How to resize an image using Photoshop
For resizing an image in Photoshop, the first thing you do is go to the Image menu at the top of the screen. Then click on Image size from the list of options given:
Then the Image size dialog box will open. Photoshop’s Image Size dialog box has two parts; one is the Pixel Dimensions and the other is Document Size. The Pixel dimensions tell us the size of the file, which is the image here. It also tells us the width and height of the image. The Document Size section tells us about how large and small the picture will print.
Making changes to the Pixel Dimensions section can be done if the image has to be resized for web use or for putting on computer screen. To resize, one can change the numbers in the value boxes of the width and height sections in Pixel Dimensions. By double clicking inside the value boxes, the value will be highlighted where you can type the new numbers that you want. Finally, clicking on OK button, will resize your photo to the dimensions chosen by you.
You also have an option to resize your image by reducing a percentage of the original photo. On the Pixel Dimensions part, the value box which says Pixels has a down arrow. On clicking the arrow, a drop down menu will appear which will have percentage as an option. You can select that, after which the values of width and height will change to percentage value. As you did for the pixel values, you can double click on the percentage values and type in the new values.
Changes to the Document Size section can be made when you want to control the size of the image printout. The Document Size section shows the Resolution in pixels per inch. Depending on the height and width of the image chosen for printing, the resolution has to be changed. The values can be changed by simply clicking on the value boxes, as stated above.
The Image Size dialog box also has three more options; Scale Styles, Constraint proportions and Resample Image. Of these three, Scale Style is not relevant here. Before we go further, one thing to be noted here is that when you change the value in either height or width box, the value of the other box automatically changes. The reason is that by default, Photoshop has set up some constraints for image proportions and height and width are linked together. In fact, if you notice, there is a black thick link line which appears to join the width and height sections of the Pixel Dimensions and Document Size sections. Constraint proportions, which are checked by default, can be changed by un-checking the constraint proportion checkbox which is at the lower part of the Image Size dialog box. This can be done in case you want to make changes to one dimension independently of the other. Most importantly, click on the Resample Image and select Bicubic Sharper from drop down menu, to ensure that the image will not blur while resizing.
Original Authors: Siva
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 14/04/2009
