How can I prevent pictures from being "Streched"?

[hawaiian_dragon]

I never see them, and I always get cited for it on my boxes for some reason, I just match the picture to the template. Someone please tell me how I can prevent pictures from being "Streched"? Thanks.

[WickedGamer1]

well, i dunno about GIMP, but in photoshop, when you're resizing a picture, you hold shift and it constrains the proportions of the image so that it never becomes "stretched" or "squashed".
it's probably one of the most useful things i've learned in PS.
there might be something similar in GIMP, but you'll have to search for it if thats what you have.

[E_G]

:D I use trial and error to see what parameters stretch things and what don't, using back up or undo on Photo shop.

I learn what becomes blocky or too blurry sub-consciously from that.
Whatever you do don’t turn a shape of a picture into a completely different
shape, thats the most obvious guideline like trying to fit a square picture into a rectangle unless its super image quality.

[Gunslinger]

Pretty much what WG1 said. If you're using Photoshop, when using the Scale function, along the top you can manually input the percentages you want to reduce or enlarge an image. For example, if you tell it to reduce the images X and Y axis by 50%, the image will shrink in proportion.

You also don't want to try and enlarge a picture either or it will become blurry and/or pixelated.

[hawaiian_dragon]

well, i dunno about GIMP, but in photoshop, when you're resizing a picture, you hold shift and it constrains the proportions of the image so that it never becomes "stretched" or "squashed".
it's probably one of the most useful things i've learned in PS.
there might be something similar in GIMP, but you'll have to search for it if thats what you have.

Wow, that helps alot....Thanks!