crop tool

[Guest guest]

Please help,

 

The crop tool in photoshop 7 has started cropping in a rectangle of fixed

proportions. I cannot adjust the crop size or shape in any way.

 

Maybe I unknowingly pressed a button to activate this function, but I can't

turn it off.

ys

d

[Guest guest]

Dear Prabhu

Please accept my humble obeisances

Jaya Srila Prabhupada

 

Saturday, April 10, 2004, 3:57:00 PM, you wrote:

 

> The crop tool in photoshop 7 has started cropping in a rectangle of fixed

> proportions. I cannot adjust the crop size or shape in any way.

 

> Maybe I unknowingly pressed a button to activate this function, but I can't

> turn it off.

Following is an excerpt from a book about photoshop on using the crop

tool. Hope this helps.

 

Using the Crop tool

 

The most popular way to crop an image is by using the Crop tool. This

simple tool is as easy

and effective to use as a T square and X-ACTO knife, and without the

possibility of bodily

injury. Select the Crop tool or press C on the keyboard and then

follow these steps:

Figure 1-11

1. With the Crop tool, drag around the

part of the image you want to keep

and then release your mouse button.

As you drag, a marquee (a dotted outline)

appears displaying the cropping

boundaries. Don’t worry if your cropping

marquee isn’t exactly correct. You

can adjust it in the next step.

Notice how the area outside the cropping

marquee appears darker than the

inside, in order to better frame your

image. Adobe calls this a shield. You

control the color and opacity (the

amount of transparency) of the shield

by adjusting the settings in the Options

bar. If, for some strange reason, you

don’t want the shield, deselect the

check box.

The small squares on the sides and corners

of the cropping marquee are called

handles. When you hover your mouse

over any handle or the marquee itself,

your cursor changes to a double-headed

arrow, indicating that you can drag.

If you drag the handles outside the

image boundary, Photoshop adds a

canvas around the image when you

crop.

To move the entire marquee, position

your mouse inside the marquee until

you see a black arrowhead cursor and

then drag. Adjust the marquee until

you’re satisfied.

You can also drag the origin point

to change the axis of rotation.

If you move your mouse outside the

marquee, the cursor changes to a curved,

double-headed arrow. Dragging with this

cursor rotates the marquee. This feature

can be extremely useful when you need

to rotate and crop a crooked image. By

using the Crop tool, you can perform both

commands in one step and often more

quickly and accurately. Just be aware that

rotation, unless it’s in 90-degree increments,

resamples your image, which, if

done repeatedly, can damage your image

(see the beginning of this chapter for

more on resampling). So it’s best to try to

get the rotation right the first time around.

3. Double-click inside the cropping

marquee.

You can also just press Enter (Return

on the Mac) or click the Commit

(check mark icon) button on the

Options bar. Photoshop discards the

area outside the marquee, as shown in

Figure 1-13. If you want to cancel the

crop, just press Esc or click Cancel (the

slashed circle icon) in the Options bar.

 

 

Thanking you,

 

Your servant

Bharata dasa