'Cropping' means trimming the edges off a picture. This is such a basic and
straightforward operation that you might be wondering why I did not include it
in the previous lesson, 'Corrections'. This is because cropping is often
deliberately used to change the impression given by a picture, and that is much
more than just correcting faults within the picture. As an example, look at the
picture below...
I think the picture would be better without the people, since it would give
the impression that the elephants are wild (which they are not, for I took this
picture in an elephant reserve in Phuket, Thailand).
Here are three ways to crop the picture:
First, the official way, using the crop tool
. If the toolbox is not visible
then show it by choosing Show Tools from the Window menu. In
Photoshop 6, the crop tool has its own space in the toolbox, but in Photoshop 5
you will probably need to press and hold the mouse over the top-left tool and choose the crop
tool, as shown selected here:
Once the crop tool is selected, drag to create a selection rectangle that
includes the elephants but none of the people. If the rectangle that you have
created is not quite right then you can use the mouse to pull the 'handles' in
the corners and on the sides of the rectangle to change its shape. You can also
drag the whole rectangle into a new position by dragging any part of the
selection except the handles. When you are satisfied with the selection then
press Enter to finish the crop (or Escape if you made a mistake with the
selection and wish to try again). Save your work before continuing.
The handles in the corners of the selection rectangles have a second purpose,
in addition to resizing the rectangle: they can be used to rotate the
rectangle. This can be very useful if the camera was not held exactly horizontal
when the picture was taken. If the picture happens to include the ocean horizon
of the ocean then it is particularly important that the horizon should be
accurately horizontal. The following photo, taken in Tahiti, is a case in
point..
Correct the horizon in this picture by first making a selection rectangle
using the crop tool - you will need to leave a narrow border outside the
selection in order to perform the rotation successfully. Then move the mouse
outside the selection rectangle and near one of the corners until the pointer
changes into the rotation symbol. You can now rotate the selection rectangle
until the edges of the rectangle are parallel with the horizon (if this causes
the selection rectangle to spread outside the picture then you will need to back
up and make a smaller rectangle). Don't forget to
press Enter to finish the crop (or Escape if you made a mistake with the
selection and wish to abort the crop and try again). Note that the central circle within the
selection rectangle represents the center of rotation, you can define a new
pivot point by dragging it if you wish. Save your work.
A second way to crop images is to choose the Rectangular Marquee tool
in the toolbox, drag to create a selection rectangle, then choose Image>Crop.
The Image/Crop item is only available if the selected area is rectangular with
horizontal and vertical sides, so this method is less good than using the crop
tool.
A third way to crop images is to resize the canvas to a size smaller than the
current size.
If you want to rotate your picture and would prefer to rotate it before you
crop it, choose Image>Rotate Canvas. This is a good technique if you
know that the image needs to be rotated by exactly 90 degrees in either
direction, or by 180 degrees. You also have the option of rotating the canvas by
an arbitrary number of degrees, but finding the right number is likely to be
difficult...
