So far I have compiled two methods to reformat your pictures. Picasa and Adobe Photoshop. Picasa is freeware, but a little harder to use, whereas Adobe Photoshop will give you exactly what you want, and is easier, but it costs a lot to purchase the software if you don't already own it.

1. Picasa
2. Adobe Photoshop

Using Picasa:

1. Download Picasa and install it on your system. You can download it here.

2. In Picasa, open the picture you would like to submit to me. On the left hand side there is a window with a tab that says "basic fixes." Click on "Crop."

3. Holding down the shift key (Windows) crop your photo. (By holding down the shift key, you are making it so that the cropped image is square. We MUST crop the image so it is square.)

4. After you've decided how to crop your image to make it look the best you can, click the "Apply" button on the left.

5. Now, down in the lower right corner, there is a button that says "Export." Click that button.

6. A dialog box will appear. Choose a location for your exported folder, and a name for it. (The default is what I use.)

7. Under the option "Image Size Options:" click "Resize to:" and input a value of 200 in the box.

8. Now, the difficult part. Under the "Image Quality:" box, click Custom. Use the slider to determine the quality of the exported image. Unfortunately, Picasa does not tell you the size of the final image until after you export it. So, if you do not bring the slider down far enough you will have to go through steps 5-8 again. However, if you bring it down too far, you will lose image quality. My suggestion is start with a value of (50). You can then adjust from there if you need to. After you click the "export" button, the file should automatically open with your picture in it.

9. Be sure to double check that your picture is 200x200 pixels and less than 9kb in size. Right click it and hit "Properties."

10. Go back here and upload your photo! Congratulations!

If you have an questions about this process, please email me at photomosaicproject@gmail.com

Using Adobe Photoshop:

1. This method is much easier, but to do it, you must have Adobe Photoshop or be willing to buy it. For that reason, I am assuming you already have it, so I will not go over installation instructions.

2. Open Photoshop, and then click "File->Open." Open the picture you would like to send to me.

3. Click the crop tool. Make sure the width and Height boxes at the top are empty or have the same value in both of them. (Applies to Photoshop CS) Holding the shift key, crop your image. Holding shift ensures that the cropped image will be square.

4. Double click to apply the crop.

5. Go to "Image->Image Size..."

6. Under Pixel Dimensions: Type 200 under either Width or Height. (The other one should change automatically. If it doesn't type 200 in both boxes). Click OK.

7. Go to "File->Save for web..." Save the file as a JPEG. The Lower left hand corner should tell you how large the saved file will be. Adjust the quality until you get something that is 9.0k or lower in size. Click Save.

8. Save your image in a location you know. Then Click here to upload your picture to me!

If you have any questions about this process please email me at photomosaicproject@gmail.com