ptg 126 Chapter 7 Changing the canvas size By using the Canvas Size command, you can enlarge or shrink a document’s live, editable area. Pixels can be added to or removed from one, two, three, or all four sides of the image. is is useful, say, if you want to make room for type, as in the example shown on this page, or to accommodate imagery from other documents (see Chapter 14). To change the canvas size: 1. Choose Image > Canvas Size (Ctrl-Alt-C/ Cmd- Option-C). e Canvas Size dialog opens. 2. Optional: Choose a dierent unit of measure from the Width menu. 3. Do either of the following: Enter new Width and/or Height values. e dimensions are independent of one another; changing one won’t aect the other. A–B Check Relative, then in the Width and Height elds, enter positive values to increase those dimensions or negative values to decrease them. 4. Optional: e gray square in the center of the Anchor arrows represents the existing image area. Click an arrow to reposition the image rel- ative to the canvas. e arrows point to where the new canvas area will be added. 5. From the Canvas Extension Color menu, choose a color for the added pixels. Or to choose a custom color, choose Other or click the color square next to the menu, then click a color in the Color Picker (see page 186) or in the document window. If the image doesn’t have a Background (take a peek at the Layers panel), this menu won’t be available. 6. Click OK. C Any added canvas area will auto- matically be lled with the color you chose in the preceding step, unless the image contains layers but not a Background, in which case the added canvas area will be transparent. ➤ You can also enlarge the canvas area manually by dragging with the Crop tool (see page 129). A  i s i s t h e original image. C After adding pixels to the top of the canvas, we created some editable type. B To add canvas area to the top of the image, in the Canvas Size dialog, we increased the Height value, then clicked the bottom Anchor arrow to move the gray square downward. ptg Pixel Basics 127 Cropping an image You can crop an image by using the Crop tool, the Crop command, or the Trim command. We’ll show you how to use the Crop tool rst. To crop an image using a marquee: 1. Choose the Crop tool (C or Shift-C). 2. Drag a marquee over the part of the image you want to keep. A 3. On the Options bar, do the following: If the document contains image layers, click Cropped Area: Delete to have Photoshop delete the cropped-out areas, or click Hide to save them with the le (they will extend beyond the visible canvas area but can be moved back into view with the Move tool). Areas outside the crop marquee on the Background will be deleted, not hidden. Check Shield to darken the area outside the crop marquee temporarily (to help you see what will remain after cropping). If desired, you can change the shield color or Opacity value. 4. Perform any of these optional steps: To resize the marquee, drag any handle (double-arrow pointer). You can Shift-drag a corner handle to preserve the proportions of the marquee and/or hold down Alt/Option to resize the marquee from its center. To reposition the marquee, drag inside it. To rotate the marquee, position the cursor just outside it ( pointer), then drag in a circ ular direction (you can straighten a crooked photo this way). To change the axis point around which the marquee rotates, drag the reference point away from the center of the marquee before rotating it. e image orientation will change after the next step. 5. To accept the crop, either press Enter/Return or double-click inside the marquee. B ➤ To cancel a crop marquee, press Esc, or right- click in the document and choose Cancel. ➤ To correct perspective problems, we recom- mend using the Lens Correction lter (which is discussed on pages 292–293) instead of the Perspective option for the Crop tool. ➤ To specify a default Image Interpolation method for Photoshop features, such as the Crop tool, see page 386. A With the Crop tool, drag a marquee over the portion of the image you want to keep, then accept the crop. B  e i m a g e i s c r o p p e d . REMEMBER TO RESHARPEN YOUR DOCUMENT AFTER CROPPING IT Cropping can make an image slightly blurry, so be sure to apply a sharpening fi lter after- ward. See pages 296–300. ptg 128 Chapter 7 Next, we’ll show you how to either crop an image to a specic size (such as a standard photo print) or crop it based on the dimensions of another image. To crop an image to a specific size or to the dimensions of another image: 1. Open an image, and choose the Crop tool (C or Shift-C). 2. Do either of the following: On the Options bar, enter specic Width and Height values for the nal image. You can click the Swap Width and Height button to switch the current values. To crop using the Width, Height, and Resolution values from another image, open that docu- ment and click its tab. Click Front Image on the Options bar, then click the tab for the document to be cropped. 