Make sure photoshop composite components are high enough res
May 9, 2019 5:12 AM Subscribe
I'm making some photoshop pictures that are composites of lots of other pictures. I know the resolution of the overall image is high enough to print at the size I want, but is there a way to make sure I haven't pasted something in "too big" and that one part of the picture will look crappy? Each pasted thing is its own component.
Mostly I'm just following the rule, once you paste it in, you can shrink it but not expand it. The thing is I made some composites and would like to take pieces of those to add to new ones. I know that when I made the originals I shrank them. So I'm thinking I should be able to expand it back out, right? But I don't recall exactly what the original sizes were, so it's possible I could accidentally go too big.
Mostly I'm just following the rule, once you paste it in, you can shrink it but not expand it. The thing is I made some composites and would like to take pieces of those to add to new ones. I know that when I made the originals I shrank them. So I'm thinking I should be able to expand it back out, right? But I don't recall exactly what the original sizes were, so it's possible I could accidentally go too big.
Before you make the composite, where are the images living? Your workflow should have a spot where all the originals are at. You can then open each of those originals and look at the size and resolution. Size and resolution needs will vary depending on output.
posted by hydra77 at 8:10 AM on May 9, 2019
posted by hydra77 at 8:10 AM on May 9, 2019
Response by poster: Ok, I was opening a file (usually jpg) in Photoshop, isolating the part of the image I want using select and then doing "paste in place" in the new document." I did save the new document, but as a psd, which I thought would preserve everything. Then I was opening that PSD, going to the layer with the object and copying and pasting it into another new document. I take it I should stop doing that. Save the isolated image as it's own file and then place it wherever I want it?
But looking at the size and resolution of the original image doesn't tell me if it's the right size and resolution in the new composite, does it? So if I take a picture of a widget and put it in my great-big-picture file, the widget could itself be the wrong resolution and look crappy, even if the original picture of the widget is great, no?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:19 AM on May 9, 2019
But looking at the size and resolution of the original image doesn't tell me if it's the right size and resolution in the new composite, does it? So if I take a picture of a widget and put it in my great-big-picture file, the widget could itself be the wrong resolution and look crappy, even if the original picture of the widget is great, no?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:19 AM on May 9, 2019
When you paste, if you don't scale, the pasted content will have the same pixel dimensions as it did in the source image. If it stays on its own layer and you don't process it in a way that diminishes its quality, you can copy that layer to other image files without losing quality.
The operation doesn't "care" about dpi/ppi - a 200px x 100px selection in the source will be a 200px x 100px paste in the target (again, if you don't scale it when you paste it). It doesn't matter how big the target is or what the dpi/ppi is of the target.
Let's say you have two copies of the same target image, L and S. Image L is 1000 x 500, and image S is 500 x 250. If you paste content C that is 250 x 125 into both L and S, it would occupy 1/4 the width and height of L, and half the width and height of S.
I suggest keeping an archive of your selected images in one or more psd files. Copy them in when you copy them to your target project so they're unprocessed. You can name the layers and group them by category in the layers panel, then you'll have a warehouse of images at your fingertips.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 9:05 AM on May 9, 2019
The operation doesn't "care" about dpi/ppi - a 200px x 100px selection in the source will be a 200px x 100px paste in the target (again, if you don't scale it when you paste it). It doesn't matter how big the target is or what the dpi/ppi is of the target.
Let's say you have two copies of the same target image, L and S. Image L is 1000 x 500, and image S is 500 x 250. If you paste content C that is 250 x 125 into both L and S, it would occupy 1/4 the width and height of L, and half the width and height of S.
I suggest keeping an archive of your selected images in one or more psd files. Copy them in when you copy them to your target project so they're unprocessed. You can name the layers and group them by category in the layers panel, then you'll have a warehouse of images at your fingertips.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 9:05 AM on May 9, 2019
I do a lot of design work, but I don't really do much compositing in Photoshop, so there may be a more efficient way to do this but here's my thoughts.
Let's say Large composite image is set to 1600 x 900 at 72 dpi.
I would then open up the file of the small component that you're going to add into that image. Check its image size. First make sure it's at 72 dpi so all the numbers are equivalent. Then you can look at its actual image size and have an idea of whether the component is large enough to copy nicely into the composite. (Is the small component image set to 200x200 @72 dpi? May not look good unless it's only a small portion of the large composite.)
When you then copy and paste that portion of the component image into the large composite image, it should paste in at its highest quality (at 72dpi). From there, you can still shrink it, but not enlarge (too much), or save it to its own image if you plan to use it again.
All that being said, there's a lot to be said for Photoshop's ability to enlarge photos. I don't know what sort of images you're using, but if you start with the original file, you can try scaling the image size up, and letting photoshop use its own extrapolation algorithms to fill in pixels. I've had decent luck with this. You just have to take a close look at it afterward, and see how it does. (maybe go in with a small amount of gaussian blur). Sometimes it works, sometimes it looks like crap.
posted by hydra77 at 9:05 AM on May 9, 2019
Let's say Large composite image is set to 1600 x 900 at 72 dpi.
I would then open up the file of the small component that you're going to add into that image. Check its image size. First make sure it's at 72 dpi so all the numbers are equivalent. Then you can look at its actual image size and have an idea of whether the component is large enough to copy nicely into the composite. (Is the small component image set to 200x200 @72 dpi? May not look good unless it's only a small portion of the large composite.)
When you then copy and paste that portion of the component image into the large composite image, it should paste in at its highest quality (at 72dpi). From there, you can still shrink it, but not enlarge (too much), or save it to its own image if you plan to use it again.
All that being said, there's a lot to be said for Photoshop's ability to enlarge photos. I don't know what sort of images you're using, but if you start with the original file, you can try scaling the image size up, and letting photoshop use its own extrapolation algorithms to fill in pixels. I've had decent luck with this. You just have to take a close look at it afterward, and see how it does. (maybe go in with a small amount of gaussian blur). Sometimes it works, sometimes it looks like crap.
posted by hydra77 at 9:05 AM on May 9, 2019
OK, so I've never done select>copy>paste in place, so that might work differently than what I was thinking. Try this:
Do it the way you described in a test image, then also make the selection a new layer in the source image (ctrl or cmd j) then drag that layer into the target image and see if both resulting layers are the same size. If they are, then both methods preserve the original pixel dimensions of the pasted content without regard to the ppi/dpi of the receiving image.
When you make a selection you can look at the Info panel to see its max width/height (set your units to pixels in preferences) and compare that to the pixel dimensions of the target image to get a sense of the relative size. You could also use the marquee tool in the target image to select an area you're going to fill with the pasted image to see how it compares to the image you want to paste.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 9:18 AM on May 9, 2019
Do it the way you described in a test image, then also make the selection a new layer in the source image (ctrl or cmd j) then drag that layer into the target image and see if both resulting layers are the same size. If they are, then both methods preserve the original pixel dimensions of the pasted content without regard to the ppi/dpi of the receiving image.
When you make a selection you can look at the Info panel to see its max width/height (set your units to pixels in preferences) and compare that to the pixel dimensions of the target image to get a sense of the relative size. You could also use the marquee tool in the target image to select an area you're going to fill with the pasted image to see how it compares to the image you want to paste.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 9:18 AM on May 9, 2019
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