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This tutorial is designed to assist you with the basic functions of Irfanview, enabling you to easily prepare your images prior to upload

1. In this tutorial you will learn how to open your images, crop, resize and convert the images to JPG format so that they can be used in your auctions. This is not a complete IrfanView tutorial. But perhaps after you have learned these basics you can experiment with the other tools and options that are available to have more fun with your images. The explanations are in plain English and where we think it is valuable to explain something more in depth we have done so. You can skip those explanations if you want to and just use the step by step instructions to edit your pictures.

2. Here is the opening screen of IrfanView. First click on VIEW on the toolbar and then uncheck "Best fit to Desktop" if it is checked. This will display the pictures in their true size. Now click on FILE on the toolbar to get started.

3. You will probably be getting your image from a scanner or digital camera so click on FILE/SELECT SOURCE first. After selecting the source click on AQUIRE and you will see the TWAIN screen that came with your scanner or digital camera. Download your image from the source and it will open up in IfranView ready for editing. If you will be getting the image from a folder on your hard drive click FILE/OPEN and browse to the correct folder and open the image you wish to edit.

4. OK, now the image is open in the image editing window. #1 Shows the file name and extension with some basic information about the file. The width and height respectively, in pixels, and the color depth of the image, 24BPP (bits per pixel), a pretty standard JPG image. #2 The toolbar options will now be active. #3 The image itself.

5.The first thing to do is determine if the picture should be cropped. That is, remove unnecessary areas, usually along the outer edges of the picture, that are just taking up space. In our example we have drawn a rectangular shape around the image of the saucer to remove some of the extra area that is not needed and is only taking up space and file space. To draw the cropping line just place the cursor into a starting upper or lower corner of the area and click and hold down the left mouse button and start drawing the line. It might take a couple of practice tries to get it right. If you don't like the result and haven't done the crop command yet, just click the mouse button and the crop line will vanish and you can try again. If you did the crop command and don't like the result click on EDIT then UNDO. If you have the crop line the way you want it click on EDIT then CROP. The area outside of the crop line will be removed.

6.This page is optional but is good to know and become familiar with. The above image shows the IMAGE INFORMATION screen. You can click on the little blue "i" with a red circle around it on the tool bar and you will get this screen or click IMAGE then INFORMATION. You see the name of the file, it may still have a default name at this point, and then the compression method (the file type). our example shows a JPG file but yours may show TIF/TIFF or possibly GIF or BMP. You will want to save it as a JPG file later if it is not already a JPG. #1 shows what the size was before the crop and #2 shows the new cropped size. #3 shows the file size in bytes. This is good to know as it is our goal to keep this number around 50000 bytes (50 kbs), and hopefully as low as 10000 to 30000 bytes. The lower the number the faster it will display in your auction.

7. If, after cropping, your image is still over 450 pixels wide you should consider resizing it smaller. Some cameras will take pictures way over 640 pixels wide and most scanners can make a very wide picture too. If you really want people to view your auctions and see the pictures, keep them between 300 and 450 pixels wide. Click on IMAGE then RESIZE. ( Not RESAMPLE ). While we are on this screen note the options for BRIGHTNESS, CONTRAST, GAMMA CORRECTION, COLOR BALANCE and SHARPNESS. These are all good features to become familiar with if you want to really make your pictures look their best. Experiment with them when you are comfortable with the basics we are discussing.

8.#1 Shows the current file size in pixels. The first number is always the width. #2 We have chosen to resize this 640 X 480 image to 400 X 300. we think that is a perfect size for 99% of eBay auctions. You will have to be the judge of your own pictures. The box on the left, the width, will be highlighted when this screen pops up so you can type in whatever value you want for the width and the height will automatically adjust if you have the (#3) PRESERVE ASPECT RATIO option checked. Click OK and the image will be displayed in its new size. If you really don't like it click EDIT then UNDO and try a different size.

9.We are now ready to convert the file to JPG if necessary and give it a name. Click FILE then SAVE AS.

10.If you are familiar with the SAVE AS routine and saving to the file/folder of your choice, you can skip down to #5. If not, read on. IfranView does not make a default save to folder so you will need to create one or use an existing folder or do whatever you have been doing that you are familiar with. #1 You use this drop down window exactly like in the OPEN window. You click on the down arrow and choose a drive by single-clicking on it. Then use the vertical scroll bar to find the file(s)/folder(s) where you save your images to. #2 In our example we are saving the image to a folder named "images" which is a folder in the Windows directory on the C: drive, but you may wish to create a folder in your "My Documents" called "images", or any name you choose, as long as you can find it again ! #3 This is where you can give the file a name that makes sense to you. Ours already had the name of "DBZ" so it appears in the box. Many images will have a default name like "Image1" or "Untitled1" at this point if you opened it directly from a camera or scanner. #4 IrfanView defaults to JPG file type when doing a SAVE AS so you may not need to click the down arrow and choose JPG. #5 When you have the folder open where you wish to save to and the file named (when naming images files, do not use spaces in the name, if you do require more than one word, use an _ 'underscore' to "join" the two words together)and the file type (JPG) set, click on OPTIONS.

11.IrfanView has a very good feature when saving JPG files. You can choose the exact amount of compression you want by adjusting the slider bar. Move the slider bar until you are at 80. In our tests, a 1MB ( 1000000 bytes ), TIF file saved as a 28 KILOBYTE ( 28000 ) JPG file when saved at 80, and there was virtually no visible difference between the two files. Also check the SAVE PROGRESSIVE option. This saves "slides" of your image and when downloading to your auction will start with a low resolution image and fill it in with higher resolution as it continues to download. BUTT! If using your images in our Macromedia Flash templates, do not use the 'Save progressive' option. Click the OK button and then click the SAVE button in the SAVE AS window when it pops back open. We will not discuss the other options here as we are just concentrating on the basics of saving as a JPG.

12.Thats it!! You have now hopefully opened, cropped, resized, converted, and saved an image. You can now upload the image to your Auctionpix account Remember to go back and try the other image editing options to make your pictures look their best. ( This tutorial was shamelessly stolen from Near-mint.com)