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lilCystar
Known Participant
May 22, 2024
Answered

Any way to change image's aspect ratio without cropping, distorting or losing quality?

  • May 22, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 3623 views

Hi 

I'm wanting to sell my artwork on Etsy as printable downloads but noticed my competition is all offering their artwork downloads in at least 3 different aspect ratios, increasing the amount of frame sizes the customer can use.

 

I've been reading all day about how this might be done, without cropping/distortion. Thought I had a way by shrinking the the layer  with my art  with free transform to fit inside the new aspect ratio size and then using Generative Fill on the blank areas  but then read that free transform loses quality.

 

Then I thought I had a way by selecting the entire contents of the layer and then clicking Content Aware Scale and then dragging it to size. But that only protects part of the layer from damage, not all of it. 

 

Then I thought for sure I found a way by turning my artwork layer into a smart object, then using free transform to shrink it down into the guides I created for the aspect ratio, with generative fill to fill in blank areas. But now I read that even smart objects will lose quality when shrunk.

 

Is there any way to do this? I'm at my wits end.  How are my competitors managing it as I can't imagine they're just cropping the image...  All replies genuinely appreciated!

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Conrad_C

    All automatic or one-click methods of changing the aspect ratio in Photoshop will necessarily crop or distort content, except Content-Aware Scale. If you don’t like what you see from Content-Aware Scale, it has a “protect” mode to let you prevent specific content from being altered, if you haven’t tried that already. Greg Benz talks about some Content-Aware Scale strategies at the link below. I haven’t actually watched the video on that page yet, but Greg is a good teacher who knows Photoshop very well.

     

    https://gregbenzphotography.com/photography-tips/how-to-use-content-aware-scale-in-photoshop/

    1 reply

    Conrad_C
    Community Expert
    Conrad_CCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    May 22, 2024

    All automatic or one-click methods of changing the aspect ratio in Photoshop will necessarily crop or distort content, except Content-Aware Scale. If you don’t like what you see from Content-Aware Scale, it has a “protect” mode to let you prevent specific content from being altered, if you haven’t tried that already. Greg Benz talks about some Content-Aware Scale strategies at the link below. I haven’t actually watched the video on that page yet, but Greg is a good teacher who knows Photoshop very well.

     

    https://gregbenzphotography.com/photography-tips/how-to-use-content-aware-scale-in-photoshop/

      L
      lilCystarAuthor
      Known Participant
      May 22, 2024

      Thank you for your quick reply! But from what I have read about Content Aware Scale is that some of the image area will be stretched or compressed. Won't those areas print badly at large size?

       

      Conrad_C
      Community Expert
      Conrad_CCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 22, 2024

      Yes, it’s very likely that the image will end up with some parts that aren’t quite right. If you do your best with Content-Aware Scale and it still doesn’t meet your requirements, then it may be another dead end. I am not sure if there are any automatic tools, by Adobe or someone else, that can successfully recompose content that’s already a single flattened layer.

      Traditionally, the way that always preserved the most quality was having all of the important elements of the document on separate layers, set up copies of the composition on canvases or artboards with different aspect ratios, and then on each of them, push the layers around to manually recompose them within each aspect ratio so that nothing gets distorted. But that is a 100% manual method.

       

      All of the Content-Aware features were added several years ago, and represent a somewhat earlier version of “magic”-like image technology. The current wave is, as you probably know, features powered by what’s called “AI,” and the “AI” generation of features is more powerful than the old “Content-Aware” generation. If Adobe decided to come up with some kind of “AI recomposition” feature, that would probably do what you want a lot better than Content-Aware Scale. But, that doesn’t exist yet.

       

      Adobe InDesign has an automatic layout adjustment feature where it automatically moves and resizes objects to respond to a change in page settings, such as smaller page margins or a different aspect ratio. But naturally, that is completely dependent on each part being a separate object that can be repositioned independently of the others.

       

      This all raises a big question: Do you have any knowledge of how other Etsy vendors generate their multiple aspect ratios? Given the lack of ability for Photoshop to do this, it would be really interesting to know what tool others use if it works quickly and easily. And also if what they use works on finished, single-layer artwork or if it too requires that each artwork component be its own object or layer that can be moved independently of the other elements.

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