When I look at blogs, I like to see consistency, especially in the layout.  There are blogs that when you scroll down the page, your eye goes everywhere…from horizontal to vertical and back.  But a consistent blog keeps your eye in the same spot all the way down the page.  Call me a tad OCD but I love a symmetrical look.  So when we ask for images sized to a certain width and especially when we ask for two verticals side by side, there is a method to our madness! 🙂  It helps create a consistent look and feel to our blog.

Creating a consistent look not only makes your blog look professional but it makes readers come back for more!  They are attracted to the content and the layout and they want to see what you are up to or what images you are showcasing.

This is something you can apply to your own blog with the help of the tutorial below!  There are also tons of actions out there that will help you achieve a blog look.  Blog Board actions are out there and can put your images together in collages but help you keep the same width.  But you can create a custom blog board that fits your blog and your style.  I like two verticals side by side and one horizontal but you could do any combination of photos as long as each photo (one or more than one in a collage) all are sized the same width.

Be sure to check your specific blog requirements.  Each blog has a certain pixel width that they suggest.  Seniorologie is 740 px wide.  My personal blog is 890 px wide.  It just depends on how your blog is set up.  Once you know your specific pixel width for images, you can create a template for yourself to help keep your blog consistent and size all your photos the same!

Here are a few steps to creating a custom blog board for vertical images:

Step 1 – Create a new blank canvas by opening Photoshop (version used in this tutorial is CS4).  Go to File, New and enter the dimensions that your blog requires.  For Seniorologie, I entered a width of 740 px and a height of 493 px.  Be sure the resolution is 72 and color mode is RGB color because these are for web.

Step 2 – Add a new layer

Step 3 – Working on the new layer you just added, click on the shape tool and choose the rectangle shape.  I like to fill it with gray so that I can see the shape I created.  Draw this rectangle on top of your canvas to fill about half of the canvas.  I like to leave white around the edges for my blog look but you can fill the entire space if that is what you prefer.

Step 4 – Duplicate the layer to create another rectangle the exact same as the first one.  Drag that new shape over to fill the second half of the original canvas.  These rectangles are where you are going to place your vertical images.

Step 5 – Place your images.  Make sure you are clicked on the first layer (shape 1).  Go to File, Place.  You will be able to choose an image from your computer to place in the first rectangle.  The image will not be the exact size of the rectangle but you will size it to fit in the next step.

Step 6 – Create a clipping mask in order to fill the rectangle with your image.  Right click on the photo layer and choose create clipping mask.

Step 7 – Size Image within the rectangle by dragging the corner to fill the space.  Make sure to hold shift while dragging to keep the photo proportions correct.

Step 8 – Repeat the process for the second image.

Step 9 – Flatten the layers and save the image.  Now you have two verticals that equal the same size as a horizontal and your blog photos will be the same!