Setting "Print Size" view for actual print size

[Bugsby]

Upgraded to a 17" monitor from 15" and the "Print Size" view of 4 by 6 in Photoshop Elements 5 is ridiculously huge. I've reset the display resolution of my monitor to 1280 x 1024 -- no change. "Print view" is still way oversized which of course makes determining light and color results unpredictable.

I've searched PE Help and Googled the problem every which way I can think of. And I've searched the forums here and others on the Web with no luck.

"New Document Present Resolutions" are the default settings: "Print Resolution" at 300 pixels/inch and "Screen Resolution" at 180.

Here's hoping there's a simple solution that I've overlooked. Thank you kindly.

[JulieM]

Welcome to the forum. I'm sure someone will be here soon to give you some guidance...

[TonyW]

Hi there and welcome to the forum. That's a strange one and I don't have a good explanation. If you View Rulers (Ctrl Shift R) what do you see on the screen? If I crop to 6x4 my screen (a 19") would show this:

962

Tony

[jlwilm]

Hi,

It may depend on the picture, but when I click on Print Size, I get a smaller image than when I click on Fit Screen. If you hide the palette and the Photo Bin, and thn click Fit Screen, it gets as big as the screen will handle. This is after clicking on the Zoom Tool (magnifying glass in the tool bar).

John

[Juergen D]

I have never used >View >Print Size and I do not see what it does, other than showing the image and the rulers. I get the same display as Tony. Maybe I am missing something...
Where does one check for "New Document Present Resolutions"? The reason why I am curious is because a screen resolution of 180 PPI is mentioned.

Juergen

[Bugsby]

I have never used >View >Print Size and I do not see what it does, other than showing the image and the rulers. I get the same display as Tony. Maybe I am missing something...
Where does one check for "New Document Present Resolutions"? The reason why I am curious is because a screen resolution of 180 PPI is mentioned.

Juergen

Thanks for responding. To answer your question, here's how to find "New Doc Present Res": Edit>Preferences>Units & Rulers

Bugsby

[jlwilm]

Where does one check for "New Document Present Resolutions"?
Juergen

And should read Preset

Looks like it comes from Edit, Preferences, Units and Rulers

I would still use Tool Bar, Zoom Tool (magnifying glass), Fit Screen for the best available full size image.

John

[Juergen D]

Thanks for responding. To answer your question, here's how to find "New Doc Present Res": Edit>Preferences>Units & Rulers

Bugsby

Thanks, Bugsby and John. I was looking for that all over the place... :) Anyway, set the Screen Resolution to 72 and you will get a display as Tony had posted. Sorry, but I still do not see what purpose that serves..

Juergen

[Bugsby]

Hi there and welcome to the forum. That's a strange one and I don't have a good explanation. If you View Rulers (Ctrl Shift R) what do you see on the screen? If I crop to 6x4 my screen (a 19") would show this:

962

Tony

Thanks, Tony. The View Rulers will give me what I need to help predict results. But I'm still puzzled by the function of "Print Size." Seems it would be useful to have ratio setting options that would allow us to factor in monitor dimensions & resolution in displaying the image. Especially now that larger screens are in demand.

For instance, an image cropped to 4 x 6 displayed on View Rulers may be 4 x 6 on a smaller screen, but on mine it's a true 5 x 7 1/2. "Print Size" displays the image at 7 1/2 x 11!

BTW, took a look at your pictures and they're marvelous! Sharp shootin'

Bugsby

[TonyW]

For instance, an image cropped to 4 x 6 displayed on View Rulers may be 4 x 6 on a smaller screen, but on mine it's a true 5 x 7 1/2. "Print Size" displays the image at 7 1/2 x 11!

The problem is that Elements (or any other program) has no way of knowing how big your screen is. All it knows is the screen display resolution you've set so it has to guess. My 19" display at 14" across and a 1024x768 pixel display resolution just happens to come out almost exactly right. If your image isn't showing on the ruler as 4x6 when you use Print Size then you may not have told it that you want it to look like it was 4x6. In Image>ReSize>Image Size with Resample Image unchecked, change the width to 6 in and it will adjust the resolution so that it will be 6 in on the ruler. Doing that doesn't change any pixels just in effect squishes them up to fit into 6". It's a tricky concept to grasp but all Elements really knows about is pixels, you have to tell it how you want them displayed on the screen or printed on the printer.

PS and thanks for the comments on my photos, must update that gallery sometime :)

Tony