The Tribune

Cropping is an easy yet important step to consider when editing photos. Every image editing program has a crop tool. This is used to crop or clip an image, and it works on all layers of images, visible or invisible. This tool is often used to remove borders, or to eliminate unwanted areas to provide a more focused working area. It is also useful if you need a specific image size that does not match the original dimensions.

Not every photo needs cropping, but the visual impact and composition of many pictures can be greatly improved when thoughtfully cropped. In Photoshop, users can use the office cropping tools to trim and remove unwanted portions of pictures, eliminate background and also crop photos to specific shapes.

How to use a crop tool

The crop tool allows you to select an image, and discard everything outside the area it covers. The tool is located third from top in the Photoshop Toolbox, on the left side.

In the Toolbox, select the 'Crop Tool', click on the image and draw a rectangle holding the mouse's button down.

When you release the button, a bounding box appears. You can move, resize and rotate it. The crop tool is non-destructive, and you can choose to retain the cropped pixels to optimise the crop boundaries later. The cropped area will appear darker or lighter, depending on which program you use.When you are satisfied with the new composition, click the image or press Enter.

It is important to keep the resolution of your image so there is no loss in file information. To keep the resolution while cropping, click on the Image pull-down menu and select 'Image Size'. A new window will appear that shows you the size and resolution of your file. Make note of the size and resolution. Click 'OK' to exit the window.

Remember two things

before cropping

Always work on a copy of an original, rather than the original image itself. Some programs automatically open a copy or save your work as a copy. If you work on an original, make a mistake and then save the image, the changes are permanent and cannot be undone. However, if you preserved the original, you can start the process again using a duplicate copy.

In addition, focus on the main subject: Remove distracting elements by using the 'Zoom in' on a subject. Change the orientation and change the aspect ratio.

Cropping an image

to the correct size

and resolution

When working with different-sized frames, sometimes it may be necessary to crop your file to fit properly. Cropping an image file involves cutting out a part of the image that is not needed in the final print. For example, if I have an image that is 24 inches by 16 inches, but the frame I am using is 22 inches by 16 inches, here are two ways to go about cropping the image.

If you are used to clicking the crop tool, dragging the tool over your image and pressing 'Enter', it may surprise you to know there are other options that you can use when cropping in Photoshop.

Here are my 'best-kept secrets' of the Photoshop crop tool.

Rotate as you Crop

When you drag the crop marquee over an image, you can rotate it by letting go the mouse button and drag on one of the corners of the marquee to rotate it. When you double click, you will rotate and crop the image at the same time.

Perspective Crop

You can fix perspective at the same time as cropping by first dragging a crop marquee over the image. You can use this to fix distorted perspective in your images.

Create and Use

Crop Presets

When you click the Crop tool, you can choose from various presets by clicking the 'drop down' list to the immediate right of the tool in the tool options bar. You can turn a portrait crop to a landscape one (or vice versa) by selecting the preset, dragging over the image and then rotating the marquee 90 degrees by holding the 'Shift' key as you do so to constrain the rotation to multiples of 15 degrees.

Re-sampling image

resolution to achieve

the best print quality

Image resolution plays a key role in the quality of your prints. For most photo, fine art and canvas prints, a resolution of 200-300 dpi will achieve the best results. An image that has a resolution higher than 300 dpi can be re-sampled to save disk space and aid in faster printing.

Say we want to print an image file at half size. If we use this example above, half size from a 24 inch by 16 inch would be 12 inches by eight inches. Go to Image Size (from the Image pull-down menu) and make sure that Resample Image is unchecked. Type in '12' in the width column, and the height should adjust to 8 inches. The resolution should show 600 dpi. This is because we still have the same amount of pixels in the file, but we do not need to print at 600dpi.

The crop tool is a multi-purpose device, and could easily be recognised as one of my favourites when using Photoshop. Besides, there is no point in firing up a huge image-editing suite when you only need to perform a simple task such as resizing or cropping an image.

That is why there are programs such as Quick JPEG Resize and Crop. It does exactly what the name suggests and nothing more, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Until we meet again, fill your life with memories as opposed to regrets. Enjoy life and stay on top of your game.

NB: The columnist welcomes feedback at deedee21bastian@gmail.com

ABOUT THE COLUMNIST: Deidre Marie Bastian is a professionally trained Graphic Designer/Marketing Coordinator with qualifications of M.Sc., B.Sc., A.Sc. She has trained at institutions such as: Miami Lakes Technical Centre, Success Training College, College of The Bahamas, Nova South Eastern University, Learning Tree International, Langevine International and Synergy Bahamas.