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Adobe Photoshop/shrinking/expanding images?

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Expert: - 7/13/2009


Question

figure
Hello Glen

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,

Although it would be easier to do this in a page layout program, such as InDesign, Quark or Publisher, you can do it in Photoshop.

Start with a new document as high as your tallest graph and 5 times as wide (if 5 graphs are needed) plus margins. Copy and paste the images on to their own layer. You may want to click on the rulers and drag some guides onto the document. Select the layer with the image you want to resize on it and go to Edit>Free Transform. The handles on the sides of the image will allow you to resize the graphs and you can move them with the move tool. Enter will confirm the resize and the handle will disappear.

The layered image needs to be saved as a Photoshop (.psd) or tiff document. Once you're done you can go to Layer>Flatten Image, or choose Flatten Image from the Layers palette menu, and you can then save as a jpg, tiff, etc.

Hope this helps,
Glen Demers
Adobe Certified Expert, Photoshop 7
Prepress Technician, Best Printing Online
www.bestprintingonline.com

For more Photoshop tips please visit our help pages here: http://www.bestprintingonline.com/photoshop.htm

Glen Demers

Expertise

I am an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop 7 and can answer any questions dealing with images for print; resolution, color correction, color space, sharpening and retouching. I am a prepress technician for Best Printing Online and if you want to know how to prepare your image for offset reproduction, I can help.

Experience

I've been working in the prepress aspect of printing for 25 years and am currently a prepress technician for Best Printing Online
I've worked with Photoshop since 1994 and have used all versions from 3 to CS3. I'm an ACE (Adobe certified expert) in Photoshop 7.0

Education/Credentials
I graduated High School and took 1 year of College level offset printing course. I've attended 2 Photoshop World conferences and taken numerous seminars pertaining to Photoshop and the print industry.

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