Easy Peasy, Crop It, Pleasy!
Mary here, with another ALP Tutorial! Cropping images basically an image adjustment that allows you to better frame a subject, or take out all of that “extra” stuff in an image. We’re providing this tutorial so that our lovely clients can gain a little more knowledge on the DIY side of business. Not every logo is going to fit perfectly square on the digital canvas that we provide, and this will ensure you know how to crop an image to better fit the space you need it for! Sometimes, you can crop an image on your phone or in an app, but we’re going to be focusing on doing this on your computer. We’ll be using the amazing Photoshop to show you how to do this, and PicMonkey — we’re not affiliated with either entity and we don’t get any kick-backs for blogging them. We think that Photoshop is great for clients that already have knowledge on how to use the program, and PicMonkey is great for clients that have little to no editing/software knowledge. They both get the job done!
So, something to keep in mind when you’re cropping is where and what you’re cropping for. If you’re cropping for your website, you’ll want a different size than, say, a grid set up or for a tile on Instagram. Make sure you look at your size options and what they’re asking for so you don’t end up with a stretched image or the inability to upload. (As a side note, check out our image resizing post — it will also be helpful information alongside cropping images!)
Photoshop
Let’s start with Photoshop — the keyboard shortcut for crop is c — any time you press that while in Photoshop, you’ll end up with the Crop tool. Red indicates where the Crop tool is at, and the setting that are important. Original Ratio and the corner bar — this is how you’ll move to crop.
Next, you can adjust your crop ratio, or just leave the original. If you don’t choose a pre-determined ratio, you can adjust the size of the box by using the corners, or even dragging the crop box by the thick bars on each of the edges.
Next step, adjust the ratio, move the grid where you’d like it — click the check mark and you’ve done it, you’ve cropped your image.
Don’t forget to save as a separate image from your original file so you don’t lose that. You can use stock photos for all sorts of crops which is great use of an image from a header on a blog to a tile on social media. Succulents are great for relaxing or clean presentations, I’m fond of using them myself!
Now, PicMonkey!
Head to PicMonkey, edit photo, open your image and we’ll crop it up!
When you open your image to edit in PicMonkey, Basic Edits is the first thing that’ll pop up. This is where it gets pretty quick and simple. Right there at the top is Crop, that’s it. We’ll click that and get to work.
A grid will appear and you’ll have the ability to adjust or SCALE your ratio on the left. It’ll start by showing you the original size right there on the left. This is when knowing where your image is going comes in handy, if it needs to be a certain size, pop in those numbers there. Height is on the left and width is on the right, generally.
I’m going with a tile for my social media to celebrate spring, because this pink set is PERFECT for spring, am I right?!
I zoomed out a bit to give an idea of what I was going for. Save and upload, social media tile ready to go!