Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Photoshop question: Cropping to specific aspect ratio

This is topic Photoshop question: Cropping to specific aspect ratio in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-08-2003, 06:07 PM:

I'm not much of a Photoshop master, but I'm sure there are plenty of you out there. Surely Photoshop can do this, but instructions on how would be appreciated. I am using Photoshop 7 for the mighty Windows OS.

Let's say I have a 600x800 image and I want to crop it to make a member picture out of. All member pictures are resized to 110 pixels wide, but I have always left the height to whatever it turned out to be.

How can I use the crop feature to take an original photo and select something specific, like 110x140, such that when I click on the picture with the crop tool, it will preserve that aspect ratio no matter how much I stretch the cropping box vertically or horizontally? This way once it is cropped, I could resize horizontal to 110 and the vertical would always be 140.

I'm sure there is a simple way to do this. Anyone? [Smile]

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 08-08-2003, 06:10 PM:

I can't remember how PS7 handles this, but in 6, there are boxes at the top of the screen, where you can input specific pixel dimensions, after you select the crop tool. (But first, make sure WINDOWS - Show Options is selected, to see the boxes.)

Posted by Matt Hale (Member # 1518) on 08-08-2003, 06:16 PM:

Not sure if you can force the aspect ratio of the crop tool (iPhoto does this but it wont do you much good on Windows) but you can force the aspect ratio of the rectangular marquee tool. I would use that to define your area, cut (or copy) it to the clipboard, then create a new document and paste it in. The image sizes in the new document window will default to whatever is in the clipboard, so you wont have any borders to deal with, then you can scale the whole image to size.

I believe that is how I did my forum picture.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-08-2003, 06:19 PM:

Boy do I feel stupid. Thanks Tim. I never even noticed that before.

Maybe this site needs a new slogan. "Answers within 3 minutes, guaranteed!" [thumbsup]

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 08-08-2003, 06:43 PM:

Don't feel stupid, Brad. I've never even used the crop tool before!

Thanks, Tim!

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-08-2003, 08:17 PM:

Pretty easy task Brad. Here's what you do:

Choose the marquee selection tool (the little dashed rectangle icon at the top left of the toolbar). You'll see the property bar at the top of the screen change for selection options.

On that top bar, you'll see an option for "Style". The default is "normal." Choose "Fixed Size" and type in the number you want --followed by a space and "px" for pixels (such as 110 px by 140 px for your task). If you don't include the "px" part the size will default to inches or whatever unit you have your rulers set.

With the Fixed Size option chosen, click into the image to make a selection of your desired size. Use the arrow keys to nudge the selection into a desired position.

When the selection is where you want it, go up to the Edit menu and select "Copy" (or just use the "Ctrl+C" keyboard shortcut) to copy that selection to the clipboard. Then go to File > New (or hit "Ctrl+N") to start a new document. The new file is automatically sized to the contents of the clipboard. Hit the OK button. Then choose Edit > Paste (or "Ctrl+V") to paste the clipboard image. You can flatten the image or just choose the Save for Web feature to export a JPEG.

There you have it. Kind of a long explanation for something that doesn't take more than 20 seconds to do in Photoshop! [Big Grin]

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 08-08-2003, 08:34 PM:

You're welcome. [Smile]

Glad I could help.

If you haven't found out already, once you enter the pixel dimensions, you can pull a corner of the crop box to change the size while maintaining the ratio. And just click inside the crop box and drag, to change its position over your photo. As Bobby noted, you can also use the arrow keys to nudge it into position, if you need fine control.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-08-2003, 08:39 PM:

Isn't Tim's way quicker and easier?

See the input fields in the top left corner when the crop button is selected on the right (bottom right corner)? As I grab the corner of the cropping dotted line, the aspect ratio stays fixed.

**********

Hmmmm, I just played around with your tips Bobby. That's pretty easy too. (Once I get what I need, a simple IMAGE/CROP works nicely and is quicker than pasting it into another document.) I like the actual "aspect ratio" feature! Now I can start shooting "Super Digital" and crop everything down to 2.39! [Smile]

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 08-08-2003, 09:02 PM:

Tim's method is actually ideal for what Brad is doing (all images must end up the same size) because no matter how big the selection, it automatically gets resized to the specified dimensions.

I've been using the marquee/crop method for most of the stuff I work on only because I'm not concerned with a/r for my stuff.

Someone should really moderate Brad's topic title to something less vague. [Razz]

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 08-09-2003, 01:46 AM:

MODERATED! Though not by me.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 08-09-2003, 06:33 PM:

As long as we are talking PS, is there a way to turn off the layer business? I mean when I cut and paste I always have to flatten it because the paste goes into different layer and it's pretty rare that I need that. The earlier version of PS I used to use didn't do that and I'm seriously considering reloading it. I also liked being able to move thing around while still on a shape tool without having to switch to a move tool. For the simple stuff I do these, um, enhancements just end up slowing me down.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-10-2003, 12:33 PM:

The only way to keep Photoshop from making a new layer when pasting something is if you paste into an empty layer.

I can't remember for sure when Photoshop didn't do this. Version 2.5 was the last one I used that didn't feature layering. Maybe versions 3 or 4 might not have created new layers when pasting (I can't remember since it has been several years since those have been out). It is in versions 5, 5.5 and 6 as well as 7 (and probably will be in the soon-to-be-released version 8).

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 08-10-2003, 07:06 PM:

Would it not make a great deal of sense for there to be an option that a given image is single layered and gonna stay that way? Or is there a way of working where this is not as annoying as I find it?

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-10-2003, 07:40 PM:

I don't know of any way how the paste/layer behavior can be turned off. But if the layer flattening thing is something you must do on a very repetitve basis to lots of files, just record an action to automate your tasks. Put all the files you want to flatten in a single folder. Choose File > Automate > Batch and then click on your action and choose the folder/files on which they should play. It can be a real timesaver.

There's lots of reasons why Photoshop layers the crap out of everything (even things like adjustment layers, alpha channel masks applied to layers, vector-based "shape layers', linking layers to form unique blends and transitions, etc.).

The primary advantage of layers is preventing edits that are destructive to the background. The "history" palette didn't arrive until just a couple version stops ago; before that there was only one step of undo. Before layering, users would have to save lots of "snapshots" and alpha channel selections to do complex work.

Since RAM is relatively cheap (I remember the days years ago when it was $40 per megabyte) it is no big deal to have a document in excess of 100MB or more. You can have all your resources saved in a single PSD document instead of having a folder full of related files. I just wish other applications had better quality support of alpha channel masks and vector clipping paths in Photoshop EPS and TIFF formats.