How to Crop an Image in Photoshop

Surely on some occasions you will have had the problem of having to crop an image in Photoshop , either because the background of the image is not correct, or because you had to separate an element from the rest of the same photo, or because you had to make a element of an image will remain on a design with a transparent background; Well, this is our tutorial on how to do it well and with a correct result for later printing.

Step by Step: How to Crop Photos
Like everything in design, there are many different ways of doing the same thing, here we are going to show you one of them, not the only one and surely not the best, but in our opinion, and after a few years of experience making cuts to images , we think adequate and easy to follow.

To show the steps we will do it through an example, below we will show you the image chosen by us and what is our cut in Photoshop to practice.

The purpose of this practice is to separate the background and the table from the products that are in the foreground, in order to later be able to insert the loose products in our design.

First step
We open the Photoshop program (more or less all versions work the same, so it doesn’t matter which one you have). We open the selected image (the one we are going to work on at that moment), you can cut with two tools: click on the Frame tool and drag the cursor in the area you want to cut, or activate the Polygonal Lasso tool from the tools menu Photoshop, as shown in the image.

Once with the tool activated in our mouse pointer we will have to do the manual work of selecting the entire area of ​​the products that we want to cut, as shown in the video that we show below.

Second step
We select the entire group of products that we want to reserve, as the video shows:

Third step
Once the selection of the elements has been made, there is little left, now you have to go to the Photoshop Paths palette , as the image shows, and with the selection still active, you have to click on the button to convert selection to path (the button is the one the red arrow points to).

After clicking on that button, our selection will become an active path of the photo (see image below).

Fourth step
We have to convert the path in question into a clipping path , to do this, we select the path and go to the actions drop-down list of the Paths palette, and in it we select the Clipping Path option.

With this option we get a dialog box where we are asked for the radius to apply, we have to mark 2. Once done, we already have our clipping path made.

When we save the photo, it keeps the option that when it is placed in the layout program, such as InDesign, its background, that is, what is outside the layout, will be transparent regardless of its size, which is what we wanted

Let’s get to know Photoshop
Photoshop is an amazing software tool that allows its users to manipulate and create images. The use of Photoshop is widespread throughout the professional world of photography and graphic design. The first version of Photoshop hit the market in 1990 as a Macintosh product.

Why should you use Photoshop?
Photoshop gives you a huge advantage over designing with a pen and paper. You can easily correct your mistakes without any messy erasing. There are a variety of templates for the less artistically gifted to choose from. Also, a finished Photoshop product invariably looks more professional than a hand-drawn product.

Once you have decided to invest in image editing software, you may notice that Photoshop is a very expensive product. It is possible to find much cheaper image editing software and some computers even come with a program installed from the factory. However, there are four main reasons why you should use Photoshop over other cheaper or free image editing software.

These four reasons are: versatility, a user-friendly interface, easy access to training, and a variety of features.

Versatility
There are very few things Photoshop can’t do for you. It doesn’t matter if you’re a hobby photographer who wants to make a simple cutout for family snapshots. In contrast, the best photographers and graphic design professionals use Photoshop for image creation and editing.

user-friendly interface
Photoshop was designed with the consumer in mind. No specialized programming skills are required and its drawing canvas, where images are created, is WYSIWYG – what you see is what you get. Many Photoshop elements are similar to other computer programs. For example, the menu bar has the same file, edit, view, and help options as Microsoft Word. The tools in the toolbox modify your pointer so you remember which tool you are using.

Easy access to training
Since Photoshop is such a popular software tool, there are a plethora of books, online tutorials, and college courses available to train the new user on Photoshop. Not only can you find information suitable for a beginner, but also a detailed description of some of Photoshop’s more advanced tools.

Variety of functions
Photoshop can perform an almost infinite variety of image creation and editing functions.

Other Photoshop Features
Photo manipulation: Take a downloaded or scanned photo and reduce red-eye and other blemishes, crop the photo, or change the sharpness or contrast of the image.

Paint & Draw – Use the drawing canvas and toolbox to create new images.

Graphic Design: Take artwork that’s scanned or created in Photoshop and add layers, gradients, and more to create graphic art that sells.

Typography and page layout: Photoshop allows you to manipulate text and image on the same drawing canvas but on different layers. This allows you to create presentations and other projects that require a juxtaposition of text and image.

Other photo editors
As not all of us can have Photoshop , we have compiled in another article a list of photo editors where you will find both free and premium editors, we hope you enjoy them.

And remember, visit our new Clipping Path website and find out about our full range of printing products.