Expert: LizaL - 2/12/2005

Question
Hello, I am new at using photoshop.  The version I have is 5.5 on a PC.  My question is how do I resize/shrink a portion of a picture rather than the whole picture?  I tried using image resize but it shrunk the whole picture.  I also tried using free transform but it left 'blank' area where I shrunk the picture.  Your assistance will be greatly appreciated.  Thank you in advance.

Jim  

Answer
Hi Jim,

Welcome to the Photoshop world! Hope you're enjoying it so far.

To answer your question, you can shrink just a part of a picture, but you *will* have to have some means of filling in that blank area that's left behind. Here's why:

Photoshop is what's known as a bitmap program, as opposed to a vector-based program. What this boils down to is that images in Photoshop are generated as pixel-filled images -- whereas a vector program (like a drawing program) simply creates images made up of lines and shapes.

So that means that in a vector drawing program, you can stack objects on top of each other in the same layer, and when you drag the top object away, the bottom one(s) stay intact. There aren't any holes. But in Photoshop, since the images are bitmapped, if you stack one image on top of the other in the same layer, and then try to remove the top one, it leaves a gaping hole underneath. In other words, you remove pixels from the photo when you move something.

This applies to what you're trying to do. For example, if you have a picture with a table, lamp and a chair, and you isolate and select just the chair and make it smaller, you're definitely left with a space where the previously-larger chair used to be.

Following is a quick, down-and-dirty fix:
What you can do in a case like this is use the clone stamp tool to fill in the background, or paint in a new background, or something similar -- but you do have to do some manipulation in order to fill in that blank space.

It would help me greatly if I could see the image you're working on -- if you like, you're welcome to email it to me at lizal@little-works.com, and I can get a better idea of how you can go about altering it without it being obvious.

But in the meantime, here are some general suggestions, in the form of a little movie. And this is the "quick" version I mentioned above. (It's a 3MB movie and might take a minute or so to load, depending on your internet connection.)

http://little-works.com/all_experts/resize.mov


I'll explain what I did here:

1. I double-clicked the Background layer (the only layer at first) to unlock it.

2. Then I selected the Elliptical marquee selection tool (from the selection tools in the tool box), and selected the clock.

3. I used New Layer via Cut (from the Layer pulldown menu) to isolate the clock on its own layer. So in effect, I cut the clock out of the picture.

4. Of course, that left a hole in the picture, on the bottom layer. So I used the clone stamp -- setting its brush to a fairly big, soft size -- and cloned in the background. To use this tool, you need to press Alt+Click (on a PC) or Option+Click (Mac) in order to "sample" a place you're cloning from. Then click the mouse to "paint" over the part of the image you're replacing.

5. Then I selected the clock layer, used Free Transform (from the Edit pulldown menu), held down my Shift key and dragged a selection handle, and made the clock smaller. Holding down the Shift key constrains the movement, and keeps the size proportional, so your selection doesn't get all stretched out and funny-looking.

6. I selected the Move tool (the arrow), made sure I had the clock layer selected, and then dragged the clock back into place.


Granted, this is an easy picture to do this with. And it might not be the right way to approach your project. But if you could send me your photo, I might be able to tell you the best way for you to do this.

This is also a VERY down-and-dirty way of doing this. I honestly don't recommend using the clone stamp tool for anything that needs to be precise, or look natural. The clone stamp tool can cause more visual trouble than it's worth! But in a pinch, it can be used to fix damage, or in this case, holes.

I should add that this whole process can be done with much more precision and finesse! But this is the basic idea.


Hope this helps!

Lisa


P.S. I realize I'm using Photoshop CS and you're using 5.5, but if memory serves, you should have the clone stamp tool, and everything else I mentioned! Let me know if you don't.