Adobe Photoshop CS5 Tutorials
Resizing & Cropping Images / Using the Image Size Dialog
Visitors to VTC.com will be able to view all introductory videos for each training course.
Free Trial Members will gain access to first three chapters for each training course.
Full Access Members have full access to VTC.com�s entire library of video tutorials.
Learn More
Subtitles of the Movie (Adobe Photoshop CS5 / Resizing & Cropping Images / Using the Image Size Dialog)
It's kind of like Alice in Wonderland, isn't it? How deep does the rabbit hole go? All this is reminding me of the Matrix. I think I'm going to go watch the Matrix after this, but anyway. So, we get into Photoshop, we start talking about resizing images and we start comparing high quality images and low quality images which leads us into this dialog box which relates to pixel dimensions and, again, what I've been calling the physical size of the document, which leads into a discussion on Resolution, PPI, DPI, LPI and by this point I hope you're feeling really comfortable with all of this. Again, I know it's a lot, and I know it's kind of, again, one of the more technical aspects of Photoshop, but at this point I think the next thing that would make the most sense in terms of, again, I'm trying to give you this sort of this chronology here in little bits and pieces, is to talk about how to actually use this dialog box and, again, this is going to bring us into a whole nother issue of topics that we'll address here. So, I come into this dialog box here and Geoff already told me about pixels per inch and I'm, I'm all good with that and I understand the pixels dimensions and the physical size. I'm all good. Now what I want to do is I want to start resizing my image. So let's say, for example, I want this image, my cartoon robot, to fit inside my Web layout and let's say, for example, the Web layout that I've created in perhaps Adobe Dreamweaver, calls for an image that's no wider than 700 pixels. In the world of Web design everything's measured in pixels - well, mostly everything is measured in pixels. So, I'd come into this dialog box, I'd head up to the top here, the Pixel Dimensions and I would simply type in 700 for my pixel count. Now, when I do that a couple of things happen. First of all, I changed the Width and notice the Height automatically changed as well. Why? Well, because I have this little chain link here over on the right-hand side that links the Width and the Height together. And that little chain link shows up because I have Constrain Proportions turned On all the way down at the bottom. If I uncheck Constrain Proportions now I can change the Width and the Height independently but if I do that then I'm going to wind up distorting my image, right? So, I would suggest that you keep Constrain Proportions turned On if you can. You always want to try and maintain, you can see there in the little Tool Tip, something called the Aspect Ratio, the ratio between the width and the height of the image, right, so if one changes the other one's going to change. OK, so it went and reset me. I'm going to switch this back to the 700 pixels. Something else changes as well which is really quite odd in addition to the height. If I look down in the Print Size, the Document Size area there inside the dialog box, the Resolution has not changed. It's still at 300 pixels per inch but the physical size has changed. What the heck is up with that? So, now I have an image that's just shy of 2 and a half inches in Width and Height so it's almost like the image has been cut in half, not only in the Pixel Dimension area but also in the Document Size as well. How come? Well, this all relates to Resampling images and I'm going to dig into this in the coming videos, but with Resample Image turned On everything appears to be connected. In other words, if I come into the Document Size now and I decide to change the Document Size to 15 inches in Width and Height, then the Pixel Dimensions get cranked way up to 4500 pixels, right? Now, not only that, but across the top I get a little message here: my image was 2.15 megs when I first opened up my cartoon robot, that was his document size, now with this change that I'm proposing here, cranking him all the way up here, he's now going to be 19.3 megs. So, in other words, changing the Pixel Dimensions changes the Document Size. Changing the Document Size changes the Pixel Size, but the Resolution remains fixed. The Resolution has not changed at all. So I'm going to dig into this, as I say, further with you in the coming videos, but before I close out this video I want to show you one more quick little trick here because now we're starting to mess around inside this dialog box. But there's a really cool technique that I want to show you here. Let's say, for example, I don't want to apply these changes, I simply want to go back to the way the dialog box looked when we first opened it up. Well, I could Cancel out of this dialog box and then go back into the Image Menu and then back down to Image Size, but that's kind of a pain in the neck. Give this a try. Try holding down Option on the Mac or Alt on the Windows side and miraculously your Cancel button changes to a Reset button. How cool is that? So, simply click on Reset and that brings us all the way back to where we started. And again, myself, I'm going to have to turn on Resample Image here. Essentially, holding down Option or Alt changes that Cancel button to a Reset button and I want you to remember that trick because this neat little trick will work in nearly all dialog boxes inside Photoshop, so again, once we start messing around with color correction, for example, we can throw in a bunch of settings and then simply revert back by holding down Alt or Option and clicking Reset. OK, now into the world of Resampling.
Tutorial Information
| Course: | Adobe Photoshop CS5 |
| Author: | Geoff Blake |
| SKU: | 34150 |
| ISBN: | 1-936334-46-1 |
| Release Date: | 2010-08-06 |
| Duration: | 7.5 hrs / 95 lessons |
| Work Files: |
Yes |
| Captions: | No |
| Compatibility: |
Vista/XP/2000, OS X, Linux QuickTime 7, Flash 8 |
VTC Sign up & Benefits
- Unlimited Access
- 81,350 Video Tutorials (14,200 free)
- Video Available as Flash or QuickTime
- Over 715 Courses
- $30 for One Month Access
- Multi-User Discounts Available
