Chapter 4: Sizing and Resizing Images

Overview

In This Chapter

• Taking a close look at the pixels in an image

• Using the Image Size dialog box

• Understanding resolution

• Matching the width of an image to page columns

• Changing the number of pixels in an image

• Resizing the canvas independent of the image

• Cropping or trimming an image

• Using the new Crop and Straighten Photos command

Images that you create and edit in Photoshop — or in any other image editor, for that matter — are made up of tiny squares called pixels. Every single painting and image-editing function in Photoshop is devoted to changing either the quantity or the color of pixels. That’s all Photoshop does. Understanding how pixels work in an image can be confusing at first. Managing pixels correctly is essential to turning out professional-looking images.

This chapter explains everything you need to know to put pixels in perspective, including how the number of pixels in an image affects the image’s overall quality, its printed size, and its file size. I also show you how to reduce or enlarge the size of the on-screen canvas on which all your pretty pixels perch. In other words, this chapter offers pages of particularly provocative pixel paragraphs, partner.