How to Resize an Image in Photoshop

Resizing an image in Photoshop is useful when you’ve got a photo that’s too big, need it to fit a certain space or want to use it at a different size in your artwork.

The resize itself is pretty quick. It’s when you start making an image much bigger that you need to pay a little more attention to what you’re working with.

Resizing Your Image in Photoshop

Open your image and go to Image > Image Size.

You’ll see the width, height and resolution of your image. Choose the unit you want to work in, then enter the size you need.

Keep the width and height linked and Photoshop will keep everything in proportion. Change one measurement and it’ll work out the other for you. You can unlink them if you need to, but most of the time I’d leave them as they are… it’s very easy to stretch or squash an image without meaning to.

You’ll also see Resample. With this switched on, Photoshop can add or remove pixels as you change the size.

Once you’ve entered the measurements you need, click OK and have a look at the result.

Making an image smaller is usually fairly straightforward. Going bigger is where the original starts to matter more, as Photoshop has to create extra pixels to fill the additional space.

A small increase might look absolutely fine, but take a fairly small photo and make it several times bigger and you’ll probably start to see the difference. Faces, text and fine details are good places to look… any softness or pixelation tends to be easier to spot there.

Can You Resize an Image Without Losing Quality?

There’s only so much you can do with the image you start with. A large, good quality original gives you plenty to work with, whereas an image that’s already small is going to have its limits if you need to make it much bigger.

Resampling can help Photoshop create the extra pixels it needs, but it can’t bring back detail that wasn’t there in the first place.

If you’ve got a larger version of the photo somewhere, use that. It’ll give you more to work with than taking an image that’s already been reduced and trying to make it bigger again.

You can also switch Resample off if you don’t want Photoshop adding or removing pixels. The number of pixels stays the same, with the physical size and resolution changing around them instead.

The main thing is not to confuse resizing with improving the image. You can make a file bigger in Photoshop… that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve made it better quality.

Resizing an Image for Print

This becomes particularly noticeable when you’re resizing something for print.

A photograph used in a small space on a leaflet might look absolutely fine. Use the same file across an A3 poster and any lack of detail will be much easier to spot.

For high-quality print, 300dpi at the final size is ideal, so have a look at the image at roughly the size you’re actually planning to use it.

Simply changing an image from 72dpi to 300dpi doesn’t suddenly make it better quality. Photoshop can add pixels when you’re enlarging an image, but it can’t recreate genuine detail that wasn’t captured in the original.

If it’s starting to look soft or pixelated at the size you need, see if you’ve got a higher quality original rather than trying to keep pushing the same image.

And keep hold of that original. Resize a copy rather than saving over it… you might only need a small image now, but you’ll still have the best version to go back to if you need something bigger later.