Cropping question

[Willy wombat]

Hi guys - i was hoping that someone could help me with my cropping skills in PS7.

I want to print out a few photos (say at 6x4) but i want to crop the images the way I like em first :-D . Is there any way that i can crop but maintain a 3:2 lenth to height ratio so when i go in and ask for my 6 by 4s i wont get the annoying white bars on the tops or the sides of the image because i have cropped in the wrong ratio.

At the moment what i do is drag the dash line box tool over the section of the image i want and then select crop under the image drop down. This might be the wrong way to do it but i am self taught. Is there any way to "ensure" the box maintains a 3:2 ratio rather than me guessing?

By the way getting the shop to stretch my images would also be unacceptable.

Thanks for your tips - APF is a fountain of knowledge. Keep it flowing!

Cheers
WW

[hir0]

have you tried this? (http://raysweb.net/photoshop-lessons/pages/3-cropping.html)

[paradise]

That should be very easy. Choose the "Rectangular Marquee" Tool. On the top, it will show you boxes, one will say "Style". Pick "Fixed Aspect Ratio" and choose Width 3, and Height 2 for landscape or reversed for portrait. It leaves the right size, but in the 3:2 aspect. Then choose, Edit, Crop. And you are done :)

It's handy for everything. Like when I make 8x10 prints, I just do a 10x8 aspect ratio. Or for 8.5 x11, or whatever else.

[Peligrin]

Both of these methods are much more efficient than how I was doing it! I was doing the calculations myself & using the rulers! :-o :redface:

Thanks for asking the question, WW!

[meriadoc]

or, if you want to use the crop tool, you can set the desired print size and dpi...

so when you pull the crop tool, you can get the desired ratio

[Willy wombat]

Thankyou guys! I hope you dont get sick of my stupid questions. I will try to avoid asking too many.

Peligrin - Im glad to hear i am not the only person who needs to read photoshop for dummies! Thanks for your supportive post.

WW :)

[Truffle]

Thankyou guys! I hope you dont get sick of my stupid questions. I will try to avoid asking too many.

Not at all keep all questions coming - I am learning loads. There are vrey few stupid question, although i have been known to ask some. :badgrin:

[RazorBlade]

Migrating from PhotoPaint to PhotoShop, I had the same problem ... Until recently. Had to dig the manual to find out!

Wish I found this forum sooner :)

[scoach1999]

Hi WW.

I just crop in Adobe Phot Deluxe using the Size, then Trim feature. Then I import the image into PS7 for some serious editing. Phot Deluxe is an amazing program with huge capabilities, very intuitive -- and is remarkably cheap. Try looking on eBay for a used copy (very cheap!). Also, if you crop, but are looking for a larger size final image -- but you don't want to enlarge pixels along with the image resize, take a look at a PS plug-in called Genuine Fractals. It is pretty amazing for this purpose. Also, if you want me to demonstrate my method for cropping and resizing, send me a sample image (original) via email to steve@stevecoach.com and I will run it through the mill and return it with an explanation of the steps used. Ain't digital great!?

Also more than glad to answer related questions.

Earnest Steve (in California)