Written on Jan 14th, 2009 by Dave Adams
Posted In: Photoshop
How to Crop Photos to Improve Composition
Post Information and Notes
Easily crop your photographs to remove redundant clutter.
- Level:Beginner
- Tools:Photoshop
- Time:5 minutes
One of the easiest ways to give your photographs some added punch and to remove unwanted clutter is to use the crop tool to zoom in on the important element you want to emphasise.
Its not unusual for a composition to include some unwanted items around its edges, and therefore a simple crop can easily rid your image of these blemishes.
Cropping can also be used to alter the shape of a photograph, turning landscape photographs in to portraits, and vice versa. Cropping is also handy for improving a composition by altering the point that elements line up within the photograph.
The photo below is the platform 2 building at Llangollen railway in North Wales. As you can see, there are a number of rogue items around the edges that need to be removed.
Photograph Before Cropping
Using Photoshop, select the marquee tool (circled in orange) and ensure it is set to the rectangle shape. Style should be normal, feather should be zero in the top menu bar. Drag the marquee over the photograph, starting from a position that will exclude the parts you want to remove from the image.
Photograph Being Cropped
When you are happy with your selection, select Image > Crop from the menu. The iamge will be cropped to the size and selection you have made.
Photograph After Cropping
Once cropped, save the new image with a different name, just in case you need to go back to the original photograph in the future.
Cropping photos with Photoshop
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