[LFLee]

Hi all,

Tried to search this online but cannot find an answer.
I would like to resize my picture in Photoshop CS5 without changing the image quality of the original psd file, how can I do this?

LR3 can export - and select image size, this keep the original image file intact.

CS5 I only found "Image-Images Size" to change the image size and once you save it, the image size reduces and the next time you want a bigger picture you can't.

Newbie in CS5 so hope someone can point out how this can be done in CS5. Currently, I resize the image, then save it as jpg, and quit the image without saving it to psd file, but I found it is kind of annoying.

Thanks for your help!

Lee

[ahill]

If you are saving for web or screen viewing, you can just go into Save for Web or Devices and change your dimensions there, which comes along with some amount of sharpening if you choose Bicubic sharper in the methods. This will save an image at 72 dpi. Once you have saved you can go back to your psd file and it will not have changed.

Most times I like to see exactly what the sharpening methods I choose really do, rather than leaving it to "Bicubic sharper" in the Save for web dialog, depending on the photo; so I leave image resizing and sharpening until last in the original psd, then save for web, then when coming back to the psd I back up in the history before resizing and sharpening, and either save from there or don't save, if I already have a copy. So you get used to keeping around a copy of your file as an original, and making any changes on it before producing any other files for different purposes.

[cats_five]

If you make an image smaller (e.g. reduce the number of pixels), save it into a new name. Once you have reduced the pixel count you can't get them back.

Save for web has the possible downside of removing the EXIF.

What you are doing (reduce size, save as JPG) is the right way to go about it.

[LFLee]

Thanks for the answers (ahill and cats_five).

In LR3 I can set the dpi and the size while export - so I now I can't do that in CS5... thats kind of weird.
So people just save the psd file at different sizes?... hm...


Lee

[ahill]

I save a master psd file, and then output from that as needed, whether for printing or web, jpeg, tiff or pdf.

I don't know anything about Lightroom (assuming that is what you mean by LR3), but don't CS5 and Lightroom work together? Can you not save your psd in PS, then open it in Lightroom to get your workflow how you like it? I am not a CS5 expert, but do use it a lot, so there possibly could be another way. Maybe something in scripts, or you could possibly write an action to get rid of the part that annoys you.

[cats_five]

You haven't really explain what it is you are wanting to do. You take a photo, process it and then...?

[atupdate]

Does Lightroom have a Save As option? If so, rename the file before you Save As. Most of my images that I downsize for web I add Web in front of the file name. That way they are grouped together in my files and easy to find.

Tim

[LFLee]

I normally only use LR3 to post-process, but recently I added CS5 into my workflow to do minor adjustments, so I am new to CS5.

My workflow is process in LR3, and then minor process in CS5. So it is LR3 -> CS5.
Once I finish my processing in LR3, I 'export' it as 'original file', the raw file and Open it in CS5 to do minor processing (still with the raw file output from LR3), after processing in CS5, I save the file as .psd file (still original file size). Now after CS5 process, I wanted to save this to different sizes and output them as jpg or tiff (to post to web or for printing).

I found that to do that I have to do 'image-resize' in CS5, and select the size I wanted, then do 'file-save as' and save it as jpg. I can't save this resized psd file as it will reduce the file size permanently in the psd file. So what I do is after I resized and save it to different format, I discard this resized image but keep my original psd file.

What I want to know is, does CS5 have something similar to LR3, where I can 'export' the file to different sizes? Since CS5 is the end of this process I don't want to open the file again in LR3 to be able to export to different file sizes.

Thanks for the responses.

Lee

[cats_five]

You are doing it exactly the way I do though I only ever do one resize - to make the longest side 1024 pixels for uploading to Flickr, and I append '_1024' to the JPG name.

If you are doing some fairly standard resizing I suspect you can record actions to automate the process at least to a degree. But, AFAIK you have to resize and then Save As the original PSD each time. I don't have CS5, I don't remember anything similar in CS4, and remember that Photoshop and LR are very different products.

