Image resizing is one of the most common image manipulation workflows that allows you to customize the size of your image based on your needs without losing its crispness.

You might want to only send small files to your clients in the beginning so that no final pictures are sent before the job has been fully done. Usually platforms like Pinterest and Instagram will also prefer smaller images, so here’s a step-by-step guide to resize your images in Photoshop.

Resize images in Photoshop

Follow these steps to use Image Size in Photoshop and resize your image as desired:

1. Open an image in Photoshop

Open an image in Photoshop and choose Image > Image Size.

2. Modify image preview

A window displays the preview image, in the Image Size dialog. Do any of the following to modify the image preview:

To change the size of the preview window, drag a corner of the Image Size dialog box and resize it.

To view a different image area, drag the hand icon that appears within the preview.

To change the preview magnification, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) in the preview image to increase magnification. Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) to reduce the magnification. After clicking, the magnification percentage briefly appears near the bottom of the preview image.

3. Modify image resizing parameters

Dimension: To change the unit of measurement for the pixel dimension, click the triangle next to Dimensions and choose from the menu.

Fit To

Using this option, you can:

• Choose a preset to resize the image. 
• Choose Auto Resolution to resize the image for specific printing output. In the Auto Resolution dialog box, specify the Screen value and select a Quality. You can change the unit of measurement by choosing from the menu to the right of the Screen text box.

Constrain

To maintain the original ratio of width to height measurement, make sure that the Constrain Proportions option is enabled. If you want to scale the width and height independently of each other, click the Constrain Proportions icon (link icon) to unlink them. You can change the unit of measurement for width and height by choosing from the menus to the right of the Width and Height text boxes.

Width/Height

Enter values for Width and Height. To enter values in a different unit of measurement, choose from the menus next to the Width and Height text boxes. The new image file size appears at the top of the Image Size dialog box, with the old file size in parentheses.

Resolution

To change the Resolution, enter a new value. (Optional) You can also choose a different unit of measurement.

Resample

To change the image size or resolution and allow the total number of pixels to adjust proportionately, make sure that Resample is selected, and if necessary, choose an interpolation method from the Resample menu. To change the image size or resolution without changing the total number of pixels in the image, deselect Resample.

4. It’s done.

When you finish setting options, click OK. To restore the initial values displayed in the Image Size dialog box, either choose Original Size from the Fit To menu, or hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS), and click Reset.

Resampling options

Automatic

Photoshop chooses the resampling method based on the document type and whether the document is scaling up or down.

Preserve Details (enlargement)

When this method is chosen, a Noise reduction slider becomes available for smoothing out noise as you upscale the image.

Bicubic Smoother (enlargement)

A good method for enlarging images based on Bicubic interpolation but designed to produce smoother results.

Bicubic Sharper (reduction)

A good method for reducing the size of an image based on Bicubic interpolation with enhanced sharpening. This method maintains the detail in a resampled image. If Bicubic Sharper oversharpens some areas of an image, try using Bicubic.

Bicubic (smoother gradients)

A slower but more precise method based on an examination of the values of surrounding pixels. Using more complex calculations, Bicubic produces smoother tonal gradations than Nearest Neighbor or Bilinear.

Nearest Neighbor (hard edges)

A fast but less precise method that replicates the pixels in an image. This method preserves hard edges and produces a smaller file in illustrations containing edges that are not anti-aliased. However, this method can produce jagged effects, which become apparent when you distort or scale an image or perform multiple manipulations on a selection.

Bilinear

A method that adds pixels by averaging the color values of surrounding pixels. It produces medium-quality results.