Please help resize my photo

I am preparing a scientific manuscript that requires that I submit figures in very specific dimensions in millimeters (not pixels). I am not very proficient with computers and own a MacBook Pro with Mac OS X 10.5.8. I do not own and cannot afford photoshop or other expensive software. Here is what I am doing.
1. I finish my figures in PowerPoint.
2. Using the grab application I select the figure I want to resize.
3. I Save the figure as jpeg (or tiff).
4. I then open the figure and go to Tools - Adjust Size
5. I type in the desired width and resolution.
6. I save the figure.
7. I then go to print preview to double check the size of the figure as to be sure it is legible.
8. In the print menu I select "scale" as opposed to "scale to fit" and set the scale at 100%.

THE PROBLEM: The figure does not appear at the size I saved it as when I view it in print preview. The size spans over the edges of the paper (a similar problem occurs when I click "scale to fit"). However, when I open the figure and go to Adjust Size - it shows that it is saved in the dimensions I desire. A friend of mine has a macbook with OS X 10.6.8. When I follow the above procedures on her computer it works perfectly (i.e. the image appears at the size I saved it as when I look at it in print preview). Why does my computer not work this way? Is it the 10.5.8 software I have? Is there something I'm missing?

Thanks for any help!!

What are the pixel dimensions and PPI of the image in question?

Hi,
I'm not sure what PPI is, but the resolution I am trying to get is 300 pixels/inch. For some reason this all works great on my friends computer (300 pixels/inch and resizing) but on my computer the image remains the width of the paper or larger (depending on whether I click scale or scale to fit).

Just tried yoyr method with my Mac ( 10.6.8) and it does what it supposed to do. Checked the dimensions in Photoshop and it's fine. Don't know why it doesn't work under 10.5.8.

Now you could try opening the image in iPhoto. Go to Edit, select crop, and input the size you want in the custom set up. This may solve your problem.

picture resizing

thanks for the input - it is much appreciated. I tried the iphoto suggestion but the custom resize option (under cropping) crops the image down to the dimensions I type in - so I lose much of the image. Also, it does not give me the option of resizing to specific dimensions in millimeters, which is what I really need to do.

It looks like mac 10.5.8 just doesn't have the ability to resize photos in terms of length and width in cm, mm, in etc.

Thanks again!

This might help.

Pixels to Inches (or Centimetres) Converter - Classical Webdesigns, complete website design.

You can calculate the pixel x pixel dimensions required at the PPI you're looking to output.

spitaxe69 said:

thanks for the input - it is much appreciated. I tried the iphoto suggestion but the custom resize option (under cropping) crops the image down to the dimensions I type in - so I lose much of the image. Also, it does not give me the option of resizing to specific dimensions in millimeters, which is what I really need to do.

It looks like mac 10.5.8 just doesn't have the ability to resize photos in terms of length and width in cm, mm, in etc.

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

It does, you just need to find the right application. IE, Photoshop, Gimp, Pixelmator etc.

CrimsonRequiem said:

It does, you just need to find the right application. IE, Photoshop, Gimp, Pixelmator etc.

Click to expand...

Seashore looks like it can do this also. It's based on GIMP but is Mac-native (not requiring X11 like GIMP does) and is free.

I'll give seashore a try later today. I found another way around the problem too - I can import the image into a Word document and it shows up and prints at the size I saved it as.