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The general rule of thumb is to never make an image bigger than its current size because it will result in degraded quality with a fuzzy or pixelated appearance. It’s easy to make an image smaller because any excess pixels can be thrown away, but if you want to make an image bigger, Photoshop has to conjure up some new pixels to construct the larger size. The number of pixels along the width and height of an image determines its size. Photoshop provides some information at the top of the window showing the new file size compared to the original size of the image. The Constrain Aspect Ratio’s chain icon is set by default to automatically calculate the other dimension so the image isn’t squashed or stretched.
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Pixels are the standard unit of measurement for digital screens.Įnter your desired pixel dimension in either the Width or Height field. Change the units to Pixels if they aren’t set already. The Image Size window in Photoshop shows the current size of the image. Making an image smaller is known as Downsampling. Photographs from cameras are pretty huge these days, they contain millions of pixels which make both the dimensions and the file size very large. How to make an image smaller (Downsampling) This is typically reserved for graphic designers and photographers who are producing prints. Photoshop will now redistribute the existing pixels to alter the physical size or resolution of the image. If the Resample option is unchecked, you’re now Resizing the image.
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This is known as resampling, and it’s usually what we’re doing when altering the size of a digital image. We often talk about resizing an image, when what we are actually doing is resampling it! In Photoshop, go to Image > Image Size, or hit the CMD (or CTRL on Windows) + ALT + I shortcut.īy default, the Resample option in Photoshop is checked, which will mean the dimensions of the image will change by adding or subtracting pixels from the width and height. Resizing and resampling are two confusing terms because we tend to use them the wrong way round. Subscribe to the Spoon Graphics YouTube Channel Resize vs Resample
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