pearlst

You know its bad when you feel silly for asking certain questions in a new users forum! [oops]

I'll have tons of questions as I go along, so I'll keep updating this thread when they come to me, to keep from cluttering up the board.

On to the questions!

In an instance where I want to resize a selection, or change its orientation (rotate, flip, etc) how would I go about doing that?

Also, is there a way to blow up an image without pixelization? If not, what would you guys recommend to decrease the effect?

Thanks!

Blinky2004

Greetings, welcome to the community.

Open the SELECT menu and choose "Edit Selection". Hit the Enter key after editing.

No. But if you're using PS CS then use the "Bicubic Sharpen" setting to get the best results. To avoid this issue, start with higher resolution (larger) images/photos.

Hope that helped. :B

Sark

Pixelization isn't the problem, bicubic resampling will remove that. The problem is, resampling without deterioration of image detail.

It is possible to resample with virtually no loss of detail using programs like Extensis pxl SmartScale, or Shortcut S Spline pro (now called Photozoom pro).

Even these programs will only resize the image with little, or no softening, they cannot add detail that would have been there, had you got closer with a camera or, worked at a higher res when creating the image/artwork.

Sark

pearlst

Thanks guys!

Few more questions:

What is the layer mask, when and why should I use it?

Same question as above, only substitute "multiply blending" for "layer mask".

Sark

A Layer mask Controls the opacity/transparency of a layer using the greyscale. Black makes the layer completely transparent, white makes it fully opaque. Shades of grey create varying degrees of opacity/transparency.

You can use different shades of black/white/grey on the same mask to control what part of the image is transparent/semi transparent/opaque.

Sark

tfoster

"Multiply Blending" is one of many blending options that you can apply to various things. Best way to illustrate this is in the layers palette, selecting a layer and changing its blending mode will make it appear to "blend" with the layer(s) underneath it.
There are many different blending modes (lighten, darken, hard light, overlay, etc.). When a layer is blended, Photoshop looks at the values of the individual pixels, compares them to the value of the pixel underneath it and performs one of many mathematical operation on it, depending on what blending mode you selected. In Multiply for instance, the two pixel values are added together, resulting in a darker pixel (or something like that-the exact details escape me). But don't worry about all the math stuff. The best way to learn what they do is just to play with them. Select a layer and change the blending modes, you'll get a pretty quick idea of what the different modes do. Keep in mind that changing the blending modes isn't altering the actual pixels (switching back to normal will put everything back the way it was), so you can play as much as you want.
Blending modes show up in a lot of places (filters, brushes, etc.)