resizing pictures for a page

[hally17]

I'm new to the forum so Hello to everyone!
I'm sure this is a really silly question, I have been digital scrapping for a while and there is one thing that has always puzzled me ( I have never done any digital photo editing or anything before ). When I drag my photos on to a 12x12 background they are absolutely huge, I have tried resizing them, using the document size box, to say 4x6" but they are still way too big, much bigger than if I was to place a 4x6" print on a 12x12 piece of paper, am I making sense! Iam wondering how I sort this out, one thing I noticed is that the papers etc I work with are the standard 300ppi and my photos are much higher ppi is this why they look so big, do I need to alter the resolution of the photos down to 300ppi?
Sorry to ramble but I hope someone can help !!
Nicola

[Wendy]

Hi Nicola ...

... and welcome to the forum :)

When you do your scrapbooking layouts do make sure that they are large size. I tend to use 12 x 12 (inches) and a resolution of 300.

You will find that photos are bigger when you bring them onto the page ... but I don't try to resize them until I actually have them in the layout.

Then I just get the move tool and click on the photo .. a box will appear around it (its called the bounding box) move your cursor to the corner and the cursor will change into a a line with an arrow at each end. Just click doen and drag in to make the photo smaller ... holding down the shift key at the same time will keep the photo in proportion.

Hope this helps :)

Wendy

[hally17]

Thank You Wendy, I do do the dragging thing but sometimes found the photos still look distorted even holding down the shift key , that is what made me think about resizing them before hand and just wondered why the pictures looked so big?
I notice you are from the UK, me too!
Thanks again
Nicola

[cats4jan]

I haven't had a problem with distortion. Just make sure you keep the shift key down all the while you are sizing.

But I do get where you're coming from. Those huge photos are a pain in the butt to make smaller.

Resolution is still baffling me - so I never fool with it. When scrapbooking at 300 with 12x12 - even the text needs to be larger "point" - because of resolution. I just can't learn it - so I learn how to work around it. LOL

[hally17]

Glad it isn't just me Janice ! :)

[Wendy]

Hi Nicola ...

Ah the key to the shift key is to start dragging and then hold down the shift key ... just a fraction od a second but it makes all the difference :)

... or click on the corner and then look up at the top of the screen and click on that little paper clip thing (technical term :) ) and then it will stay in proportion all on its own.

Where about is the UK are you ? ... I am in the West Midlands :)

Wendy

[cats4jan]

Wendy - you've been around here a long time - so I'm guessing you can answer this.

Can I have a gallery on this site without being a subscriber?

If so, what service do people use for their galleries - or is it right here?

And if I can have a gallery, can you lead me to a thread where "how to" is discussed?

Thanks.

[hally17]

Oh, I have always held down the shift key first, that must have been the problem, Thanks
Iam in the East Midlands, Nottinghamshire :)
Nicola

[Wendy]

Hi Janice ...

You do have to be a subscriber to have Gallery ... it all part of the package and it really is worth the subscription fee :)

Wendy

[Wendy]

Hi Nicola ...

Oh that isn't too far from me ... I live in a village just outside Nuneaton :)

Wendy

[cats4jan]

I can't get the benefits of being a Subscriber because I cannot get Quicktime to work - otherwise I would've signed up a long time ago.

Oh well, I don't have much of a gallery anyway. LOL

Thanks for your prompt response.

[Wendy]

Hi Janice ...

Do you mean that you can't get Quicktime to work on your computer at all ??

