Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Make sure that Constrain Proportions is turned on, and then, in the dialog box's Docu-
ment Size section, enter the size you want for the width or height (Elements calculates
the other dimension for you). Scale Styles doesn't matter, so leave it off.
5.
Click OK
.
Elements resizes the photo so it's ready for printing.
Resampling
Resampling
is an image-editing term for changing the number of pixels in an image. The res-
ults of resampling are permanent, so you want to avoid resampling an original photo if you
can help it. As a rule, it's easier to get good results when you
downsample
(make a photo
smaller) than when you
upsample
(make a photo larger).
When you upsample, you're
adding
pixels to the image. Elements has to get them from
somewhere, so it makes them up. It's pretty good at doing this, but these pixels are never as
good as the ones that were in the photo to begin with, as you can see in
Figure 3-24
.
When you enlarge an image to bigger than its original size, you'll definitely lose some qual-
ity. So, for example, if you try to stretch a photo that's 3 inches wide at 180 ppi to an 8 x
10-inch print, don't be surprised if the results look pretty bad.
The Image Size dialog box's Resample Image menu offers several resampling methods, and
they do a really good job when you find the right one for your situation. Adobe recommends
choosing Bicubic Smoother when you're upsampling (enlarging) images and Bicubic Sharp-
er when you're downsampling (reducing) them, but you may prefer one of the others. It's
worth experimenting with them all to see which you like.
