Launch Photoshop and open one of your photos from the temporary folder. Select the Crop tool in the Photoshop toolbox (also known as the Tools bar). Its icon looks like two intersecting right angles. To make a crop selection, hold down the left mouse button and drag a rectangle across the image. If your selection was imprecise, use the handles along the dotted line to shrink or enlarge the selection. You also can move your entire selection. To do so, place your pointer inside the selection so it becomes a black arrow. To undo your action, just open the Edit menu and select Undo Crop.
With the Crop tool selected, but before making another selection, look up at the Crop Options bar. Photoshop lets us specify the pixel size and resolution of our cropped image. In the Width and Height fields, type 150. Next, make a cropping selection, which will now be confined to a square shape (due to the measurements you just designated). You can make the selection large or small; Photoshop will resize the image to meet the width and height measurements you specified. We don't recommend using the Resolution field unless you need to reduce the resolution. To find out the original resolution of your image, click Front Image from the Crop Options bar. This provides an accurate reading of the picture's height and width, as well as its resolution. If you perform a crop with Front Image selected, however, Photoshop will increase the size of the selection to match that of the original, which looks horrible. Give it a try and then click Undo Crop from the Edit menu.
For our next experiment, make another crop selection and look up at the Crop Options bar. You'll notice that the choices have changed. Now let's adjust the shading in the cropped-out area. If you deselect the Shield Cropped Area checkbox, the shading disappears. Try it. The default shade color is black, but you can click inside the Color box and choose another color from Photoshop's Color Picker dialog box. You also can adjust the opacity of the shade. It's best if beginners leave the Perspective checkbox deselected. Advanced users, however, will find this option useful for correcting perspective distortions, such as those that occur in snapshots taken with a wide-angle lens. After you finish making your changes, you can use the Crop Options bar to execute the crop by clicking the big check mark button located on the far right side of the Crop Options bar. Or, if you wish, you can cancel the action by clicking the X button.
If you have an image that requires corrections, be sure to perform any necessary cropping first. But did you know cropping in Photoshop isn't just about resizing your canvas? To crop a photo in Photoshop, find the Crop Tool in the toolbar on the left side of the interface (shortcut key: C). Once selected, you can drag the edges of the photo to crop it however you like. Instead of adjusting the crop area directly on the photo, you can first create a crop box of a specific size on the image. It's super easy to use. Move your mouse just outside the crop box, and a rotate icon will appear. Drag in any direction to rotate the image as you like. If your photo looks crooked, you can use the Crop tool's rotate function to straighten it. That's why Photoshop Crop Tool has a built-in Straighten feature.
Then, find a horizontal line in your photo, like the ground, and draw a straight line along it. The Straighten tool doesn't just work with horizontal lines. Sometimes, after you rotate and crop an image, you might see blank corners. So, how can you crop only one layer without impacting the others? If you use Photoshop often for creative work, have you ever felt limited by how tedious the process can be? TourBox is a controller designed specifically for image and photo editing. I've been a Photoshop user for almost 10 years now, and it's slightly embarrassing to say that I've finally figured out how to create a keyboard shortcut for "crop." I've been using keyboard shortcuts the entire time, for things like copy, cut, paste... but I always felt like I was losing valuable time to reach for the mouse, go to the Image menu, then down to Crop. Now that I've figured it out, I am wondering how much time I've wasted, and wrist fatigue I've endured... For me, I chose Control+Command+C as my "Crop" shortcut but you can use any key combination you prefer. I went with this one because it's fairly similar to the existing, standard shortcut for Copy (Command+C).
To cancel a crop, tap the escape key. Command (Mac) | Control (Win) with the Crop tool selected, temporarily enables the Straighten option. “I” auto-populates the Width, Height, and Resolution with the dimensions of the active document. “P” enables Classic Mode (in Classic Mode, the Crop marquee is repositioned, not the image). Crop, then Crop Again - After applying a crop, Photoshop automatically hides the crop marquee even though the Crop tool is still selected. Cropping to a Specific Ratio or File Size - With the Crop tool selected, choose Ratio from the Aspect Ratio/Crop Size drop-down menu in the Options bar and enter values to constrain the crop to a specific aspect ratio. Choose W x H x Resolution from the Aspect Ratio/Crop Size drop-down menu to enter specific values and crop to a specific image dimension.
Cropping to Another Image’s Dimensions (File Size) - To use the dimensions of one image to crop another image, select the document with the desired dimensions and select Front Image from the Aspect Ratio/Crop Size drop-down menu to auto-populate the width, height and resolution (or tap “I”). Then, switch to the document that needs to be cropped/resized and drag out the Crop marquee. When the crop is applied, the image will be resized to match the width, height, and resolution of the initial image. To save file size dimensions or aspect ratios (for reuse on future files) choose “New Crop Preset” from the Aspect Ratio/Crop Size drop-down menu. Note: if an image needs to be resized when cropping, Photoshop uses the image interpolation option set in Preferences > General.
