Image > resize> image size is resizing canvas instead of just the image

[Deborah23090754ttb7]

Photoshop version 20.0
macOS Monterey, version 12.0.1

Image> Resize> Image Size is changing the size of the canvas, instead of the size of the image on the canvas.

I often resize large grayscale images that I have scanned, so that I can create smaller multiples to print on one 8.5" x 11" page.  In the new version, resizing the image *also* resizes the canvas to the same size as the image, instead of preserving the canvas size at 8.5" x 11".  (For example, when I resize an image to 2" x 3", the canvas size changes to 2" x 3" right along with the image.)

[Stephen Marsh]

This is how it is meant to work.

If you wish to resize the image and not the canvas – then you need to change the Background image layer to a "regular floating layer" and then transform the layer independently of the canvas. I'd suggest making the image layer a smart object so that one can "safely" copy and resize multiple times.

[Deborah23090754ttb7]

I've never had this issue before in all my previous iterations of Photoshop.  It has always resized just the image, and not the canvas.  This is a new problem for me, and I never had to do anything other than just change the image size.  

Thank you for the suggestions . . . I will try them!  :::fingers crossed:::

[Jumpenjax]

The Canvas Size panel is accessible through the Image > Canvas Size buttons found in the top menu bar. Unlike the Image Size tool, this will not change the size of your current image.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/contact-sheet-pdf-presentation-cs6.html

you can use this direction to automate the photos.

I hope this helps.

[Deborah23090754ttb7]

Thank you; yes,  I am aware that Image> Canvas Size is a separate option, and occasionally use it when needed.  But canvas size has never before been affected by altering the image size until this latest upgrade.  I want to change the image size while maintaining a full 8.5" x 11" canvas size, as I have done for years without difficulty with previous versions of Photoshop.  Rarely do I change the canvas size.

[Bojan Živković]

Photoshop version 20.0
macOS Monterey, version 12.0.1

 In the new version, resizing the image *also* resizes the canvas to the same size as the image, instead of preserving the canvas size at 8.5" x 11".  (For example, when I resize an image to 2" x 3", the canvas size changes to 2" x 3" right along with the image.)

By @Deborah23090754ttb7

This feature is not new, that is how it works.

[Deborah23090754ttb7]

In all the years I have been using various Photoshop versions, this has *never* happened to me.  I have always been able to change the image size without interfering with the canvas size.

[TheDigitalDog]

IF you resize an image, the canvas has to resize with it. Resize can be the number of pixels or the resolution (or both) but if you want to resize an image bigger or smaller, how can this occur without the canvas too being resized? It can't.

If you don't want to resize an image, just the Canvas, there is a command for just that.

What everyone has told you thus far is how Photoshop has worked since day one.

[Conrad_C]

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@Deborah23090754ttb7 wrote:

Image> Resize> Image Size is changing the size of the canvas, instead of the size of the image on the canvas.
…resizing the image *also* resizes the canvas to the same size as the image, instead of preserving the canvas size

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I am wondering if you aren’t actually thinking about Image Size, because you wrote out the menu path to the command as Image > Resize > Image Size. There is no Image > Resize submenu in Photoshop, and the actual Image > Image Size command works exactly the same as everyone else has said: It has not changed much.

Because of the way you wrote the menu path to the command (as if it was on a submenu), maybe you are thinking of the Edit > Transform > Scale command? Because for any layer that is not a Background, if you choose Edit > Transform > Scale (or something similar such as Edit > Free Transform etc.), you get what you are after: Only the layer resizes, not the canvas.

Image Size has always affected the entire canvas (all layers), and still does.

[mikesuex]

If it helps, I have the same problem:-(

[D Fosse]

What problem? Be specific.

The original poster didn't actually have a problem, she just misunderstood how it's supposed to work.

[Virgile33482483yetx]

She did not misunderstand. Everyone misunderstood. Selecting an image and the using Image>Image Size should change the size of the image, and not the canvas. However this is indeed what happens. And no, this is the case whether or not the image is set as a the background layer or if another layer is set as the background layer.