3. Drag a crop marquee on the image (without holding down any modier keys). A You can drag inside the marquee to reposition it. 4. To accept the crop, either press Enter/Return or double-click inside the marquee. B ➤ To empty the Width, Height, and Resolution elds on the Options bar for the Crop tool, click Clear. ➤ To create presets for the Crop tool, see our instructions for creating tool presets on page 402. A After choosing the Crop tool, we entered a Width of 6" and a Height of 4" on the Options bar, then dragged in the document to create a marquee. CROPPING BASED ON THE RULE OF THIRDS ★ The rule of thirds is a guideline that photographers sometimes follow for composing a composition, either when shooting a scene or when cropping it afterward. In Photoshop, draw a marquee with the Crop tool, then choose Crop Guide Overlay: Rule of Thirds from th e Options bar. Grid lines will appear within the crop marquee. Drag the marquee or resize it, positioning the key features of the scene where the lines intersect. You can position those features at a pair of diagonal loca- tions (see the colored circles we placed on the image below), or in a landscape, you could position the horizon along either one of the horizontal lines. Note: Although the rule of thirds often works like a charm, you don’t have to adhere to it slavishly. B  i s i m a g e w a s c r o p p e d t o a s t a n d a r d p h o t o s i z e o f 6 x 4 inches, which you can verify by looking at the rulers. ptg Pixel Basics 129 When you draw a crop marquee that is larger than the image, the canvas size is increased. Unlike the Canvas Size command, this technique gives you manual control over how much canvas area is added and where. Another use for this technique is to reveal imagery that extends beyond the live canvas area. To enlarge the canvas area with the Crop tool: 1. Choose a Background color (see Chapter 11). 2. To reveal more of the work canvas (gray area) around the image, either enlarge the document window or Application frame by dragging a side or corner, or lower the zoom level of your document. 3. Choose the Crop tool (C or Shift-C). 4. Drag a crop marquee to the edges of the image. 5. Drag a corner or midpoint handle of the marquee into the work canvas (outside the live canvas area). A 6. To accept the crop, either press Enter/Return or double-click inside the marquee. B If the image has a Back ground (look on the Layers panel), the added canvas area will ll with the current Background color. If the image con- tains layers but no Background, the added canvas area will ll with transparent pixels. Note: Pixels on any layer that were formerly hidden outside the live canvas area may now fall within it, and will now be visible. OVERRIDING THE SNAP Normally, if you resize a crop marquee near the edge of the canvas area and View > Snap To > Document Bounds is on, the marquee snaps to the edge of the canvas area. If you want to crop slightly inside or outside the edge of the canvas, you’ll need to override the snap function. Do either of the following: Turn the Snap To > Document Bounds feature off; or start dragging one of the handles of the marquee, then hold down Ctrl/Control and continue to drag. B When we accepted the crop, the added canvas pixels lled automatically with brown, which was the current Background color. A Drag any of the crop marquee handles outside the canvas area and into the work canvas. Here, we’re dragging a mid- point handle to the right to add more canvas area to that side of the image. ptg 130 Chapter 7 Although the Crop command, discussed below, is simple and straightforward, it doesn’t oer as many options as the Crop tool does. To crop an image using the Crop command: 1. Choose the Rectangular Marquee tool (M or Shift-M). 2. Do one of the following: Drag a marquee over the part of the image you want to keep. A To constrain the proportions of the marquee to a width-to-height ratio, on the Options bar, choose Style: Fixed Ratio, enter Width to Height values (such as 1 to 2), then drag in the image. To draw a marquee of a specic size (such as a standard-size photo print), choose Style: Fixed Size, enter Width and Height values, then click in the document. You can move the marquee. 3. Optional: To scale the marquee, right-click in the document and choose Transform Selection, Shift-drag a corner handle, then double-click inside the marquee to accept the edit. 4. Choose Image > Crop, then deselect (Ctrl-D/ Cmd-D). B ➤ If you chose the Fixed Ratio or Fixed Size style for the Rectangular Marquee tool, reset the tool by choosing Style: Normal from the Options bar. e Trim command trims away any excess transpar- ent or solid-color areas from the border of an image. Of course, the end result is still a rectangular image. To trim areas from around an image: 1. Choose Image > Trim. 2. In the Trim dialog, click a Based On option: Transparent Pixels trims transparent pixels from the edges of the Background. If Photoshop doesn’t detect any such areas in the image, this option isn’t available. Top Left Pixel Color removes any border areas that match the color of the left uppermost pixel in the image. Bottom Right Pixel Color removes any border areas that match the color of the bottommost right pixel in the image. 