[Return to Start] [Lesson 1: Opening] [Lesson 2: Assessing] [Lesson 3: Cropping]
[Lesson 4:Rotating] [Lesson 5: Fixing Blemishes] [Lesson 6: Adjusting Color ] [Lesson 7: Sizing/Printing]

Lesson 3: Cropping and/or resizing the image

Let's crop Captain Cat to create a better image. For now forget that the horizon line isn't quite straight. We'll simply crop out the bad or distracting parts of the original image and leave in the desirable parts. After you crop it, if you want to see how I cropped it, click: Ray's Captain Cat Crop.

I am now going to direct you to using some of the photoshop TOOLS. The tool bar is on the left by default. So that you know what tool I'm talking about, click on : Photoshop Tool Bar and you will get a new window. Make this window smaller so that you can see it while you read this present window and leave it there for future reference.

There are two methods of cropping, free and fixed proportions.

Method 1: free height to width proportions

This method produces an image that sets no constraints on the height and width of the image. You can crop a square image or any sort of rectangle.

• Click on the Crop Tool [if you can't find it, open the "photoshop tool bar" image or look at the image below.
• Make sure that the width and height settings are blank. If they are not blank as in the example below, move your cursor along each and delete the settings.
• Move cursor to image, click and drag, then release
• You don't have to make the perfect crop the first time through. You can change the shape of the rectangle once you've put it on the image. I usually start with a small rectangle and then ...
• Click on and use small squares to change the image until the desired crop is obtained
• Click on crop tool

Note: When you've rotated an image, you will have solid colors where the image has rotated away from the margins. Thus, your crop tool will have to fit withing those rotated boundaries and you will find that you will always have lost some of the original image. Such is life ... next time take the photo when you're sober!

Method 2: fixed proproations height to width

This method fixes the ration of the height to the width of an image. It's useful if you want your image, for example, to end up being 4x6 [small photo size], or 8x10 [medium format photo size], or 14x10 [larger print size], etc.

• Click on the Crop Tool
• In the upper left corner, set the desired image dimensions, e.g., 4x6, 14x10, etc.
• Repeat B1 …but this time you will notice that the selection lines for the crop will be in fixed proportions.

Questions or Issues? Did the instructions work for you? If not, drop me a line and tell me about where you got stuck.

ray@raysweb.net