Using the Crop Tool to crop images in Photoshop is one of the most useful things for any photographer or graphic designer to know. Whether to remove unwanted distractions from the edge of the frame, straightening a photo, or something in between, the Crop Tool is fast and easy to use.
With that said, there are various methods to crop a picture. You can keep the aspect ratio the same, crop unrestricted, or use the tool to straighten an image. There are even ways to crop a layer or a photo into a specific shape without using the Crop Tool, all of which you’ll learn about here.
Video Tutorial
How To Crop An Image With The Crop Tool In Photoshop
Step 1: Activate The Crop Tool (C) From The Toolbar
To crop an image using the Crop Tool, first select the tool from the toolbar or press C. You will notice a border surrounds the photo in the workspace.
Step 2: Set The Crop Mode To Ratio For A Free Crop
There are three ways to free crop — select either Ratio, W x H x Resolution, or Unconstrained from the Aspect Ratio menu. If you choose one of the first two options, ensure the Input boxes are empty by clicking the Clear button.
Then select an overlay option if you’d like — for this image, I want to center the subject, so I have chosen the Rule of Thirds overlay. I recommend you uncheck the Delete Cropped Pixels box so that you can reverse or update the crop later in the project.
Step 3: Pull The Crop Box Edge Inward To Crop The Image
Once your settings on correct, hover your mouse over the edge or corner of the crop box until a double arrow appears.
When the double arrow appears, click and drag the box inwards to crop the image. You can drag the box in on the edge you clicked, or if you select a corner, you can crop the width and height at the same time. While dragging, a box will appear to show you the new width and height of the image in real time.
Once you have centered the subject horizontally, click and drag down from the bottom and top edge to crop the picture vertically. Once you are happy with your crop, select the Checkmark in the Options Bar or press Enter to make the crop.
Your image is now cropped to the new size.
Step 4: Recover Cropped Pixels (Optional)
If you want to recover the cropped pixels later on — since you unchecked Delete Cropped Pixels — you can easily adjust the crop by re-selecting the tool. Once the tool is selected, click anywhere in the image, and the previously cropped pixels will appear outside the crop box.
Simply drag the crop box outwards to include the areas you want and press Enter to accept the crop.
Step 5: Set An Aspect Ratio To Crop Without Changing The Aspect Ratio (Optional)
If you want to crop an image to a specific ratio, you can set the ratio before cropping. First, select the Crop Tool, open the Aspect Ratio menu, and select 1:1 (Square) or any other aspect ratio you need.
You will notice the input boxes now have 1 and 1 in them, indicating a square ratio. Now, adjust the settings as needed. I have set the Overlay to Golden Spiral and unchecked Delete Cropped Pixels so that I can recover the cropped pixels if I need to.
The crop box will appear over the photo with the overlay you have chosen. To reposition the crop box, either click and drag the image to a new spot or use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the image. Note that you are moving the picture and not the crop box.
Then to resize the crop box, hover over the corner or any side and drag it inwards or outwards. Since you have set the ratio to square, no matter how you move the box, it will keep the square shape.
When you are happy with the crop, select the Checkmark in the Options bar or press Enter on your keyboard. You will now have an image cropped to a square ratio, ready to use in your design or to go to the printers.
Understanding The Crop Tool Settings
Aspect Ratio Settings
The first setting is the Aspect Ratio drop-down menu which allows you to set and change the ratio of the crop. Choosing Ratio or W x H x Resolution lets you input the specific values yourself.
The next group of options lets you choose one of Photoshop’s default aspect ratios to crop the image to. The default ratios are common photo ratios used in print. Further down in the menu, you can also choose specific pixel sizes for your image, along with pre-set Pixels Per Inch (PPI) resolutions.
The unconstrained option allows you to free-crop the image without a set ratio. Lastly, in the menu, you can save your own crop presets using the New Crop Preset option and then Delete Crop Preset if you’re no longer using them.
Ratio Input Boxes
Next in the Options Bar is the space to input your own ratio values. Type a value in each box to set the Width (the first box) and the Height (the second box).
