Debbie,
Of course the size of a font depends upon the resolution of the image. Could it be that your image is really quite small and at a low resolution? The fact that if you open a new file the text tool works as you expect it to seems to support the idea that your image is at a very low res. Probably opening a new file puts the res. at 180-300ppi and if your exisiting one is only 72 ppi, that would make quite a difference. What is the res. of your file and dimensions in pixels?
Debbie,
It also wouldn’t hurt to delete the Preferences file. IMMEDiately after clicking the PSE icon to launch, simultaneously hold down alt/ctr/shift until you get a dialog box. Answer yes and let the program load. If you don’t get the box, let it load and try again.
To add text, this what I do;
Have your Layers Palette visible
Creat a new blank layer at the top of the stack
Select the horizontal text tool from the Tool Box
Choose a font
Choose a size for the font
Choose a color
Choose the leftmost box (of the three) near center top of screen which denotes that where you click with the cursor will be the beginning point of the text and all text will be added sequentially to the right.
Create a new blank layer for every line of text (this way it is easy to get the desired spacing and placement)
My image resolution is 2700 pixels/inch and the dimensions are 869 pixels by 569. I have no clue about the significance of the size. I scan my slides and open them in PS.
My image resolution is 2700 pixels/inch and the dimensions are 869 pixels by 569.
Your image is only .3 x .2 inches, print size.
Of course your text cursor is large, as font point size is related to print size. Even 72point text is much larger than your image height. Even 6point is over half as high as your image.
Mac
Debbie,
Oh, now I see what the problem is.
You must be creating your images only for the web or viewing on a monitor. If you are scanning at 2700 res, you must also be resizing at throwing away pixels, because you would have more than 869×569. You must be scanning at a res. less then 2700. What res. are you scanning at?
The thing is, with such an extremely high resolution, what you think of as a 10 point font will appear enormous.
If you go to Image>Image Resize and change only one variable, the resolution, to say 300, and make sure to have Resample UNCHECKED and then choose the type tool you will see it the size you are expecting. The image won’t look any different on the screen.
When I changed the resolution to 300 the picture on my screen changed to only about an inch by an inch and a half. I unchecked resample. I am not sure at what resolution I am scanning. I don’t know where to find that information. I have a Nikon Cool Scan 4000 and I just use whatever the default is.
Debbie, never evaluate the size of your picture according to what you are seeing on the monitor – there’s virtually no correlation. That monitor image can be increased or decreased with no change to the picture itself.
Do this: Scan another image, using the current settings on your scanner. Once that’s done, open the image on your desktop and go to Image>Resize>Image Size and copy down everything that’s written there. Post the numbers, and somebody will be able to tell you what you have and the best way to resize to what you want.
Debbie,
Just click the magnifier tool and above the workarea you will see a box which says "Actual Pixels". Click this. The text tool will now be the size you were expecting. Sorry, I didn’t know you wouldn’t change the magnification of your image onscreen after you changed the res.
Beth,
I scanned a new image and got similar results: res-2700 and pixels 867×572. Now what? (Thanks to everyone who is trying to help me. This is frustrating when you are not very technologically inclined!) When I print from the scans I get positively gorgeous results with my Epson 2200. Will changing the resolution have any effect on that?
Nancy,
When I clicked actual pixels I got the same tiny picture.
Hold Control key on keyboard and hit the plus sign a few times
Debbie,
Curious here, with the number of pixels you have to work with, what size are you printing out at?
Nancy,
My image size at the bottom left says 100%. If I zoom in at all I get big-time distortion. I am printing mostly 8 x 10s and larger. I get awesome quality even with 11 x 16s. I use these prints for competitions so quality is extremely important. I don’t know the pixels at which I am printing for sure.
Nancy,
I work primarily with slides, but I just downloaded a few pictures from my digital camera and the one I opened in PS has a resolution of 180 pixels/inch. The dimensions are 3072 x 2048. The text tool operated as I expected it should. I still can’t get my brain wrapped around all this though. What do I need to do to the scans from slides to get them to an appropriate resolution and size so that the text tool works?
You need general overview of pixel size/ppi/print size.
Start at:
scantips.com
Really.
Mac
Debbie,
You have me scratching my head…I can’t understand how you can get a decent print at the size you mention with the tiny number of pixels that you have. Your 869×569 pixel image: if you wanted the long side to print out at 10", the short side would be 6.6" (smaller than you were talking of) With the pixels you have, it is impossible to get an 8×10 without cropping (and this would mean enlarging the whole thing so the short side is 8 and then cropping the long side down to 10") And to get this size, your printing resolution would be ONLY 86ppi for the 10×6. This is what I can’t fathom. To get a decent print one needs a resolution between 200-300ppi. The only possibility is that you are resizing by interoplation, meaning to get more pixels the program is fabricating the extras by guessing, adding pixels which weren’t in the scan. What do you do to print these images at 10 x 8??
Mac has the best plan, have a good read at the site he mentioned so you will have the foundation for understanding pixels etc.
Thanks, I’ll do my homework then come back to you if I still can’t get it figured out. I’m not sure about my good fortune with the prints, maybe I’m not communicating all the pertinant info to you. Thanks for your help.
