thank you Prosep for you post.
i download a free vector image and save it to my desk top. then i open photoshop cs2 and create a new file. i size the new file to 11 x 17, 300 dpi. i then create 2 duplicate layers and rename them trying to keep the 11 x 17 size.
i take the image and drag/drop it into photoshop and then the 11x17 resizes to a 11 x 11 square, the pic becomes my backround.
i want the pic to be small and have Font around it.
OK. I'm pretty sure I understand one of your problems. It occurred to me that what you're trying to do wasn't even possible until a much later version of Photoshop. You're dragging and dropping your image right into the open file you let it go, then you see your new file. But the size has changed. What really happened here, is that Photoshop simply opened your new file. It's not dropping it into the new document because that's not possible in CS2. In fact it's not possible in CS3 either. I realized that because I remember a time when I began doing it by accident and I realized that this was a whole new capability. So, if you hit control tab or just look under the Window menu, you'll find that your 11 x 17 document is still there there's nothing in it. To get your new art into the larger document you can copy/past, or drag/drop. But not from the desktop.
I'm not sure about the 2nd problem but I don't think you vector is really a vector. Because if you try to open a vector image in Photoshop it first asks you to define the resolution, size and other parameters. Only after you answer those questions will it rasterize the document and create the file. So, seems to me that you're dragging a flat raster image into Photoshop and it's simply opening it and presenting it to you. Nothing more. Maybe you grabbed the wrong file off the vector site. Often they have multiple versions of files and they do their best to try to get you to click on something other than what you actually want since the vectors are usually just lures to get you to download something else by accident.
Furthermore, I think creating an 11 x 17 document is the wrong way to do things unless you intend for your art to be about 11 x 17. Remember, Photoshop is not Illustrator. Illustrator doesn't care about the size of the document. Photoshop on the other hand definitely cares about it. That's a large document and it uses lots of system resources just to have it open and then to work within it. The bigger the Photoshop file the more resources it needs to work.
If you do get a vector file, open it in Illustrator or other vector program, unless there's something particular in Photoshop that you intend to do with it. But if you want to open it in Photoshop just right click on the file and choose to open with Photoshop. If it's a vector file Photoshop will present a dialog that asks you to decide about it's size and resolution. Photoshop will then rasterize the vector using your specified parameters and open the file. If you need more space, use the crop tool, drag around it's outer boundaries and then scale out. Photoshop's crop tool can crop smaller and also enlarge the document. You can resize the document to any size you like. Like having a large paper for your art. Just remember to use only what you need in Photoshop.
