Amongst all of the greatest image editing tools ever used by photographers, graphic designers, and other digital artists, Adobe Photoshop has always been one. In fact, people commonly resize images in Photoshop, whether preparing them for printing, using them on a website, or uploading them to social media. Well, thank God, Photoshop gives users some choice on how to size down an image while managing dimension and quality.
There are a few reasons why you might need to resize an image in Photoshop, and in this tutorial we'll walk you through the resizing process as well as some tips for maintaining image quality, avoiding distortion, and ensuring your resized image does the trick.
Optimize for Web or Social Media: Resize to upload images quickly to a website or to match the correct dimensions for social media.
Print Preparations: To ensure that images print sharply, they need to be at the right size and resolution.
Reduce File Size: Large images are cumbersome, so this will reduce the file size for easier storage, emailing, or uploading to websites.
Aspect Ratio: The aspect ratio of an image changes by resizing; that comes in handy when one needs to change a square image into a rectangular shape for aesthetic purposes.
Photoshop lets you control how you resize your image, and you can choose to keep or adjust the aspect ratio, depending on your desired output.
Launch Photoshop: Open Adobe Photoshop on your computer.
Open the Image: Click on the File menu in the upper left of the screen and choose Open. Browse to the file you want to resize and click on it and then select Open.
Step 2: Access the Image Size Settings
You will use the Image Size dialog box to resize an image in Photoshop. This dialog lets you set both the pixel dimensions and resolution of the image.
Click Image and then select Image Size from the drop-down menu located at the top of your screen. Alternatively, you can use Alt + Ctrl + I on Windows or Option + Command + I on Mac to access the Image Size window.
The Image Size dialog box opens, and you'll notice several fields that you will be able to edit
Resize is the place where you define either width or height of images. The default measurement size is usually in pixels. That being said, you will select from a variety of inches, centimeters, as well as other units required by your needs.
Change the width to resize an image, for instance 1200 pixels for a site header.
You can scale the image in inches or centimeters, depending on your print size requirements for prints.
Constrain Proportions: The original proportions, or aspect ratio, of your image will be preserved by default. Make sure the Link Icon two squares connected by a line is checked between the width and height fields. In this way, the image resizes without distortion. For example, when you change the width, the height automatically changes so that the same ratio is maintained.
If you want to set the height and width different, possibly changing the shape of your image, click Link Icon to un-link both fields. Note, however that it might stretch it or squash it.
Resolution is extremely important in the sizing of images intended for printing. For high-quality printing images, 300 PPI should be used. 72 PPI will work well if you're referring to web images or to images to be viewed on monitors.
Resolution: This is where you allow the pixel density of your picture to be changed. Ensure that your image is in 300 PPI because the image will print. Leave it at 72 PPI if it is an image for online purposes.
Resampling: Quite often, you resize an image in Photoshop by adding or removing pixels. The pixel count must match the new size. You control this through a dialog box next to 'Resample.' You need to enable 'Resample' if you want Photoshop to automatically adjust the number of pixels to fit your new dimensions.
By resampling, Photoshop has to either add new pixels when expanding an image and remove existing ones when sizing down the image.
Should you shrink the image Photoshop drops pixels to preserve the new resolution.
Photoshop offers options for resampling, and each has a strength, and that is:
Automatic: Photoshop determines which algorithm will do the best job.
Preserve Details enlargement Use this for enlarging images as this method will usually attempt to preserve detail in the image and prevent pixelation.
Bicubic Sharper Best option to shrink an image size as it preserves sharpness.
Bicubic Smoother: This is used when you are enlarging the image so that the quality does not get lost.
Select the resampling method which is most suitable for the type of resizing you are doing.
Step 5: Checking the Image Quality
While you are resizing your image, you might notice that the quality has changed. Here's how to ensure that the quality remains the best during resizing:
Check the Preview: In the Image Size dialog, Photoshop has a preview window. This allows you to see exactly how the image will look once resized. It makes you estimate whether the image is still of the quality expected after resizing.
Do not Oversize: Enlarge Images only modestly. Photoshop is going to try to interpolate pixels, but there only really reaches a point where you start to get too much back from an image when making it larger. If your image needs to be that much larger, you're going to see some form of pixelation, so be careful when resizing things too much.
Once you’re satisfied with the changes, click the OK button. Photoshop will apply the resized image based on the dimensions and resolution you've selected.
Save the image by going to File > Save As if you don't want to overwrite the original. Choose an appropriate file format, like JPEG, PNG, TIFF, etc., and make final adjustments such as image quality for compressions in case of JPEG.
Resolution: At least 300 PPI for printing. If used on the internet, a 72 PPI resolution usually works
Caution:Avoid enlarging images too much, as this can degrade their quality. Don’t enlarge images by more than 200% unless absolutely necessary.
Use Smart Objects: If you are using Smart Objects, then its resizing does not degrade the quality of images. Smart Objects retains its original quality even after resizing.
Sharpen After Resizing: Normally, when you reduce an image, it loses some sharpness. Photoshop has a set of Sharpen tools that can help restore the sharpness of an image- such as Unsharp Mask and Smart Sharpen.
Image becomes pixelated: This is due to enlargement when the image is low-resolution. Avoid enlargement of a low-quality image beyond its resolution limits.
Distorted Image: Unless you use the aspect ratio, then the image may be distorted or stretched and squished depending on how much you are resizing. Use Constrain Proportions at all times unless you want a distorted result.
Detail Loss : Shrinking an image to a dimension smaller than it can be lost, in detail. If detail is important, then incrementally resize instead of drastically shrinking dimensions.
Q1: How do I resize an image for the web?
For the web, you want to resize images to be no larger than 1200 pixels wide and 72 PPI. This will keep the image small enough for fast loading without compromising on quality.
Q2: How do I avoid degrading the quality when resizing?
Resizing images in small increments and never enlarge an image too much is a must. You always choose the best resampling method for your image and resolution needs.
Q3: What is the best resampling method to enlarge an image?
When you enlarge an image, use the Preserve Details (enlargement) option. This way, you can maintain the fine detail and sharpness when you enlarge the image.
Q4: Is there a simple way to resize many images in Photoshop?
Yes, actually. You can create an Action in Photoshop that allows you to automate the resizing of multiple images. That's a huge timesaver when you have to resize tens or hundreds of photos with the same dimension.
Resizing images in Photoshop is an important skill to know when working with digital images, whether you are preparing images for print, web, or social media. With Photoshop, you can get really precise control over the resizing process, changing both image dimensions and resolution while keeping the quality at a really high level. If you follow the steps above, you will ensure that your resized images look great and meet your needs.