Digital Becca

Step one – choosing your software

There are a few different tools which allow you to resize images, the best is Photoshop. Alternatively, there’s the free and web-based Pixlr – the functionality is largely the same but the quality is better in Photoshop. The steps below will work for either platform:

Step two – sourcing your image

• Where possible, it’s best to use a brand image
• If this isn’t appropriate, make sure you own or have a licence to share the image you’re using
• You’ll also need to make sure the image quality is strong, taking into account a potential reduction in quality when editing
• PNG is the ideal format for lossless compression

Step three – setting up

Open the programme you want to use

If using Photoshop, you’ll then need to:

• Scroll to the top left
• Click ‘File’ then select ‘New’
• Enter the width and height dimensions you need (make sure you select pixels, not centimetres), click ‘Ok’

If using Pixlr, you’ll then need to:

• Select the ‘Pixlr Editor’ option on entry
• Select ‘Create a new image’ on the next screen
• Enter the width and height dimensions you need, click ‘Ok’
• You’ll now have created a blank image at the correct size

Selecting the image you want to resize: 

• Using either Photoshop or Pixlr, scroll to the top left and click ‘File’
• Select ‘Open’ (Photoshop) or ‘Open image’ (Pixlr)
• Navigate to the image you want to resize from your folders and click ‘Open’

Step four – resizing

• At this stage, you’ll now have a blank image at the correct size, alongside your original image
• Click on the original image
• Press ‘Ctrl’ and ‘a’ together to copy it
• Click on the blank image, press ‘Ctrl’ and ‘v’ together to paste your original image in to the image you’ve created
• Scroll to the top, click ‘Edit’ and select ‘Free transform’
• Hover over the top left hand corner of the new image with your original pasted in. The corners will be marked by small squares
• As you hover, you’ll see two small arrows pointing in opposite directions
• Once you see these, hold down ‘Alt’ and ‘Shift’ at the same time, whilst clicking on the small corner square with your mouse
• Now drag the corner in on itself until the image is either the appropriate size or is small enough to move into place
• If your original is particularly big, you might find your image is now on the other side of the screen
• If this is the case, pick it up and drag it onto the new image you’ve created
• Continue stretching or slimming the image in the way described until it fits how you want it to within the frame
• Once you’re happy, press ‘Enter’ on your keyboard to finish editing
• You’ll now have a resized image you can save and use

Step five – saving your image

• To save your image, click ‘File’, click ‘Save’
• Give your image a name (or title)
• Select the format you want to save in, either JPG or PNG
• If using Photoshop – select the folder you want to save in and click ‘Save’
• If using Pixlr – move the image quality curser up to 100%, select the folder you want to save in, then click ‘Ok’
• Your image is now ready to use, close down your editing tool
• Now navigate to your saved file to open or upload it