help me please :)

[kissladyrawks]

Hi All...new to this forum...but i have read alot of your posts and they have been of great help...but NOW i need to post and hope someone can help me

I am designing some posters for a friend and of course i am placing images in this poster....the problem I am having is this....the poster is 13 X 19....when i cut what i want from the image and paste it into a new layer on the poster....the thing is incredibly small (and it doesn't seem to matter how large i make the picture) and of course when i try to resize it...i loose the quality....any help would be MUCH appreciated!!!!!

Thank you in advance
Kisslady

[frank abramonte]

kissladyrawks, welcome to the forum.
Your problem is caused by the images not all being the same resolution as your poster.
If you don't have images in the same resolution I suggest the following which will make completing your poster easier.
1. Gather all the images which will go into the poster.
2. Resize each to the same resolution as the poster and size you wish them to be on the poster.
3. Once this is complete you can select them and drag or paste them into the poster without having to scale (enlarge and/pr reduce) them.
4. Position them and your done.

[Diana]

If some of your photos are low resolution, they are going to be small when added to a high resolution poster background. Changing the resolution of the photos will not make them any larger, the pixel dimensions will be the same, unless you resize them with Resample checked.... then they will be pixelated just as if you dragged the corner outward to enlarge it on the poster.

For example, here is a 6x4 image at 300 ppi:

As you can see, pixel dimensions are 1800x1200.

Here is a 6x4 image at 72 ppi:

This one's pixel dimensions are 432x288.

Now if you change the 72 ppi to 300 ppi, the pixel dimensions remain the same (432x288), but look what happens to the size of the image in inches.... only 1.44" x .96"


If you change the 72 ppi to 300 ppi with Resampled checked, then it increases the pixel dimensions to 1800 x 1200 pixels

Where do thos extra pixels come from? When upsizing by resampling the pixels, it is adding more pixels in, by more or less "guessing" what color pixels to add in based on adjacent pixels. That is why and upsized image may look fuzzy or pixelated.

Here's an article that explains it better than I can:
http://www.earthboundlight.com/photo...photoshop.html

So, what it boils down to, if you want a nice sharp poster with sharp images, you need high resolution photos to begin with. When using your camera, always set it to take the highest resolution photos it will take, so when you crop parts out to use in images, you have plenty of pixels left.

You can upsize images with less degradation by putting them in a "frame layer" which is sorta like Photoshop's "smart objects," and lets you resize upward to a certain extent without losing clarity.

If you have PSE 6 or 7, you can add an image to your poster background and make it a frame layer by dragging it up from the project bin to the poster background. After doing this, you'll notice a small plus sign on the new layer where you dragged the image, signifying it is a frame layer. Then you can resize the added image by clicking on its layer, pressing Ctrl-T (free transform) and dragging outward on one of the corners of the image on the poster.

Graffi has a free action here on his blog that makes a regular layer into a "smart object":
http://www.graficalicus.com/wp/archives/1039
Quoting from Graffi's blog: "What are "Smart Objects? Basically, Photoshop converts a bitmap image (.png, .jpg, .bmp) into a vector object which allows you to manipulate it without losing clarity. It works well for positioning new photos in a collage, for example, or resizing an element into an existing layout or compilation. These were introduced in Photoshop CS2, and work well in Photoshop Elements 6 and 7. "

[jhzich]

As always, great explanation Diana. And great advice on raising the resolution of one's camera. I'm of the opinion, that many average picture can be salvage by cropping--finding what I call the "picture within the picture". And this possibility only exists if you start with enough pixels in the first place (whereby you can afford to throw half of them away if you can find half of the picture worth salvaging).

Originally Posted by Diana

If some of your photos are low resolution, they are going to be small when added to a high resolution poster background. Changing the resolution of the photos will not make them any larger, the pixel dimensions will be the same, unless you resize them with Resample checked.... then they will be pixelated just as if you dragged the corner outward to enlarge it on the poster.

For example, here is a 6x4 image at 300 ppi:

As you can see, pixel dimensions are 1800x1200.

Here is a 6x4 image at 72 ppi:

This one's pixel dimensions are 432x288.

Now if you change the 72 ppi to 300 ppi, the pixel dimensions remain the same (432x288), but look what happens to the size of the image in inches.... only 1.44" x .96"


If you change the 72 ppi to 300 ppi with Resampled checked, then it increases the pixel dimensions to 1800 x 1200 pixels

Where do thos extra pixels come from? When upsizing by resampling the pixels, it is adding more pixels in, by more or less "guessing" what color pixels to add in based on adjacent pixels. That is why and upsized image may look fuzzy or pixelated.

Here's an article that explains it better than I can:
http://www.earthboundlight.com/photo...photoshop.html

So, what it boils down to, if you want a nice sharp poster with sharp images, you need high resolution photos to begin with. When using your camera, always set it to take the highest resolution photos it will take, so when you crop parts out to use in images, you have plenty of pixels left.

You can upsize images with less degradation by putting them in a "frame layer" which is sorta like Photoshop's "smart objects," and lets you resize upward to a certain extent without losing clarity.

If you have PSE 6 or 7, you can add an image to your poster background and make it a frame layer by dragging it up from the project bin to the poster background. After doing this, you'll notice a small plus sign on the new layer where you dragged the image, signifying it is a frame layer. Then you can resize the added image by clicking on its layer, pressing Ctrl-T (free transform) and dragging outward on one of the corners of the image on the poster.

Graffi has a free action here on his blog that makes a regular layer into a "smart object":
http://www.graficalicus.com/wp/archives/1039
Quoting from Graffi's blog: "What are "Smart Objects? Basically, Photoshop converts a bitmap image (.png, .jpg, .bmp) into a vector object which allows you to manipulate it without losing clarity. It works well for positioning new photos in a collage, for example, or resizing an element into an existing layout or compilation. These were introduced in Photoshop CS2, and work well in Photoshop Elements 6 and 7. "