There are all sorts of possibilities for batch processing in Photoshop and maybe you need to find someone who knows a lot more about them than I do, which basically is 'they exist'.

BTW can LR3 open the PSD and export it?

[Wheatfield]

Export file from Lightroom to Photoshop.
Resize the file to the dimension you want and click save as.
Either give the file an altered name or save it as a different format.
This isn't a difficult concept.

[GDRoth]

I find one of the best benefits of LR3 is the ability to easily resize as you "export" to whatever size or format you need.................I simply put the new exported images onto my desktop in a new folder with a meaningful name..............the orginal images are not changed at all..........

[LFLee]

Wheatfield, of course is a simple concept, just not a elegant one.
In LR3, you keep your original file and 'export' to whatever file size you want. I am looking to see if I can do the same thing in CS5, not needing to save into so many different filenames for different sizes (space will build up quick as well). I am asking to see if someone can provide a better solution doing things in CS5, not someone who tell me if a concept is difficult or not.

cats_five, OK... I tried and apparently LR3 can open psd file. So I can use LR3 to save to different format -- but now I will have to 'import' the psd files again to LR3 and one more folder to manage in LR3. So the process is LR3 (pp)-CS5(minor pp)-LR3(export).... still not a very elegant workflow. What is the automated process called in CS5?

Lee

[TaoMaas]

So people just save the psd file at different sizes?... hm...

Yes, PhotoShop is different than Lightroom. Lightroom basically saves a set of instructions and doesn't alter the basic picture file, whereas Photoshop saves the entire picture with the alterations permanently applied. So, if you don't want to change your original photo, you have to do a "Save as".

I am looking to see if I can do the same thing in CS5, not needing to save into so many different filenames for different sizes (space will build up quick as well).

I don't think you can do it in PhotoShop. And, you're right, it can start eating up space in a hurry.

[Wheatfield]

Wheatfield, of course is a simple concept, just not a elegant one.
In LR3, you keep your original file and 'export' to whatever file size you want. I am looking to see if I can do the same thing in CS5, not needing to save into so many different filenames for different sizes (space will build up quick as well). I am asking to see if someone can provide a better solution doing things in CS5, not someone who tell me if a concept is difficult or not.

cats_five, OK... I tried and apparently LR3 can open psd file. So I can use LR3 to save to different format -- but now I will have to 'import' the psd files again to LR3 and one more folder to manage in LR3. So the process is LR3 (pp)-CS5(minor pp)-LR3(export).... still not a very elegant workflow. What is the automated process called in CS5?

Lee

In Lightroom, you aren't doing anything to an image file until you export it, which is pretty much the same as the save as function in Photoshop. TANSTAAFL. If you want to change an image file but leave the original alone, you are going to end up with 2 files.
There is no way around this.

Lightroom: Export to new file.
Photoshop: Save As new file.

There are a couple of ways to automate things in Photoshop.
One is the Image Processor, found under File/Scripts, the other is File/Automate/Batch, which would use an action that you have written with some specific bulk processing in mind.
There may be others, droplets comes to mind, but these are the two I use most often.

[mysticcowboy]

Just one point. You cannot change the size of an image without reducing the quality, at least a little bit.

Since I want my psd or tif files to have the best print quality, I save them in 16 bit mode and AdobeRGB or Pro RGB. Saving for the web I use an action that resizes photos, for web posting. First it flattens the image. Then it changes the bit mode to 8 bit, changes the image from Adobe RGB to sRGB and adds some sharpening. I sometimes have to dial back the sharpening, which is easy to do in the Edit Menu. It is important to know that compressing a file in jpeg mode will soften it so a bit (not a lot) of over-sharpening before conversion can help make of for that. Using the Save As does preserve EXIF data which Save for Web doesn't. You don't need to rename the file. The different file extension makes the file name different anyway.