Understanding Photoshop is a biweekly column that takes an in-depth look at how digital photographs are built and manipulated. It is a college-level course in plain English for free at Photofocus. To learn more see this article.
It is possible to crop and resize an image at the same time. I refer to this technique as a power crop, and it is a huge time-saver. Before cropping, you can choose the desired size of your final image in the Options bar. When you drag to crop the image, your box will constrain to the proper aspect ratio. Cropping will change the aspect ratio and the resolution setting, allowing you to resize and crop in one step.
Straighten and Crop
In the Options bar for the Crop tool is a Straighten button. Clicking this button switches to a measuring tool. Just find a straight line in the image (or choose your own reference), and then drag to rotate the image into a better orientation and remove any unwanted rotation.
Let’s crop an image to a 5-inch by 7-inch shape at 300 ppi:
1. Open the file Power Crop.tif.
2. In the Options bar, click the Aspect Ratio menu and choose W x H x Resolution.
3. Enter a width of 5 inches, a height of 7 inches, and a resolution of 300 ppi.
4. Drag a the photo and set the crop to a better composition for the elephant on the left. Use the figure as a guide.
5. Make sure that the Delete Cropped Pixels option is unchecked.
6. Click the Commit button or press Return (Enter). When you’re finished cropping, you may want to click Clear to reset the tool’s default settings.
7. Press the V key to switch to the Move tool. You can drag the image within the canvas freely to reposition the crop as needed (as long as you didn’t delete cropped pixels eaerlier).
Reduce Motion
In the Additional Options controls for the Crop tool (click the gear icon) you can toggle Auto Center Preview off. This disables the “image moving while resizing” behavior that attempts to keep the crop box centered.
Tool Presets Save Time
If you have a specific image size that you use often, harness the power of Photoshop’s Preset Manager. You can create tool presets that already have the values for a tool loaded:
- In the Options bar, click the Aspect Ratio menu and choose Size & Resolution.
- Enter a desired size and resolution into the dialog box.
- Select the Save as Crop Preset check box at the bottom of the dialog box and click OK.
- When the Crop tool is selected, you’ll see its icon in the upper-left corner of the Options bar. Click the triangle to access the menu.
- You’ll see several preset sizes that are stored in Photoshop. Select the Current Tool Only check box to narrow the presets. Photoshop stores the preset crop size in a temporary preferences file.
- To permanently save cropping sizes, click the submenu icon in the menu (the small gear in the right corner of the panel) and choose Save Tool Presets to save them in a desired location.
Pixel Restoration
Because the cropped pixels were hidden (instead of deleted), details were preserved outside the cropped area. This allows for the image to be restored. You can choose Image > Reveal All to restore all hidden pixels after a crop (provided you left the Delete Cropped Pixels option deselected).
To get occasional updates and digest emails concerning this series, you can join the Understanding Photoshop email list.
Rich Harrington is a photo and video pro based in Washington, DC. He is also the publisher of Photofocus and host of the podcast. Rich has written many books through the years and is an active trainer on lynda.com. To see more of Rich’s articles, click here.
https://www.facebook.com/RichHarringtonStuff
https://twitter.com/rhedpixel
This Post Sponsored by:
Perfectly Clear for Photoshop or Lightroom is all about saving you time so you can focus on doing what you love best. Get a free trial of the award winning plug-in here.
The HDR Learning Center. Check out new ways to use High Dynamic Range photography to make compelling images. Free tutorials and posts to get results. Produced in partnership with HDRsoft
Arizona Highways Photo Workshops. For more than 30 years, Arizona Highway Photo Workshops has been committed to helping photographers find inspiring destinations, quality education and spectacular images. Get more information (and enter our contest) at http://www.ahpw.org/FindIt/
Platypod Pro™– the world’s most compact camera support. Use it with your ballhead in place of a tripod. Click here for more info — http://bit.ly/platypodpro
Creative Cloud Photography plan. Take your best shot and make it even better with the Creative Cloud Photography plan. Get all the essential tools, including Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop, to craft incredible images every day, everywhere — whether you’re a beginner or a pro. It’s all your photography. All in one place.
lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/Photofocus
Filed under: Photography 
