Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 / An easy-to-use image resizer

Resizing a photo to fit a physical frame or web template is a common editing task, and Photoshop Elements is the ideal image resizer. Using your choice of tools, you can adjust a photo’s resolution, specify height and width, crop away unwanted edge content, or recompose to change size or orientation.

Before resizing pictures in Photoshop Elements, it's important to understand the concepts of image size and resolution. Image size (or pixel dimensions) is a measure of the number of pixels along a photo's width and height. For example, your digital camera may take a photo that is 1500 pixels wide and 1000 pixels high. These two measurements indicate the amount of image data in a photo and determine the file size.

Resolution is the amount of image data in a given space. It is measured in pixels per inch (ppi). The more pixels per inch, the greater the resolution. Generally, the higher the resolution of your photo, the better the printed quality. Resolution determines the fineness of detail you can see in a photo.

Although a digital photo contains a specific amount of image data, it doesn't have a specific physical output size or resolution. As you change the resolution, the photo's physical dimensions change, and as you change the width or height, the photo's resolution changes.

To resize a photo for print, choose Image > Resize > Image Size. In the Pixel Dimensions area of the dialog box, you'll see the width and height of your photo in pixels. If you resize with the Resample Image option turned on, you'll change the number of pixels that make up the photo. Turn the Resample Image option off to avoid sacrificing quality.

In the Document Size area of the dialog box, you can change the width and height of the photo without losing any pixels or decreasing photo quality. Note that the photo's resolution will change, but the total number of pixels in the photo will remain the same.

To resize a photo for the web, choose File > Save for Web. Choose your file format, choose a color profile, and type in the pixel dimensions you need. Click Apply, and then compare the original photo to the compressed version to ensure that you're satisfied with the resulting quality.

Photoshop Elements offers additional ways to resize photos. Use the Crop tool to remove unwanted content around a photo's edges. You can even crop to change the orientation of a photo from landscape to portrait or vice versa. Or use the Recompose tool as an image resizer. The Recompose tool automatically crops out areas within a photo, without distorting key elements like people or buildings.