Even a novice photographer knows that cropping an image can make a composition stronger. Cropping entails cutting away background clutter or endless expanses of empty space in order to focus in on your desired subject.
This simple process can transform a ho-hum photograph into a visually exciting one. I mean, it doesn’t take an Ansel Adams to figure out which image is stronger. (It would be even better if the fence weren’t in the background, but hey, that’s nothing that a little Photoshop retouching can’t take care of.
Using the Crop tool
The most popular way to crop an image is by using the Crop tool. This simple tool is as easy and effective to use as a T square and X-ACTO knife, and without the possibility of bodily injury. Select the Crop tool or press C on the keyboard and then follow these steps:
1. With the Crop tool, drag around the part of the image you want to keep and then release your mouse button.
As you drag, a marquee (a dotted outline) appears displaying the cropping boundaries. Don’t worry if your cropping marquee isn’t exactly correct. You can adjust it in the next step. Notice how the area outside the cropping marquee appears darker than the inside, in order to better frame your image. Adobe calls this a shield. You control the color and opacity (the amount of transparency) of the shield by adjusting the settings in the Options bar. If, for some strange reason, you don’t want the shield, deselect the check box.
2. Adjust the cropping marquee by dragging the handles.
The small squares on the sides and corners of the cropping marquee are called handles. When you hover your mouse over any handle or the marquee itself, your cursor changes to a double-headed arrow, indicating that you can drag. If you drag the handles outside the image boundary, Photoshop adds a
canvas around the image when you crop.
To move the entire marquee, position your mouse inside the marquee until you see a black arrowhead cursor and then drag. Adjust the marquee until you’re satisfied. You can also drag the origin point to change the axis of rotation.
If you move your mouse outside the marquee, the cursor changes to a curved, double-headed arrow. Dragging with this cursor rotates the marquee. This feature can be extremely useful when you need to rotate and crop a crooked image. By using the Crop tool, you can perform both commands in one step and often more quickly and accurately. Just be aware that rotation, unless it’s in 90-degree increments,
resamples your image, which, if done repeatedly, can damage your image (see the beginning of this chapter for more on resampling). So it’s best to try to get the rotation right the first time around.
3. Double-click inside the cropping marquee.
You can also just press Enter (Return on the Mac) or click the Commit (check mark icon) button on the
Options bar. Photoshop discards the area outside the marquee. If you want to cancel the crop, just press Esc or click Cancel (the slashed circle icon) in the Options bar.
This simple process can transform a ho-hum photograph into a visually exciting one. I mean, it doesn’t take an Ansel Adams to figure out which image is stronger. (It would be even better if the fence weren’t in the background, but hey, that’s nothing that a little Photoshop retouching can’t take care of.
Using the Crop tool
The most popular way to crop an image is by using the Crop tool. This simple tool is as easy and effective to use as a T square and X-ACTO knife, and without the possibility of bodily injury. Select the Crop tool or press C on the keyboard and then follow these steps:
1. With the Crop tool, drag around the part of the image you want to keep and then release your mouse button.
As you drag, a marquee (a dotted outline) appears displaying the cropping boundaries. Don’t worry if your cropping marquee isn’t exactly correct. You can adjust it in the next step. Notice how the area outside the cropping marquee appears darker than the inside, in order to better frame your image. Adobe calls this a shield. You control the color and opacity (the amount of transparency) of the shield by adjusting the settings in the Options bar. If, for some strange reason, you don’t want the shield, deselect the check box.
2. Adjust the cropping marquee by dragging the handles.
The small squares on the sides and corners of the cropping marquee are called handles. When you hover your mouse over any handle or the marquee itself, your cursor changes to a double-headed arrow, indicating that you can drag. If you drag the handles outside the image boundary, Photoshop adds a
canvas around the image when you crop.
To move the entire marquee, position your mouse inside the marquee until you see a black arrowhead cursor and then drag. Adjust the marquee until you’re satisfied. You can also drag the origin point to change the axis of rotation.
If you move your mouse outside the marquee, the cursor changes to a curved, double-headed arrow. Dragging with this cursor rotates the marquee. This feature can be extremely useful when you need to rotate and crop a crooked image. By using the Crop tool, you can perform both commands in one step and often more quickly and accurately. Just be aware that rotation, unless it’s in 90-degree increments,
resamples your image, which, if done repeatedly, can damage your image (see the beginning of this chapter for more on resampling). So it’s best to try to get the rotation right the first time around.
3. Double-click inside the cropping marquee.
You can also just press Enter (Return on the Mac) or click the Commit (check mark icon) button on the
Options bar. Photoshop discards the area outside the marquee. If you want to cancel the crop, just press Esc or click Cancel (the slashed circle icon) in the Options bar.
Cropping an Image in Photoshop
![Cropping an Image in Photoshop]()
Reviewed by Pepen2710
on
10:03:00 AM
Rating:
No comments:
Post a Comment