Images are smaller when placed in Photoshop

[suavedesign]

I am a beginner designer.
Many times, when I download an image (from Shutterstock, for example), and then place that image in my document in Photoshop, the placed image in my document is smaller than the image that I downloaded. For example, I download an image that is 1000px by 1000px. (And when I open that image with Windows Photo Viewer, I can see that those are the dimensions.)
Then I place the same image in a Photoshop document, and the image dimensions are smaller! (Just to be sure, I tried opening a document with the dimensions that the image is supposed to have, and the image does not take up the entire canvas.)
This is a problem, because I then have to enlarge the image, so it becomes blurry.

Any suggestions? This happens to me all the time!

[sufyan2011]

This may be because your photoshop window size is less than your image size. Do one thing, go to "Image" menu of photoshop and set the size according to your image size (say 1000X1000), then go to "File" menu and "Place" image from your folder. It should be good, use move tool to set it fit in window. (I am sorry, I don't have PhotoShop now in my system, so menu item may be slight different)

[cpchc]

I'm willing to bet that your Photoshop document is a higher resolution than the image you are downloading from the web. If you are designing for print, HD video, or tablets (like iPad), your document may very well be set at 300dpi or higher (dots per inch). Web graphics are 72dpi. So while it may be 1000x1000 pixels at 72dpi, at 300dpi it will be a much smaller image. You can drag up the size on your own, but it will result in diminishing the quality of the image (pixilization, blurriness). Despite what CSI tells us, there is no way to effectively fill in image information and make a low resolution image look good at a higher resolution.

In Photoshop go to Image > Image size and check the dpi of both images there.

[macgurl70]

I attached a screenshot from Shutterstock's website. If you want a good size image for print, look at the dpi they list by the image. I put a red box around the one I would choose for print purposes. It is always better to have a larger image and size down.

If you are choosing the smaller sizes, or the thumbnail, on the Shutterstock site you will get the results cpchc described since you cannot add information to a photoshop file (make the existing image file larger by changing values).

Think of it like silly putty (hope I am not aging myself here) - but once you get an image on the silly putty, it is at the size of the original. Now, when you stretch the silly putty, you get a distorted view and it loses definition because nothing has been added to the image to keep it crisp/in focus.