I currently am experiencing this same issue. I use Image>Canvas Size and set 8.5x11 and the canvas resizes to 8.5x11, . Then I select a layer and use Image>Image Size and set to 4.25x5.5, the image stays same size, the canvas resizes to 4.25x11. If I reverse the order and resize the image and then change the canvas, both are the correct size, however if I then add additional layers and attempt to Image>Image Size to resize them, the Image Size dialogue's dimensions show the Canvas size dimensions instead and if i resize, the canvas shrinks back down.

This conflation of image and canvas in Image Size and Canvas is futher exemplied by seeing how Image Size sets the DPI of the canvas while the Canvas Size does not have a DPI setting, thus further highlighting how the Image Size dialogue controls the entire canvas rather than just one image/layer.

[Conrad_C]

She did not misunderstand. Everyone misunderstood…This conflation of image and canvas in Image Size and Canvas is futher exemplied by seeing how Image Size sets the DPI of the canvas while the Canvas Size does not have a DPI setting, thus further highlighting how the Image Size dialogue controls the entire canvas rather than just one image/layer.

By @Virgile33482483yetx

The way that is written is a basic misunderstanding of how the features work.

Both Image Size and Canvas Size are document level. Neither is layer level…neither command can be used to resize just a layer. As I wrote in my reply in this thread three years ago,

Image Size has always affected the entire canvas (all layers), and still does.

If a document contains multiple layers and you want to resize just one layer, neither Image Size nor Canvas Size is the correct way. The correct way is to select the layer and then choose Edit > Free Transform or Edit > Transform > Scale so that the transform controls box appears, then drag a handle on it or enter your new height and width values into the options bar.

The main way that Image Size and Canvas Size are different is that Image Size always scales document content, and Canvas Size never does. That’s because Canvas Size adds/subtracts from the document area, it isn’t scaling. This is precisely why Canvas Size can be used to expand the canvas beyond the current document dimensions, to or crop the canvas so that more layer area is now hidden around the edges. There is no way to set Image Size to do those things.

Going the other way, Canvas Size has no way to resample (upsample/downsample) document content or to change pixel density. In Image Size, you can enable or disable Resample to achieve all of those things. But again, using either command is document-wide, affecting all layers.

[Deborah23090754ttb7]

Thanks for this!  I steadfastly maintain that I was able to change the image size *without* it changing the canvas size.  I did this for many years, and didn't just dream it up, nor misunderstand how it was done.  How or why it changed, I cannot say.  I've also noticed that certain recommended work-arounds mentioned here just aren't available in my version of Photoshop Elements Editor (I can provide screen saves of menu options on request).  Since this was a completely paid-for application that I purchased before the advent of having to pay a monthly fee, I suspect that certain things were disabled by Adobe in the process.  

[Conrad_C]

Thanks for this!  I steadfastly maintain that I was able to change the image size *without* it changing the canvas size.

By @Deborah23090754ttb7

It does work that way when the Resample option is off in Image Size. For example, if a document is 3000 x 2000 pixels and you change Image Size and (this is the important part) the Resample option is disabled, then no matter what you enter, the document will stay 3000 x 2000 pixels. What changes is the pixel density. So if that 3000 x 2000 pixels was 10 inches wide at 300 ppi, and you used Image Size to change it to 5 inches wide with Resample off, then it’s still 3000 x 2000 pixels (Canvas Size did not change), but it’s now 600 ppi (same number of pixels now packed into half the distance).

If Resample is on, then changing any value must change the Canvas Size.

[Stephen Marsh]

Photoshop version 20.0

Photoshop Elements Editor 

By @Deborah23090754ttb7

Your opening post mentioned the full version and now Elements is mentioned.

There are indeed differences between these apps, however, I don't use Elements so I can only guess, but I'd be surprised if Image Size and Canvas Size behaved differently in their functionality.