Northwest Dive Club

Help?

Whenever I resize a pic to make it comply with Avatar regulations it ends up looking like crap.

I change the measurement from inches to pixels, and plug in an appropriate dimension. The resolution automatically sets at around 180 pixels per inch.

The avatar looks like crap (as you can see).

Matt's avatar looks sharp and clear.

What am I doing wrong?

What app are you using to resize?

Start with a picture you like with a subject larger than your avatar will end up being.
Crop it to frame the subject, but when you do, crop to an aspect ratio equal to the aspect ratio you are planning the final avatar image to be. For example, lets say I want a square avatar. I would use my crop tool to frame my subject and I would adjust my crop window to equal height/width (use the numbers, don't eyeball it). Now I have a great big avatar.
Lastly, scale the image down to avatar size.
If you do this you will always compress the image rather than expand it. This will keep it sharp.

i'll echo what was said by matt and ben. tom, can you post the original here as well?