Struggling understanding how to import image with out it degrading(blocky)

Thank you Lumigraphics. 

1. I  could not change to pixels without ressampling box  selected. but it seems whether I set it to be pixels I see the the same blockiness that I was ot seeing when I changed it selecting inches.  

2. Yes  it is larger that is the WORKING file from the orginal, a background added and blurred than cropped.   It does NOT look blocky when resized in that image. It is only when I MOVE into the other file.  So what is the work flow to get it over to that file to fit what PS needs to make the image as clear as possible? I mean if I can zoom in on the explorer 400% and not have the same blockiness, what do I need to do to make  a downsample in size but retain clarity?

3. Thank you but  this is not  important and the image is not finished.  Once  lion is clear then I will add some distortion(sphere)  and then a lens flare but only minor as I want them to SEE the image as this is a promo for the show.  (artistic license) Please do not let what is "natural" inhibit from helping me get the image over and clear. 🙂

So what is the work flow. I ahe tried reducing  to inches because I figured it was the size that works based on the rulers.  So this way I would not have to resize.

I have tried reducing using  the resample box checked and unchecked

I have tried  saving  with 72 dpi and 300 dpi as this will be a 300 dpi flyer/poster as well as email blast.

I have tried putting the resized image in a smart object and without before duplicating the layer over.

I have tried copy , past transform I have tried  duplicating a resized layer over that looks usable in the original file but not the explorer.  

So I assume it is about matching  but since the images are never going to be the same SIZE  as this is just an element of a larger composite, I am not clear how  giving pixel dimensions  will help nor do I know how to find out what pixel size I need it to be. But as I said, right now both files have pixel sizes grayed out. Do the files have to be flattened? If so doesn't that defeat the purprose of non distructive, go back to it later if need be set up?  

I guess at this point how would the work flow be to match up the lion image so it can work with the explorer or vise versa.

Thanks

Can you or someone else tell me how to check the resolution of the documents?  Where is that information in a way I can screenshot it? 

 I'm actually downscaling the size so didn't think  it It would get blocky when the same size image on its own doesn't unless what I'm seeing is not what I think it is. 

Is a screen shot going to show you the detail that I'm seeing. I thought a screenshot wasn't the same resolution /quality?

I'm going from a large size that I'm scaling down to become an element in a photo. So I want a smaller then original image.

Look, I've been struggling with all this formatting stuff for quite some time now. For example, I thought I could work with grouped smart layers and be able to do something as simple as putting, fill in a selection but it it seemed that I wasn't allowed to do that until I flattened everything which kind of defeated the purpose of of non-destructive because I couldn't go back. That's for another story. So basically I'm working with files that I isolated the background and will still have to put into a finished product which might require more adjusting. I was trying to make a composite image to move over to a template. 

But as far as I know it's all set as native default. But if I need to scale the image and I'm having trouble with so that it works with the file. Fine. I just need to learn how I can get that information. Maybe I'm looking at the original image information when I provided it, so I guess If you can, 101 instruct me on how I can see what the document container is actually and we can start there.

Again, thank you for my patience with me. I'm trying to understand this because it seems that by looking at other help topics that a lot of people have trouble understanding resolution and resampling and transforming. I thought by keeping it as a smart object that was supposed to eliminate that sort of thing. And then I still don't understand why when I've resized the item, exported it as a JPEG, and bring it in as a place embedded object. Object. It's not the same look. I can only surmise that it's because my file I'm putting it into is set to a certain size and is technically huge in dimensions compared to the actual item I'm importing.

When I left Resample unchecked ,when I sized it

But then copied it over, via cutting paste or, duplicated the layer over, , or place embedded, Even though it should have been the 2.5 in this image covered the entire image I was placing it in. So that didn't work either. When I didn't constrain it to 72 PPI but set the physical dimensions. It actually  covered the image that I was moving into even though the rulers are definitely showing in the file that it's the right size until it gets to the other main document. It's sharp image quality. But if I reduce it, it goes back to the same blocky look.

This is such a minor thing and I'm struggling with it for some time now. That is depending on the size that this actually gets printed at, It is a lot of struggle for something that they might not even notice at first. Thanks again for being patient and helping me with what I need to do as far as workflow.