- Strategy for retouching
- Resolution and image size
- Getting started
- Straightening and cropping an image
- Using automatic adjustments
- Adjusting the tonal range
- Removing a color cast
- Replacing colors in an image
- Adjusting lightness with the Dodge tool
- Adjusting saturation with the Sponge tool
- Applying the Unsharp Mask filter
- Compare the manual and automatic results
- Saving the image for four-color printing
- Review questions
- Review answers
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Straightening and cropping an image
You’ll use the Crop tool to trim and scale the photograph for this lesson so that it fits the space designed for it. You can use either the Crop tool or the Crop command to crop an image, which permanently deletes all the pixels outside of the crop selection area.
You can decide whether to delete the area outside of a rectangular selection, or whether to hide the area outside of the selection. In ImageReady, the Hide option is useful when creating animations with elements that move from off-screen into the live image area.
- In the toolbox, select the Crop tool (
). Then, in the tool options bar (at the top of the work area), enter the dimensions (in inches) of the finished image: For
Width, type 2 in and for Height, type 3 in.
- Draw a crop marquee around the image. Don’t worry about whether or not the entire image is included, because you’ll adjust
the marquee size later.
As you drag, the marquee retains the same proportion as the dimensions you specified for the target size (2 x 3).
When you release the mouse button, a cropping shield covers the area outside the cropping selection, and the tool options bar now displays choices about the cropping shield.
- In the tool options bar, make sure that the Perspective check box is not selected.
- In the image window, move the pointer outside the crop marquee, so that it appears as a curved double arrow (
). Drag clockwise to rotate the marquee until it is parallel with the edges of the window frame in the picture.
- Place the pointer inside the crop marquee, and drag the marquee until it contains all the parts of the picture you want shown
to produce an artistically pleasing result. If you also want to adjust the size of the marquee, drag one of the corner handles.
Initial crop marquee
Marquee rotated
Marquee moved
Marquee resized
- Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS). The image is now cropped, and the cropped image now fills the image window, straightened,
sized, and cropped according to your specifications.
Image cropped
Note
In Photoshop and ImageReady, you can use the Image > Trim command to discard a border area around the edge of the image, based
on transparency or edge color. - Choose File > Save to save your work.
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Note
Try choosing File > Automate > Crop And Straighten Photos when you work with your own scan of multiple photographs. Photoshop
recognizes the rectangular edges of images that contrast with their background and makes individual straightened image files
for each area. Then, you can crop within those images as needed for aesthetic reasons. For more information, see Photoshop
Help.