Image editing is much more accessible to most of us today than it was a decade ago. Because specialized programs allow us to develop our creativity to the maximum and adjust the photos according to our needs. Among them, Photoshop continues to stand out especially, which has not lost a bit of its popularity. Know how crop an image in Photoshop It will help you get more out of this tool.
Furthermore, as this program has been imitated by its competitors, with the trimming steps that we are going to see you can also obtain good results with other tools. Because it is quite possible that they work in a very similar way.
What is the real use of the crop functionality?
Within the basic functionalities for edit an image or photograph We always find ourselves with the possibility of cutting back. It is even possible for us to crop images in Word to better fit the document.
When it comes to Photoshop, it was clear that this option could not be missing from the basic palette of editing functions. Cropping can be useful for:
- Improve the composition. If you crop a photo you can eliminate unwanted objects or focus attention on a specific point. The result is a more visually attractive image.
- Eliminate distractions. If you want to highlight a specific person or object, removing the edges of the image will help you create a clearer focus on what you want to focus on.
- Create transparent backgrounds. Cropping the background can be useful to add transparent backgrounds that will allow you to use the image in different contexts. For example, to use it on a web page.
- Adapt size and proportions. Without a doubt, one of the main reasons to crop an image in Photoshop is to make it smaller and adjust its proportions to the medium in which you are going to use it.
- Correct perspective. As you use the cropping tool like a pro, you can correct certain perspective problems. Eliminating horizontal or vertical lines and ensuring that the final result is of higher quality.
- Create collages and compositions. If you are ready to unleash all your creativity, by cutting out photos you can get perfect pieces to make all kinds of collages and compositions.
- Adapt to printing requirements. When it comes to photos that are going to be printed, it may be necessary to make some cropping to adjust to the size and proportions with which the printer works, without losing the image quality.
How to crop image in Photoshop
Cropping is the process through which we are going to eliminate parts of a photograph to give the image the focus and proportions that we really want. To do this, Photoshop has the “Crop” tool, which is especially intuitive and always allows us to go back if the result we have obtained is not to our liking.
In all the operations you carry out you will see real-time information about how the final result is, something that will speed up your work and help you make decisions.
Steps to crop an image in Photoshop
- Open the image you want to work with in this software.
- Within the toolbar select the tool "Trim". When you click on it, the edges of the photo are ready to be adjusted.
- You can draw a crop area or drag the outlines of the image from the corners. In both cases, What you are doing is delimiting the area that is going to be trimmed.
- Press Enter and the photo will be adjusted according to the new parameters you have chosen for it.
Advanced options when cropping images
If you want to make a much more precise and professional cut, You can use the “Crop” toolbar. Here you can change the aspect ratio, swap height and width values, and apply overlay options.
- Size and proportions. Directly choose the size and final proportion you want for the image. You can enter a predefined value or create a custom one. You also have the possibility to create your presets to continue using them in other future projects.
- Overlay options. If you choose to have the view show you overlay guides when cropping, you'll be presented with options such as the rule of thirds, grid, or golden ratio.
- By pressing “O” you move between the different alternatives that the program offers you.
- Crop options. From the “Settings” menu you can specify additional cropping options that do not appear at first glance in the menu.
- Use classic mode. If you're used to using older versions of Photoshop, this feature allows you to use the cropping tool the old-fashioned way.
In addition to all of the above, there are other useful features within the “Crop” toolbar such as the ability to remove cropped pixels. But keep in mind that this deletes the cropped pixels and you won't be able to get them back in the future. Default, Photoshop does non-destructive cropping. That is, it eliminates the pixels from the images but preserves them in case they are needed later. So evaluate carefully if you need to enable this functionality.
Separate an object from the background with the image crop tool in Photoshop
If what we are looking for is to cut out specific figures from an image to extract them from the background, this is a little more complex:
- We open the photo.
- We select the tool "Ribbon" and we choose “Polygonal lasso”.
- With the mouse pointer we manually review the outline of the object that we want to separate from the background.
- We click the right mouse button inside the selected part of the image and check the clipping path option.
- We select the clipping layer and press Ctrl+J to create a new layer with the clipping selection. With this, we have obtained a version with a transparent background of the cut out object, which we can now use in other projects.
A faster and more current way to do it is to choose the option “Object selection with AI.” This causes the program to automatically detect the objects in the image that can be individually cropped and make a selection, which will make it easier for us to draw the contour.
Even if you are not an expert in using this software, cropping an image in Photoshop is quite simple, so we encourage you to try it if you have a photo that you need to adjust.