Today’s Question: I have always wondered what the option to “Scale Styles” adds to the Image Resize window [in Photoshop Elements, or the Image Size dialog in Photoshop]. I usually click it but don’t know what it contributes to resizing.
Tim’s Quick Answer: The “Scale Styles” option relates to any effects you may have applied to an image layer. For example, if you apply a Drop Shadow to an image layer, with the “Scale Styles” option turned on the Drop Shadow will also be resized in proportion to the change in size of the photo. With the option turned off, the Drop Shadow would remain at the same size, even though the photo itself would change in size.
More Detail: In Photoshop Elements and older versions of Photoshop, the “Scale Styles” option is available as a checkbox in the Image Resize dialog (or Image Size dialog in Photoshop). You can simply turn this checkbox on to have any layer effects you’ve applied to the photo scaled in proportion to the degree to which you are resizing the photo. Or, if you want to resize the photo without resizing the layer effects, you can turn this checkbox off.
In newer versions of Photoshop, the Scale Styles checkbox is no longer included within the dialog, but the feature is still available. Simply click the “gear” icon toward the top-right of the Image Size dialog to disable or enable the Scale Styles option.
Perhaps it goes without saying, but if you have not applied any layer styles to any of the layers within an image, it doesn’t make any difference whether the Scale Styles option is enabled or disabled.