One of the ways you will mostly use Photoshop is to resize images. While you are resizing images, you may want to keep the subject of the image from stretching. Learning how to resize images without Distortion or Stretching in Photoshop, will help you to resize your image while keeping the subject looking good.
How to resize Image without Distortion or Stretching in Photoshop
Resizing images can make them look stretched and unrealistic. You may want to make an image’s background fit a larger or smaller area. This resizing can make the subject of the image look stretched or deformed. When you want to resize an image, you usually want the image to fit a pre-existing size. You may have a frame or shape you want the image to fit onto. Keep reading to learn how to resize without affecting the subject.
- Open and prepare Photoshop
- Place the image on the canvas in Photoshop
- Select the image’s subject
- Save the selection
- Select Content aware scale then resize the image
1] Open and prepare Photoshop
Find your Photoshop icon and click to open Photoshop. When Photoshop is opened, create a new document. go to File then New or press Ctrl + N. The New document options window will open, choose the options that you want for your document. This size could be the size that you want the image to fit. When you are finished selecting the options, click Ok to close the window and create the blank document.
2] Place the image on the canvas in Photoshop
In this step, you want to place the image of your choice on the canvas you created in the previous step. To place the image into Photoshop on the canvas, you can just find the image then click and drag it into Photoshop. If you use the option to go to the top menu then press File then Open and select the image, the image will open into a new document. You will then have to drag it onto the previously created canvas.
3] Select the image’s subject
The image that you want to stretch may have a main subject. You may want to keep the subject from stretching and looking distorted. You will want to select the subject of the image. In this article, the dog on the beach is the subject. You can use the Quick selection tool to select the dog. The Quick selection tool is located on the left tools panel. It is in the same group as the Magic wand tool.
With the Quick selection tool active, drag it on the subject (dog) until you see the selection around it. you should also try to select the shadow so that it will stay in proportion to the subject.
Quick mask
To check that the selection is done properly you will use the Quick mask.
To use Quick Mask, press Q on the keyboard. The surrounding of the selection will become pale red while the selection will remain bright. To get the Quick mask off press Q again and it will be removed.
Correct selection
If you realize that the selection missed out any part or took in unwanted parts, you can correct the selection. Use the Quick mask tool to check how successful your selection is. When you have had a successful selection, you can move on to the next step.
4] Save the selection
With the selection around the image it is time to save the selection. There are two ways that you can save the selection.
You can go to the top menu bar then click Select then Save selection.
The next way is to right-click on the image while the selection is around it. you will see the menu, choose Save selection.
When you choose Save selection, the Save selection box will pop up. Here you will give the selection a descriptive name. This selection will be named Dog since it is a selection of a dog. Press Ok when you are finished to close the window. Press Ctrl + D to deselect the image.
Read: How to separate the Subject from the Background in Photoshop
5] Select Content-aware scale then resize the image
Now that the selection is saved, it is time to stretch the image. You will not just stretch the image as you use to, you will have to use Content-aware scale.
To use Content-aware scale go to the top menu bar and click Edit then Content-aware scale or press Alt + Shift + Ctrl + C.
The Content-aware menu bar will appear, look for Protect, click on the word None, and a drop-down menu will appear. Click on Dog or whatever you named your subject.
If you want to also protect skin tones when you resize, you can click on the Protect Skin tones icon (image of a person) beside the Protect button. The Protect skin tones may not work very well with all images so you have to try and see the result.
When you are finished resizing the image, press Enter to accept the size and remove the transform box.
You will see the transform box with the handles appear around the image. click any of the handles and resize the image to fit the size you want. You will notice that whether you make the image smaller or larger, the subject (dog) remains the same size.
Image before resizing
The image was resized the normal way by stretching without using Content-aware. You will notice that the subject is distorted.
The image was resized using the Content-aware scale and the saved selection. You notice that the subject remains unstretched and is not distorted.
Above you can see the image in its original state on the canvas, then when it was resized normally, and then when it was resized using the Content-aware scale. You will see that the image remained the same size when the Content-aware scale was used.
This method of resizing images is great for keeping the subject of the image from looking stretched or out of proportion.
Read: How to warp a Gradient with Text in Photoshop
How do you resize an image proportionately in Photoshop
Whenever to resize an image in Photoshop, you run the risk of making it look distorted. If you want to resize the image proportionately, you will have to hold Shift + Alt while you resize it. with the image in Photoshop Press Ctrl + T to bring up the transform box around the image. you then Hold Shift + Alt while you hold any of the handles to resize the image. As you drag to resize you will notice that the image resizes from all four sides.
How do I resize an image in Photoshop without losing quality?
You can resize an image in Photoshop without losing quality by adding more pixels to the image. You do this by selecting the image in Photoshop then going to Image then Image size. When the Image size options box appears, you can increase the Resolution value. This will automatically increase the size of the image. if you have a specific size in mind for the image, you would then enter the size into the Width and Height value boxes. If the sizes are constrained and you want them to move freely, you can uncheck Constrain proportions before entering the Width and Height values.
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