Photoshop Ninja
Expert Photoshop tips and tricks for designers and photographers since 2005
Enlarging the canvas the visual way rather than by trial and error
Using the canvas size dialogue is very useful if you have exact dimensions you are working to, but creative image composition often does not lend itself well to such precise measurements.
You want more canvas to extend a composition, but you dont want to end up with too much canvas and subsequently a much large file to handle. Also, you may have a good idea of how much extra canvas you need visually, but have to visit and revisit the canvas size dialogue to get this right – inevitably having to wait the extra time for this operation to complete.
Well, there is another way! Believe it or not the Crop tool comes in to play here – and no, thats not a mistake! Switch to full screen mode (so your desktop is not visible – shortcut is F) and extend your cropped area outside the canvas of your image to the desired new canvas size by dragging the handles out. Now when you apply the crop it does the exact oposite to what this tool normally does – it actually extends the canvas to where you dragged out the handles to…nice!
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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Written by Jonny Allbut - freelance graphic designer
Last modified: 29 November, 2007 (09:32) | First published: 29 November, 2007
Filed under Techniques - Other 5 Comments »
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Comment by Charles O. Slavens
April 10, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
This method of extending the canvas actually works! The next step, which can be tricky, is to CLONE in the content. Works best when the extension and the extended content are similar to the transitional area in density, color, and resolution.
Comment by Photoshop Ninja
April 12, 2009 @ 9:19 pm
Adding more background into an image can be quite tricky – check out content aware scaling in Photoshop CS4… can’t wait to upgrade to get this, but looks like I’m stuck on CS3 for a while (budget will not allow upgrade just yet!).
Comment by Joy Pirie
December 3, 2009 @ 3:32 pm
It works, thanks! I just wanted to extend my card design out to one side in plain white so that I now have the back of the card . Perfect! Am glad I found your tutorial because this saved me so much faffing about.
Comment by Photoshop Ninja
December 3, 2009 @ 3:39 pm
My pleasure Charles – always happy to share the tricks of the trade… that’s what this site is all about!
Comment by Anton Thorn
November 9, 2010 @ 6:47 pm
Yay! It works! Thanks!