resizing photo

[cat4716]

My Photoshop 23 2.2 won't resize a photo with free transform without distorting it. I hold down the shift key, but it still distorts. Is there a fix for this?

[LinSims]

Let me move this to the Photoshop forum for you, which is the appropriate forum for your question.

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[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Unfortunately, that's a bit vague. What do you mean by "distorting".

Can you show a screen grab of before and after?

By it's very nature, anytime you resize a pixel-based image, some distortion is going to happen as it has to render all new pixels to fit the new shape. Even at best, this can cause a bit of fuzziness you didn't see before.

[Earth Oliver · Accepted solution]

try not holding down shift? They changed the behavior a few years ago...

[cat4716]

Yes this worked! Thank you!

[Michael Bullo]

If you prefer the old way that requires holding down the Shift key to maintain a distortion free transformation, activate "Use Legacy Free Transform". This option can be found in the General section of the Preferences which are found in the Photoshop menu on a Mac and the Edit menu on Windows.

[Nancy OShea]

Go to Image > Image Size. 

Click the chain link icon to contrain proportions and reduce distortion when resizing.  See screenshot. 

For best results, work with high-res, high pixel-density images.  Low-res images look awful when rescaled.

[jane-e]

@cat4716 

In addition to using "Legacy Free Transform" as was said, there is a slightly newer option. After you start Free Transform, look in the options bar. In between the Width and Height controls is a Link button.

• When the Link button is enabled, the two controls work together and the image resizes proportionally
• When the Link button is off, the two controls work separately and the image distorts.

This all happened quite a few versions ago, so you must be coming from a very old version?

Jane