*Program Basic
PROGRAM BASIC: Crop with the Crop Tool
By Shelleyrae Cusbert 2005
Apr 12, 2005, 22:54

Cropping a photograph or background paper to a rectangular or square shape is easily accomplished with Digital Image Pro. This tutorial should be applicable to both versions 9 and 10.

Open a new blank canvas or drag your photograph onto your existing canvas or duplicate the photograph (so you are not working on the original).

Using the Crop tool only allows for a rectangular or square crop.

Ensure the object you want to crop is selected.

Choose Format>Crop>Selected Object

The object will be slightly opaque.

From the Crop options select a proportion by clicking on the arrow to access the drop down menu. You can choose from a variety of proportions. Choosing a proportion means that as you drag you the width and length will keep the specified proportion.

Choose Custom to crop an area of your choice.

Position your cursor on the object where desired. The cursor will look like a crosshair with a small box in the middle. Click and hold the left mouse button to drag out the rectangle to include the area you want to keep. The area you have chosen will be clear.

You can then use the resize handles to adjust the area of selection.

When you have selected the area the pixel size is given. You can specify a pixel size to crop to a required size.

You can also elect to show guidelines for the rule of thirds when cropping. This is particularly useful when cropping photographs to help with good composition.

Select Reset to redraw the area.

Select Done to crop.