Adobe Photoshop/shrink/expand pic?

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Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 7/10/2009


Question

figure
Hello Kevin

I will try to keep this as short and concise as possible.  

I am the lab manager of a science laboratory (Windows computes) at a university.  We have used a graphics program called Canvas to make our figures for publications, presentations, etc.  Our figures are nothing too fancy...tabular data from Microsoft excel input into a formula, which makes an output consisting of a bunch of squiggly lines that are filled with color and export into a format such as .emf and input into our graphics program (please see attached).

The problem is is that Canvas is VERY OBSOLETE, so we looking to get a little more up to date.  We keep hearing about Photoshop, which I downloaded the free trial.  So far...so good.  It seems to have amazing capabilities.  However, I can not figure out how to 'grab' an image (jpeg, emf, tiff, etc) and shrink/expand to get all of our cm (y axis) to line up (see image), which can be done on canvas, as well as on Powerpoint, Word, etc.  Can this be done on Photoshop?  If so, how?  This is a very important feature for our work.  (Note...all sets of lines are separate images...they just need to be shrunk/expanded manually).

Thank you!!!

Thomas

Answer
Hi Thomas,

With the move tool selected, you will find a check box in the options bar (located above your document, below the menus) for "Show Transform Controls". This will allow you to grab and move images to scale.

Hope this helps.

Kevin

Kevin Stohlmeyer

Expertise

I am an Adobe Certified Instructor and also an Adobe Community Professional. I can answer your questions about Adobe Photoshop 8 through the new CS5 Extended versions.

Experience

I am an Adobe Certified Instructor for Adobe Photoshop and have been teaching the application to college students for the past 10 years. I am also only one of 15 Adobe Community Professionals for Adobe Photoshop.

Organizations
Milwaukee Adobe User Group, National Association of Photoshop Professionals, C2 Graphics Productivity Solutions,

Publications
Create Magazine Adobe.com

Education/Credentials
BA - Graphic Design Adobe Certified Instructor - Photoshop and Illustrator Adobe Community Professional - Photoshop

Awards and Honors
Runner-Up Layers Magazine Design Contest

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