Crop Tool Snaps to Edge - By default, the Crop Tool is set to “Snap To” the edges of the document. While the snapping behavior is useful, it can make it difficult to crop close to the edge of an image. To disable the snapping behavior, choose View > Snap To and toggle off (uncheck) Document Bounds. Cropping to a Selection in Photoshop - If a document has an active selection when the Crop tool is selected, Photoshop automatically matches the Crop marquee to the bounding rectangle of the selection. If you don’t want to crop to the selection, tapping the escape key will reset the crop to the image bounds (or as close to the image bounds as possible if there is an aspect ratio set for the Crop tool in the options bar). Repositioning the Crop marquee deselects the area. Adding Canvas Using the Crop Tool - To use the Crop tool to add canvas to an image, drag the crop handles outside of the image area and apply the crop.
Reducing File Size by Deleting Content Outside of the Visible Image Area - To permanently delete information that extends beyond the visible image area (the canvas), select the Crop tool, check Delete Cropped Pixels in the Options bar, and tap Return (Mac) | Enter (Win). Photoshop previews any information that extends beyond the visible image area. Tap Return (Mac) | Enter (Win) again to apply the crop. Saving the document after cropping this way is permanent, so be sure that you won’t need to move/reposition/resize layers. Straightening Images with the Crop Tool - When using the Crop tool’s Straighten option, the entire document (including all layers), are straightened. Tool Presets - Tool Presets can increase our productivity by saving commonly used tool options. After setting tool options in the Options bar, click the tool icon at the far left of the Options bar to display the Tool Presets Picker. Click the New Preset icon (the dog-eared page icon) to save your preset.
Crop and Straighten Photos in Photoshop - To speed up scanning or photographing multiple images, it might be faster to scan them as a single document. Do a combination of number keys for a specific percentage. When the Move tool is active, press any arrow keys to move 1 pixel in that direction. Blending Modes have shortcuts as well! Selections and Masking Mastery Course check out our Selections and Masking Mastery course. There are all kinds of reasons to crop an image. You might need to straighten a photo, resize your canvas, or shift focus and composition. Sometimes you might want to crop out a distracting object in the background or give the image more vertical or horizontal emphasis. Select the Crop tool. Choose the Crop tool from the Photoshop toolbar. Find your perfect framing. Frame your photo by dragging the corner handles around the part of the image you want to keep and rotating your image left or right. Commit to your new crop. Finalize your selection by hitting Enter or Return on your keyboard or clicking the checkmark in the control bar. When it comes to cropping in Photoshop, you can be as precise as you want to be. If you need to crop an image to a specific size, you can do it in Photoshop. It can be challenging to perfectly straighten an image with precise lines, like a horizon or a tall building. In cases like these, use the Straighten tool to subtly adjust the cropped area and correct off-kilter angles. Cropping is more than resizing a photo. Enter width, height, and resolution values in the options bar. Yes, click inside the crop area and drag to move it. Yes, place the image in a Smart Object layer first. Select the Crop tool (C) and set the crop preset to “Ratio” or “W x H x Resolution” in the upper setting bar. You'll learn time-saving keyboard shortcuts, a few ways to customize the Crop Tool, and even how to use the Crop Tool to quickly add a border around your image! The original image. By default, when we click and drag inside the crop border, we move the image around inside it while the border stays in place. To move the border, not the image, you can switch to "Classic Mode" by pressing the letter P. Then drag to move the border around inside the image. If you need to straighten your image, you can temporarily access the Straighten Tool by pressing and holding your Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key while the Crop Tool is active. Drag across something that should be straight, either vertically or horizontally, and then release your mouse button to rotate the image. Let's look at a couple of tips to use with the crop overlay that appears inside the border. By default, Photoshop displays the Rule of Thirds overlay, which can help with our composition. Also by default, Photoshop displays the overlay at all times, even when you're not resizing the crop border. You'll find a couple of other options to choose from. If you choose Auto Show Overlay, then Photoshop will only display the overlay while you're actually resizing the border, which makes it easier to see your image. And choosing Never Show Overlay prevents the overlay from appearing at all. To crop the image, press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) on your keyboard. Finally, the Crop Tool isn't just for cropping images. It can also be used to add more canvas space around the image, giving us an easy way to add a border. To keep the border separate from the image, it's a good idea to duplicate the image first. To do that from your keyboard, press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac). Then drag the handles away from the image to add more canvas space. Hold Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) as you drag to resize the canvas from its center. And there we have it! That's some tips and tricks you can use when cropping images with the Crop Tool in Photoshop! You can jump to any of the other lessons in this Cropping Images in Photoshop series.
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Note: This article compiles a comprehensive overview of the Photoshop Crop Tool, including practical steps, shortcut keys, and advanced options that affect how the crop is applied, straightened, or expanded to canvas.