Problems can occur, however, when the photo file sizes are much too large for effective emailing. Many digital cameras save pictures in JPEG file format, which usually shows up as the file extension .jpg. These files can be quite large because they are print quality files. When emailed, these photos can take a long time to download and then when finally downloaded, the picture appears too large in the display window and you cannot see the entire picture at once. In some instances, especially when attempting to email several photos at once, the file may be too large and could even lock up your computer.

This means that when you email that photo to Uncle Al of Grandma proudly displaying her new dentures, he has to wait and wait for it to finally download. If the photo does download without problems, Uncle Al may be shocked to see only a giant nose in his email, because the photo is just too big to display properly. He has to use the scroll bars to see the entire photo and can only view it a section at a time. This of course assumes that he is even computer savvy enough to understand what happened.

What can you do about this? Is there an easy way for reformatting and resizing photos for sending to family and friends? Yes, there is and one of the easiest methods available is to convert the photo into a PDF file. The PDF file format is one of the most common and popular file formats in use today. You do need to have software loaded on your computer to open the files and most computer users already have it, but if not, the software is available for quick and easy download at http://get.adobe.com/reader/.

PDF files can be emailed more easily than huge JPEG photo files. When a JPEG file is converted to PDF, the picture displayed is exactly the same as the original JPEG photo but it's simply in a new format. The quality of the picture remains and everyone who receives it will see the entire picture displayed correctly. This is because it's no longer the photo itself. It's been converted into a simple page, similar to what might happen if you could just make a paper copy. Of course the pictures you email to family and friends are still in color.

Quick and easy online tools are available to do the JPEG to PDF conversion for you so you can more easily send your photos to family and friends. You can go to sites such as http://www.freejpgtopdf.com/. All you need to do is upload the file and the online site does the JPEG to PDF conversion for you. Then simply download the new PDF file and send to family and friends. No need to be concerned that the file size is too big for the recipient to be able to see the entire photo or that he will have to wait a long time for the photo to download.

So have fun rather than frustration when emailing your favorite photos to family and friends. Uncle Al will thank you for it because when he opens the PDF file, he will see Grandma's entire happy face and sparkling new teeth and not just her nostrils.