images in photoshop too small

[mgooo]

im new to photoshop and i just bought a macbook air retina 2560 x 1600. the screen resolution settings are set at "default for display"

but everytime i open files in photoshop, 500px there is smaller than 500px in chrome for example. my google chrome display is at 100%.

i know photoshop opens files differently but is there a way to view it as it is viewed in other applications? zooming to 200% makes it a different, blurry quality and i wanna be able to edit it as it is displayed in other apps.

im running mac os catalina 10.15.7

thanks!

[D Fosse]

That's what a retina display does. That's what you paid for.

Photoshop displays correctly. Your other image viewers and web browsers don't!

Consumer-oriented viewers scale up images to 200% when they detect a high-density display, so that images appear at the same physical screen size that people are used to from standard displays. This is the standard industry workaround, to ensure the same images can be used whatever the screen technology.

In Photoshop, 100% has nothing to do with screen size. It means that one image pixel is represented by exactly one screen pixel. To mimic the behavior of those other apps, set Photoshop to View > 200%.

[@mj]

Hi @mgooo ,

It is because Ps screen res is set to 72ppi, and screen resolutions have gotten better.

Follow the steps in this post. You'll be good.

https://www.thegraphicmac.com/how-to-make-photoshops-100-view-actually-be-100/

Keep us posted on your progress ok?

Good luck

mj

Mohammed Jogie | Morning Star Design | BA CUA |

Adobe ACA | ACE | ACI | ACP | CA | UGM |

MISTD | Ico-D | IxDA | PADI | C&G |

[Trevor.Dennis]

@D Fosse might have something to say about Photoshop screen size being set to 72dpi.   

[Conrad_C]

Photoshop is definitely not set to 72 ppi. If you view an image at 100% magnification in Photoshop on a current 16" MacBook Pro, which has a 226 ppi Retina display, that image is displaying at 226 ppi.

[@mj]

Hi @Conrad_C ,

Please go to Preferences > Units and Rulers > Screen Resolution. What does it say?

[c.pfaffenbichler]

That has no bearing on View > 100%. 

Screen Resolution needs to be set according to the actual monitor’s resolution if View > Actual Size is intended to provide meaningful results. 

Edit: For me it says 102ppi for example – because I set it to that value. 

[Conrad_C]

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@mj wrote:

Hi @Conrad_C ,

Please go to Preferences > Units and Rulers > Screen Resolution. What does it say?

---

It says 127 ppi (I changed it some time ago).

But I do understand your question. Photoshop does default to 72 ppi for Screen Resolution for a New Document Preset. But that does not solve or affect the question asked in this thread. You can change Screen Resolution to any number you want, but it will not cause 100% view to match a web browser…except on a 1x scale factor display.

The reason the problem in this thread is happening is that web browsers scale images to appear as if on a 1x (96 ppi) display, even on displays with a 2x or higher scale factor. If you were correct that Photoshop is “set” to 72 ppi for display, then an image at 100% in Photoshop would already match web browsers at 100% and the problem would be solved. But because that is not happening, we know that 100% is certainly not tied to 72 ppi in Photoshop; it is 1 image pixel to 1 screen pixel. That is why an image on a 16" MacBook Pro at 100% is 226 ppi, not 72 ppi.

c.pfaffenbichler and I have changed our Screen Resolution to non-72 ppi values, to match the actual ppi resolution of our displays. One thing that does is help Photoshop to show View > Print Size more accurately, when image ppi (in Image Size) and Print Resolution are also set for the target output (print or screen).

[Glenn 8675309]

I assume he's talking about the actual program interface, but not the canvas area. 

[Test Screen Name]

Glenn, I don't see this as being about the user interface size (which is a whole different thing; older versions of Photoshop weren't made to scale for hi res screen). Often it isn't clear which one the question means, but in this case the original question says "but everytime i open files in photoshop, 500px there is smaller than 500px in chrome", so this is certainly about the canvas not the UI.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

»but everytime i open files in photoshop, 500px there is smaller than 500px in chrome for example. my google chrome display is at 100%.«

Are you mistaking px for a unit of measurment of length? 

Please post take a screenshot, measure the number of actual pixels each of the two applications uses to display a length of 500px and post them here. 

[Conrad_C]

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@mgooo wrote:

is there a way to view it as it is viewed in other applications? zooming to 200% makes it a different, blurry quality and i wanna be able to edit it as it is displayed in other apps.

---

You will find that most “other apps” — especially other image editing applications — will display 100% at the same size as Photoshop. So if you decide Photoshop is doing the wrong thing and switch to another image editing application, you’ll find that it does the same thing.

You will probably also find that the only apps that always enlarge images by 200% are web browsers and maybe email applications, but certainly not most apps.

[Test Screen Name]

The real problem is the very natural assumption that "100%" means the same in all apps. It actually means something very probably different. Web browsers, Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign EACH have very different ideas of what 100% really is. 

The big problem comes when someone, having got used to 100% in just one app (or a few apps the same), angrily complains that other apps are broken because of the assumption. 

So - photos are a different size? Sure, they are supposed to be. Get over it, and learn how to zoom in and out. Don't follow any directions which supposedly "fix it", they often disable really important things.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Another part of the problem may be that many people do not appreciate what »px« means and assume it is supposed to represent some specific spatial size. 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

And the parallel to the complaints about »Photoshop displays images wrong because my browser (or Windows Photo) displays them differently« seems obvious. 

When comparing professional image editing software and a browser many people seem to be tempted to assume the browser must represent the »real« reality.