show them that you're capable of delivering. And practice taking photos without needing to crop. I rarely crop mine these days and treat the entire view finder as my final picture.(ok ok, that cat picture is cropped!) :)

How to file your photos

How you file our photos will most likely be determined by what photo editing program you use. This is how I do it.

For blogging

I bring photos into my computer via Picasa. (free download) Picasa will automatically sort them in separate folders by the date that you took them.

From there, I go into the folders, delete what I don't wish to keep, then start relabeling the dated folders with descriptive names.

If I know I'll never use them again but wish to still hang onto them, I'll burn them onto a dvd, then remove them off the hard drive. But honestly, because I plan to write ebooks for teaching purposes, I've left most on the computer for now alongside those dvds.

For magazines

When magazines wish to feature you, they generally want the photos quickly. And it's ALOT of work photo editing them on short notice to their specs. Here are some ideas that can help save your sanity should your call come.

#1. Collect all your best photos, export them into a master folder as high res, then photo edit them without watermarking. You now have a batch that can be exported at a moment's notice in most any format you desire.

#2. Load them online somewhere like Photobucket. (free until you surpass your space quota) This way, you can simply share the link with any magazine and they can grab them from you effortlessly without transferring them.

This is easier than FTPing (a somewhat complicated way of sending large sized photos) or emailing them however there's some risk as others can also borrow your photos. Set your settings to private once you know the magazine is done with them until next time.

How to send your photos

If you are submitting to a magazine, they'll need to capture your photos in some way. 

1. Email is an option but it's not my personal favorite. Large files can really bog down the system. If you're only sending a few at a lower resolution, you can probably get by with this.

2. Dropbox is a program that allows you to send at whatever res you desire effortlessly. It's free until you reach a certain file size amount. I highly recommend this route as you can always go back and copy/paste from your dropbox anytime too.

3. Online - storing your photos in something like Photobucket is also a nice way to share. You just need to ensure your folder is set so the other party can view it.

How to copyright your blog and photos

 Check out My Free Copyright, read up on it, sign up and get the widget on your blog. It's free.

But if you like to be featured by other blogs, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE also put text on your blog that you're ok with others showcasing your photos as long as they tell you AND/OR link back.

If you don't have that additional text disclaimer, legally you can't be featured unless asked. Most of us LIKE being featured. If you're one of them, add the text. I feature those first due to time limitations.

Also please read the SNS rules on weekends. By linking up, you've given me permission to feature you without further approval.

Disclaimer: I'm not the blog picture cop. Please take my advice as my own opinion.  If you know more or better, please feel free to share in comments!

No more excuses! You can now be efficiently organized with faster loading blogs, be totally magazine ready and safe from all harm. Happy photo tweaking to you! :)