an image. Go to the Image Menu
and select Image Size
. This is where you can change an image’s resolution and print size (width and height). The following Image Size
dialog box will appear:
Notethat the width and the height of the image as you view it on yourmonitor is not necessarily representative of the image’s actual widthand height—i.e., the size it would print out at (print size
).Average monitor resolution is 72 dpi. If you view a 72 dpi image at100% in Photoshop, chances are that it will appear on your screen inits actual print size. However, this is not true when viewing a 300 dpiimage. A 300 dpi image viewed on-screen at 100% will be enormous. Don’tget tricked into believing that what you see on your monitor is whatyou’ll get when you print or place the image into another application.The best way to determine what your image’s actual print size will beis through the Image Size dialog box.
When the Resample Image
box is checked, any changes you make to an image’s width or height willnot change the image’s resolution, and as such, any changes you make toan image’s resolution will not affect the image’s width and height.Keep in mind, however, when you increase width and height, orresolution, with the Resample Image box checked, you are adding pixelsto your image. These pixels don’t actually exist so Photoshop mustcreate them. As such, you will succeed only in degrading the quality ofyour image.
If you want to increase an image’swidth and height, or resolution, then uncheck the Resample Image box.Now any changes you make to the image’s width and height will changethe image’s resolution, and vice versa:
- If you decrease resolution, the width and height will increase.
- If you increase resolution, the width and height will decrease.
- If you increase the width or height, the resolution will decrease.
- If you decrease the width or height, the resolution will increase.
Thebest way to increase the width and height of a scanned image is to scanthe image in at a high resolution (about twice what your finalresolution should be), and with the Resample Image
box unchecked, decrease the resolution. Once the image width and height is where you want it, you can then check the Resample Image
box and type in the resolution you want if the resolution is too high.At this point, as long as you don’t increase resolution, or width andheight, your image quality will not suffer.