4. Cropping and Straightening Images

Have you ever captured a photo, then looked at it later and realized it would be much better if only you had gotten a little closer to your subject, or if a person was to the left of the frame instead of the center? Or maybe the shot is great except for a trash can peeking into the edge of the frame. The ability to crop an image can instantly improve the composition of a photo or remove unwanted elements at its borders.

Another common annoyance is a photo that’s just a bit off-kilter. Using Elements’ straightening tools, you can bend that horizon back into line (or skew it further for a dramatic effect).

Cropping an Image

Professional photographers almost always use cropping techniques to achieve perfect composition. In spite of all the advances in film and digital cameras, rarely is a picture taken with its subjects perfectly composed or its horizon line set at just the proper level. More often than not, subjects are off-center, and unwanted objects intrude into the edge of the picture frame. Photoshop Elements offers two simple and quick methods for cropping your images.

To crop an image using the Crop tool

1. Select the Crop tool from the toolbox (or press C) .

The Crop tool.

2. In the image window, drag to define the area of the image you want to keep .

Elements highlights the image that will be preserved and dims the portions to be deleted.

The image outside the selected area is dimmed to indicate the portions that will be deleted.

3. If you want to modify your selection, move the pointer over one of the eight handles on the edges of the selection; then drag the handle to resize it .

Easily move and resize the area you choose to crop by dragging the handles around the perimeter of the cropping selection.

4. When you’re satisfied with your crop area, double-click within the selection, press Enter, or click the Commit button on the lower corner of the selection .

The Commit and Cancel buttons appear on the lower edge of the crop selection.

The image is cropped to the area you selected .

The final, cropped image.

If you’re not satisfied with your selection and want to start over, click the Cancel button.

To resize an image to specific dimensions using the Crop tool

1. Follow steps 1–3 on the previous page to specify an area to crop.

2. In the Tool Options bar, choose a common photo size from the Aspect Ratio drop-down menu .

Use the Aspect Ratio drop-down menu to choose common photo dimensions.

Or, enter a size in the Width and Height fields. The double-arrow button between the fields swaps values, making it easy to turn a horizontal crop area into a vertical one, and vice versa.

3. If you need to change the image’s resolution, edit the Resolution field; you can define it in pixels per inch or pixels per centimeter using the associated drop-down menu. However, see the sidebar on the next page, “The Crop Tool Size and Resolution Options,” for important information.

4. Double-click within the selection, press Enter, or click the Commit button to crop the photo.

To crop an image using the Rectangular Marquee tool

1. Select the Rectangular Marquee tool from the toolbox, or press M.

2. In the image window, drag to define the area of the image you want to keep .

Drag with the Rectangular Marquee tool to define the part of the image you want to crop.

3. From the Image menu, choose Crop. The image is cropped to the area you selected.

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The Crop Tool Size and Resolution Options

Every digital photo is made up of millions of pixels, colored squares that you typically never see unless you’re zoomed in; the more pixels, the higher the resolution, and in general the more detail you’re able to see.

If you’re cropping the edges of your photo slightly, you don’t need to worry about resolution. However, if you make dramatic cuts, like keeping just one corner of a photo, you could significantly reduce the quality of the image if you print it later.

Using the Crop tool’s Aspect Ratio and Resolution options can lead you down a slippery slope, introducing unexpected image quality problems—foremost among them, unwanted resolution upsampling, which creates a fuzzy, ghosted, and generally out-of-focus effect. For more information on upsampling, see the “Downsampling vs. Upsampling” sidebar in Chapter 14.

As an example, let’s say you have a 4 × 5-inch image with a resolution of 150 pixels per inch. Select the Crop tool, choose “4 × 6 in” from the Aspect Ratio drop-down menu, and enter 150 in the Resolution field. Define the area you want to crop (which by definition will be a smaller area than the original 4 × 5 image), and then crop.

The area you crop from the original image, no matter the selected size, will be forced up to 4 × 6, and will introduce upsampling .

Be cautious when using the Crop tool’s size and resolution options. Here, an image was cropped with a final size defined that was larger than the original image (top). During cropping, the image was upsampled, sacrificing image quality (bottom). Both detail boxes are shown at 100 percent.

You can use the Aspect Ratio drop-down menu to control the Width and Height ratios of your cropping selection; just leave the Resolution text field blank, and use the Image Size dialog (after you crop) to set the image resolution (described in Chapter 14).

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Straightening a Crooked Photo

Sometimes even your most carefully composed photos may be just a little off angle, with a not-quite-level horizon line or tilted portrait subjects. The nifty Straighten tool makes short work out of getting your crooked photos back into alignment.

Or, perhaps you’ve scanned an image that shifted when you closed the scanner cover. Elements can automatically straighten it, with the option of cropping it to a clean rectangle.

To use the Straighten tool

1. Select the Straighten tool from the toolbox, or press P .

The Straighten tool.

2. In the Tool Options bar, choose how the image will be cropped after you straighten it .

Choose how the Organizer handles extra space caused by the rotation.

3. Using a horizon line or other subject as a point of reference, click and drag from one side of the photo to the other .

With the Straighten tool, you simply click and drag within a tilted photo (top) to align it perfectly.

When you release the mouse button, your image rotates and aligns along the new horizontal plane you defined.

To let the Editor straighten a photo

Choose one of the following:

• Image > Rotate > Straighten and Crop Image.

• Image > Rotate > Straighten Image.

The Straighten and Crop Image command will do its best to both straighten the image and delete the extra background surrounding the image. The Straighten Image command simply straightens without cropping.

Both methods have their own sets of limitations. Rotate and Straighten works best if there is a space of at least 50 extra pixels or so surrounding the image. If this surrounding border is much smaller, Elements can have a difficult time distinguishing the actual photograph from the border and may not do a clean job of cropping.

Although you’ll still need to manually crop your image after using the Straighten Image command, this method is probably a better choice, because you avoid the risk of Elements indiscriminately cropping out areas of your image you may want to keep.

For the surest control, however, straighten your images using the Crop tool as described in the next procedure.

To straighten an image using the Crop tool

1. Select the Crop tool from the Tools pane.

2. In the image window, drag to select the area of the image you want to crop and straighten.

3. Move the pointer outside the edge of the selection area until it changes to a rotation pointer .

After you define a preliminary cropping selection (top), rotate the selection so it aligns with your image border (bottom).

4. Drag outside of the selection until its edges are aligned with the image border.

5. Drag the selection handles, as necessary, to fine-tune the positioning; then press Enter .

Make final adjustments to your cropping selection (top) before Elements automatically crops and straightens the image.

The image is cropped and automatically straightened.