Wendy

[PattyD]

I'm new to the forum so Hello to everyone!
I'm sure this is a really silly question, I have been digital scrapping for a while and there is one thing that has always puzzled me ( I have never done any digital photo editing or anything before ). When I drag my photos on to a 12x12 background they are absolutely huge, I have tried resizing them, using the document size box, to say 4x6" but they are still way too big, much bigger than if I was to place a 4x6" print on a 12x12 piece of paper, am I making sense! Iam wondering how I sort this out, one thing I noticed is that the papers etc I work with are the standard 300ppi and my photos are much higher ppi is this why they look so big, do I need to alter the resolution of the photos down to 300ppi?
Sorry to ramble but I hope someone can help !!
Nicola


Hi Hally-
You didn't say which version you're using. If you're using PSE5 you don't use the shift key when resizing with the Move tool, however if you're using PSE3 or 4 you need to. One thing that's helped me is that if I'm cropping my photos at all before I drag them on to my scrapbook page I'm sure to enter 300 in the resolution on the crop option bar. That way when I crop it to a 3 x 3 or whatever size I decide it's really that size. If you're sure to keep everything at 300 resolution you won't have any problems.
Good luck digital scrapbooking is so much fun! The people on this board are all so nice and so smart (not me but everyone else) Any time I have a problem it's usually answered within a few hours!
Patty

[cats4jan]

Do you mean that you can't get Quicktime to work on your computer at all ??



Wendy

Yep

I've tried all the fixes I've found on this forum - on the Quicktime helpsite - I've researched it and researched it. I've uninstalled it - reinstalled it - I don't know how many times. I've even tried going in and removing all files with "Quicktime" in it - but since I've been doing this for a year now, I have 2,000 files with Quicktime on it and alot of them just don't want to "go away." I've created a mess with my limited computer skills and it's a mess I do not have the skill to correct.

I did put Nero back on my computer - so I could practice making DVD's - and I've had some success with playing videos that wouldn't play before - but I don't want to spend money signing up and then finding out this sites tutorials won't work with Nero, either.

Oh well.

When all else fails. Time to reformat. LOL That I know how to do. And sometimes a clean start appeals to me.

But, I'm not going there - at least for now.

[Wendy]

Hi Janice ..

Oh what a shame ... if you want to test out one of the Videos then go to the home page and try the one that is there ... :)

Wendy

[TonyW]

Oh, I have always held down the shift key first, that must have been the problem, Thanks
Iam in the East Midlands, Nottinghamshire :)
Nicola

Just to confuse things, in PSE5 Adobe have changed it so you don't hold down the shift key to keep things in proportion as you resize. It was confusing at first but after a while it makes a lot more sense as you don't have to worry about the timing of holding down the Shift key and most of the time you want to keep the image in proportion :)

Tony

[sandik17]

Wendy

Yep


When all else fails. Time to reformat. LOL That I know how to do. And sometimes a clean start appeals to me.

But, I'm not going there - at least for now.

I know exactly what you mean here....
My DVD burner will burn discs, but won't load new programs onto my computer. It's a brand new burner (dell replaced it)...but their suggestion was to 'reformat' the computer!!! Scares the pants off me with the photos I have on here....videos....and of course modem setup!
Scary stuff.
But it's really a pain, as I want to buy a tablet, but think I'll have to use the dvd to download drivers?Anyone out there help me with that. Looking at the wacom graphire.

[cats4jan]

A couple of computers ago - I had a real problem so decided to reformat the hard drive - it was easy - but it turned out to be a hardware problem.

I've been changing computers every 2 or 3 years, and I've never transferred things from one computer to another. I'm too concerned with transferring problems.

And really - I love a fresh start. I love not having thousands of photos and various and sundry programs on my computer. However, all of this was before I started acquiring digital scrapbook elements.

And, this time, I set up the old computer in the den for DH - so had no need to transfer anything - I can pick and choose things from his computer to put on mine as needed.

My computer is TOO OLD - it'll be two years old in June.

I want MORE POWER - MORE STORAGE - a newer graphics card - one of those etching DVD drives (forgot what they call them)

I know I can retrofit all this stuff - but...

[cats4jan]

if you want to test out one of the Videos then go to the home page and try the one that is there ...

I tried to open a tutorial and it wouldn't initialize.

Thanks for the tip, but I'm guessing I'm stuck learning Elements by my usual method - "trial and error." LOL

[quillabee9]

Don't know if this applies to the resizing problem, but I found that when the resize box is outside the boundaries of the photo, use of the navigator can rapidly resize the picture on the screen to where the shift-resize effort is much easier.