3. Check which areas of the image you want the command to Trim Away: Top, Bottom, Left, and/or Right. 4. Click OK. A With the Rectangular Marquee tool, a marquee is drawn over the area of the image we want to keep. B  i s i s t h e r e s u l t a f t e r w e c h o s e I m a g e > C r o p . ptg Pixel Basics 131 Follow these instructions if you need to preserve the existing width-to-height ratio of an image as you crop it. To crop an image according to its existing aspect ratio: 1. With an image open, choose the Crop tool (C or Shift-C). 2. Drag a marquee diagonally across the entire image, from one corner to the opposite corner. 3. Shift-drag a corner handle on the crop marquee to resize the marquee proportionately to the desired crop size. 4. Optional: Drag within the marquee to reposition it over the portion of the image you want to keep. A 5. To accept the crop, either press Enter/Return or double-click inside the marquee. B Flipping or rotating an image You can ip all the layers in an image to create a mirror image, or ip just one layer at a time. (You’ll learn all about layers in the next chapter.) To flip an image or a layer: Do either of the following: To ip all the layers, choose Image > Image Rotation > Flip Canvas Horizontal or Flip Canvas Vertical. C To ip just one layer at a time, click that layer, then choose Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical. Any layers that are linked to the selected layer or layers will also ip. ➤ If you’ve ipped a whole image that contains type, don’t ip out! To make the type readable again, “unip” the type layer by using the Flip Horizontal command. C Here, we chose the Flip Canvas Horizontal command (compare this image with the original one in Figure B ). B We accepted the crop. e original width-to-height ratio of the image was preserved. A After dragging a marquee across the entire image with the Crop tool, we Shift-dragged a handle, then moved the marquee over the area we want to keep. ptg 132 Chapter 7 e Image Rotation commands rotate all the layers in an image. (To rotate just one layer at a time, use a rotate command on the Edit > Transform submenu.) To rotate an image: Do either of the following: Choose Image > Image Rotation > 180°, 90° CW (clockwise), or 90° CCW (counterclockwise). Choose Image > Image Rotation > Arbitrary. Enter an Angle value, click °CW (clockwise) or °CCW (counterclockwise), then click OK. Straightening a crooked image When used with its Straighten option, the Ruler tool squares o a crooked image based on a line you drag and also crops the image to remove any blank canvas areas that result around its borders. To straighten a crooked image: ★ 1. Choose the Ruler tool (I or Shift-I). 2. Drag along a feature in the image that you want to orient horizontally or vertically. A If you need to adjust the line, move either endpoint. e current angle is listed as the A value on the Options bar. 3. On the Options bar, click Straighten. B Easy! ➤ To straighten an image without cropping it, hold down Alt/Option as you click Straighten and until the command is done processing. IT CROPS! IT STRAIGHTENS! File > Automate > Crop and Straighten Photos locates rectangular areas in a document, rotates and crops those areas to square them off (if necessary), then opens each one as a new document. Note: This action isn’t as smart as you are, so it can be fooled; see the suggestions and precautions below. ➤ Use the action to unrotate a Photoshop document that was previously rotated. Apply it to imagery that doesn’t contain much white in the background, and click the Background on the Layers panel fi rst. ➤ Scan multiple photos at a time and let the action sort them into individual documents. To help it do a proper job, don’t let the photos overlap one another or hang off the side of the scanner. ➤ To control which area is cropped and straightened, select that area, including some extra pixels, then choose the command while holding down Alt/Option. B  e c o m m a n d r e o r i e n t e d t h e i m a g e a l o n g t h e a n g l e we dened and cropped away the blank canvas areas. A  i s i m a g e i s s l i g h t l y a s k e w . W e d r a g g e d w i t h t h e Ruler tool from top to bottom along one of the col- umns, then clicked Straighten on the Options bar. . marquee over the part of the image you want to keep. A 3. On the Options bar, do the following: If the document contains image layers, click Cropped Area: Delete to have Photoshop delete. the Perspective option for the Crop tool. ➤ To specify a default Image Interpolation method for Photoshop features, such as the Crop tool, see page 386. A With the Crop tool, drag a marquee. follow for composing a composition, either when shooting a scene or when cropping it afterward. In Photoshop, draw a marquee with the Crop tool, then choose Crop Guide Overlay: Rule of Thirds from