How Do You Do That? ------> Resizing.

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Let's talk about resizing today....

You have a cool frame.

You have a photo.

And you want to put them together, but they are not the same size.

(photography by CherieMask.com) 


So, what do you do?

I'm working in Photoshop CS4, but when you know your photo editing program, you will know how to adjust this little tutorial so you can do it in your software program, too.

 step No. 1: 

Open up your frame & photo.  

Go to: FILE>OPEN & find your frame. 

You will notice the grey & white checkerboard behind your frame...this means it's a transparent background or PNG file. You can just drag it onto your photo without there being a white background like a JPG.

 Note: 

I used the Rhonna Designs Simple Photo Frame here.  The kit includes each frame in either high resolution- for print quality. Or low resolution- for online quality.  They are already resized with this in mind.  But, you may need to resize your frame to fit your photo....like mine below.

 step No. 2: 

Click on your Photo. 

Go to: SELECT> ALL. EDIT>COPY & then PASTE on the canvas. 

Really, it doesn't matter which one you copy & paste onto the other....Because you can adjust the Layers to where you need them anyway.  But, above I wanted to show you how the photo is ON TOP of the frame & you can see it doesn't fit.  

 step No. 3: Look at your Layer Palette. (above)

People always say to me: "I can't do digital...I can't wrap my mind around Layers!!!!"

ok. breathe. 

To wrap your mind around Layers...simply think of your photo & frame being on a table. You would put down your photo FIRST so you could put your frame ON TOP of your photo.  Layers in your Layer Palette work the same way. I want my Photo to be UNDER my frame, so I just grab that Layer 1 (my photo) & drag it down so the Frame is ON TOP.

 step No. 4: 

Now, let's resize. 

Click on your Frame so you can resize it to fit your Photo. 

Go to: EDIT>TRANSFORM>SCALE. 

You will see a Bounding Box with little boxes at the corners. When you hover your cursor over them, it will turn into Arrows & you can resize to fit your Photo.

2 Notes: 

A. When you resize ANYTHING (larger or smaller) you will lose resolution, which means it will get blurry. But sizing down (or smaller) is less of a compromise in resolution. 

So, rule of thumb- always resize smaller, NOT larger...or you'll have a blurry mess!

B. In PSCS4, to keep your image in proportion, simply hit the SHIFT KEY when you are Resizing...this will ensure that you don't have stretched out images...faces look funny when they have been resized the wrong way! LOL!  

IF you have something like this frame that won't be affected by the proportion, you don't have to worry about that...you can just resize by dragging the edges to meet the Photo.

 step No. 5: 

If your photo needs to be trimmed a bit, here's a little trick.  

Click on your Photo Layer. 

Select your Marquee Tool. (the one that looks like a square). 

Drag it around the area you want it trimmed to...like above.  You will see those 'marching ants'.

 step No. 6: 

Go to: SELECT>INVERSE & hit DELETE. 

This will trim all of the photo to fit into the frame. 

Nifty, huh?

tip: 

I always save my original layered files in case I want to change them, or I have a typo...etc.

THEN, I flatten my image & save it that way for printing (if it's high resolution) or if I want to post on my blog, facebook, etc.

And remember to add to your Layers. The Photo above is 'dressed up' with some of my NEW Spooky Junque kits & Grateful Glam kits *coming soon*. I simply added the digital elements ON TOP of my frame...just as if I were sitting at my table & putting the stickers, flowers, etc. on my photo frame.  

Now...have fun. Get creative.  

enjoy your new skillz...share it...& someone will say, "How Did You Do That?"....

enjoy your weekend!