More often than not, a digital photograph
isn't shaped to fit your picture frame. Most digital images
have an aspect ratio of 3:2, while common picture frames are
5:4 (4x5" and 8x10") or 7:5 (5x7"). ("Aspect ratio" refers to
the relationship between the width and height of an image.)
Often the most practical solution is to crop the image to fit,
which is discussed here. Sometimes, however, you may want to
add to an image rather than subtract from it.
PhotoSpin's image #PS020030 is a lovely
shot of a temporary housing facility in Washington D.C.
Measuring 1600 pixels by 1200 pixels (approximately), it has
an aspect ratio of 4:3. If we resize this to fit in a 10-inch
wide frame, it's only 6.667 inches tall. Here's how we can
make the image fit the full 8-inch height of the frame with no
white border or cropping.
NOTE: Aspect ratio is also
often expressed as the relationship of the larger dimension to
1, as in 1.5:1 (equivalent to 3:2) or 1.37:1 (the aspect ratio
of 35mm film).
STEP 1 In the Layers
palette, double-click the layer name "Background" (if any) and
rename the layer. That converts the layer from a background
layer to a regular layer.
STEP 2 Add a new layer
below the original image layer, now named (by default) Layer
0. Hold down the Command key (Mac) or the Control key
(Windows) when you click the New Layer button at the bottom of
the Layers palette and the new layer is added below the
currently-active layer.
STEP 3 Use the menu command
Image> Canvas Size. Increase the Height field to 8 (in this
example) and click in the lower row of boxes in the 3x3 proxy
so that the new canvas is added to the top of the existing
image. Since we no longer have a background layer, the "Canvas
extension color" option is unavailable and the new area will
be transparent.
STEP 4 Select the
Eyedropper tool in the Toolbox and click on the very upper
pixels in the center of the existing sky. That sets the
foreground color to the sky's color at the point from which
we'll extend. Press X on the keyboard to make that the
background color and click once more in the same spot with the
Eyedropper. Open the Color palette and from the palette's
menu, select HSB. Increase the Saturation slider by about 5%
and decrease the Brightness by about 5%. This will give us
some variation in the sky in the next step.
STEP 5 Select the Gradient
tool in the Toolbox. In the Options Bar, select the linear
gradient option and make sure the selected gradient is
foreground-to-background. Stick with the Normal blending mode
and 100% for opacity. Check the box for Dither, and leave
Reverse unchecked. (Since there are no transparent sections in
our gradient, the Transparency box is insignificant.)
STEP 6 With the lower
(empty) layer active in the Layers palette, drag a gradient
from the top of the image window to the top of the existing
sky. Select the Eraser tool in the Toolbox and choose a very
large brush with a hardness setting of 0%. In the Layers
palette, make the upper layer active and drag along the very
top of the original sky to blend the two layers a bit more.
STEP 7 With the lower layer
active, you can use the filter Texture> Grain or Noise> Add
Noise to match the new too-smooth sky to the original. In this
zoomed example, you can see that the top and bottom of the
selected area on the right match very well, while on the left,
the upper area lacks the character of the lower area.
Photoshop CS's Healing
Brush is another very effective way to match grain (film
images) or noise (digital images). Make sure to check the Use
All Layers box in the Options Bar, and Option-click (Mac) or
Alt-click (Windows) in an area of the layer that you want to
match. With the target layer active in the Layers palette,
drag to make the new sky match the original sky.
