How to Bring Photos into Photoshop

How to Bring Photos into Photoshop

Learn how to open and import photos into Photoshop.

When to use

Most projects will require you to open an image or photo in Photoshop to modify it, so knowing how and when to open vs import a photo is important. 

Instructions

Opening A Photo

• Go to the File Menu and choose 'Open' from the dropdown menu that appears.
• Navigate to the folder containing your photo or photos.
• Select a single photo, or multiple photos by holding the Command/Ctrl Key and selecting the files you'd like to bring into Photoshop.
• Click 'Open' in the lower right-hand corner of the panel.
• Any and all of the photos or documents you have open will appear in separate tabs. All of these tabs can be docked and undocked by clicking and dragging them around.
• You can reduce the size of the individual windows by using the keyboard shortcut Command/Ctrl and the '-' key to Zoom Out, or Command/Ctrl and the '+' key to Zoom In.
• You can also choose different ways you'd like to arrange your files by going to the Window Menu and choosing 'Arrange' from the dropdown.
• Here you can choose options such as 'Tile All Vertically' or 'Tile All Horizontally' to rearrange and organize your documents.
• At any point if you'd like to put all of your open documents back into tabs, go to the Window Menu and choose 'Arrange > Consolidate All to Tabs' to reset the workspace.
• If you have a New Document open in one of your tabs, you can bring any of your photos over by selecting the photo with the Move Tool (V) and dragging it into your document.
• In many cases, your photo will be a different size from your document, so when you drag it over it will most likely be larger or smaller than your document.

Resampling An Image

• Resampling an image is generally used to optimize a photo for viewing on screen by increasing the number of pixels. 
• Select one of your photos and go to the Image Menu before choosing 'Image Size'.
• From here, uncheck the 'Resample' box.
• Increase the 'Resolution' from 72dpi to 300dpi. Doing this will decrease the size of your overall image, but you won't notice much of a difference unless you are printing.
• Check off the 'Resample' box and then make sure to click the option that says 'Preserve Details'.
• Next, click 'OK' to apply the changes.
• You have now increased the number of pixels in your image and decreased the overall dimensions in pixels.

Duplicating A Photo Into A New Document

• Hold the Control Key and click on the 'Background' layer of any of the photos you have open.
• Choose 'Duplicate Layer' from the menu that appears.
• Under the 'Destination' section, change the 'Document' to the file you'd like to send it to.
• In this case, I will be choosing my 'Untitled-1' document.

Importing A Photo Into A New Document

• Instead of opening a photo, let's try importing it.
• Go to the File Menu and choose 'Place Embedded' from the dropdown menu.
• Navigate to the photo you'd like to open and click 'Place' from the lower right corner.
• Your image will now be imported into your document, and by default, it will be a Smart Object with the name of the file already added to the Layer name. 
• When placing a photo in this way, it will also be automatically resized to fit into your document by matching the height.

Hints & tips

• Use the Tab Key on the keyboard to Hide or Show your panels and toolbar.
• You can Open multiple photos at a time, but you can only import one image at a time using the 'Place Embedded' option found under the File Menu.
• Importing a photo has several benefits such as automatically including the file name, fitting the photo nicely into your window, and coming in as a Smart Object.