PC World - USA (2020-01)

130 PCWorld JANUARY 2020

HERE’S HOW GIMP BASICS

TIP 6: RESIZING PHOTOS

WITHOUT LOSING IMAGE

QUALITY

This is one of the most important photo tips,

because everybody who prints digital photos

must understand how to resize them.

Most digital cameras shoot photos at a

low resolution such as 72, 120, or 180 ppi

(pixels per inch), unless you access the

Settings menu and change it to a higher

resolution setting such as 300 to 600 ppi.

The larger the photo, the higher the ppi

must be to avoid losing image quality.

Generally, 300 ppi is adequate for an 11x14

print. Larger sizes would need more pixels.

Resizing in Photoshop is handled

through Image > Image Size. If you

uncheck the Resample Image box, you

can change the 72 ppi to 300 ppi, and

the physical image size will automatically

change to match the new ppi. This

method preserves the image quality.

In GIMP, the command is Image >

Scale Image. The Scale Image dialog

appears showing the Image Size (width

and height), the Resolution (X and Y),

and the Quality Interpolation. To

automatically adjust the physical image

size when the ppi changes, choose

NoHalo from the Interpolation field.

NOTE: The NoHalo and LoHalo

options replaced the Sinc (Lanczos3)

option in previous versions.

First, change the pixels to inches,

then choose NoHalo, then enter 300 in the

X Resolution field box. All the other relevant

fields change automatically to maintain the

image quality. When finished, click the Scale

button and it’s done.

Resizing photos.