The two arrows in between the boxes let you quickly swap the values around, switching the width and height constraints. Press the Clear button to remove the values from the boxes.
When the Aspect Ratio is set to W x H x Resolution, the settings will change, giving you a third box to add a resolution value. You can use the drop-down menu to toggle between pixels per inch or pixels per centimeter.
The Straighten Tool
Next in the Options Bar is the Straighten feature, which allows you to fix any slanted images. This tool is helpful when correcting pictures with horizon lines or vertical lines on a building.
Overlay Settings
Further on, you can choose an Overlay Option in the drop-down menu by clicking the grid icon. These options add a light gray overlay to the canvas to provide guidance when you crop the image.
There are shortcuts for the overlay options, which are to press O to cycle through the overlay options and press Shift + O to change the orientation when using the Triangle or Golden Spiral overlays.
Select a crop overlay to crop the photo using common compositions such as the Rule of Thirds (the crop tools default overlay), Golden Ratio, or Golden Spiral. In the Overlay menu, you can also choose to show or hide the overlay.
Additional Settings
In the Options Bar, click the Gear icon for more settings, such as showing the cropped area and changing the opacity.
The next check box lets you delete the cropped pixels — which means you can’t undo the crop later on.
Then, you can select a Fill type, between Background, which makes the cropped areas transparent or the color of your background, Generative Expand, which uses AI to add in new pixels, or Content-aware, which enables you to extend the image, Photoshop fills in the extra space with what the program thinks is the correct pixels.
Lastly, you can reset the crop box and aspect ratio using the curved arrow icon, cancel the crop, or accept the crop using the check icon.
How To Straighten An Image In Photoshop
Step 1: Activate The Straighten Tool Then Hover The Mouse Outside The Crop Box
There are two ways to correct an image once the Crop Tool is selected. Firstly, once you have activated the tool, you can hover the mouse just outside the crop box until a curved double arrow appears.
Step 2: Click And Drag To Rotate The Image
When the curved arrows appear, click and drag to rotate the image in your desired direction. Gridlines will appear to help you line up the horizon.
Step 3: Select The Straighten Icon And Draw A Line On The Image On The Horizon
The other method is to click on the Straighten icon to select it. Then click and drag on the image to draw a line on the horizon — or any straight line. The image will straighten by rotating the image until the line you drew reaches 0 degrees.
You will notice that the image is cropped to avoid any gaps around the image caused by the straightening effect.
Now, you can change the crop if you’d like by dragging the edges of the crop box and then pressing Enter to confirm the crop and straighten it. Your horizon line is now straight.
How To Crop A Layer In Photoshop
To crop a layer, choose a selection tool to create a selection around the area you want to keep on the layer. I will use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) in this case.
Click and drag to create a selection on the layer. The area you select is the part that is kept after cropping.
Once you are happy with the selection, click on the Add Layer mask icon at the bottom of the Layers Panel.
The section of the layer that you didn’t select is now hidden by the layer mask while keeping the area of the layer that you selected visible. The transparent canvas — shown by the white and gray blocks — stays the same size.
How To Crop Images Into A Shape
You can crop an image into a specific shape using the same theory of cropping a layer. Start by opening the image you want to crop and select the Custom Shape Tool from the fly-out shape menu.
Then in the Options Bar, set the tool mode to Path in the drop-down menu next to Shape.
Next, select a custom shape from the Custom Shape Picker menu. I have chosen a maple tree for this example. Once you have the shape, click and drag on the canvas to create the shape where you’d like it. The shape has a blue border with anchor points indicating the Path.
Then, click on Selection next to Make in the Options Bar to turn the path into a selection. A dialogue box opens where you can add a Feather to the selection if you’d like, but it isn’t entirely necessary. Check the box next to Anti-aliased to prevent jagged edges around the selection. Lastly, click OK to create the selection.
There is now a selection in the shape you have chosen on the image. Now that your selection is set, crop the image by clicking on the Add layer mask icon in the Layers panel.
Your image is now cropped to the selected shape without affecting the canvas size.
If you crop your image into a specific shape like this, you will be left with a transparent background. To preserve this transparency upon export, you will need to save your file as a PNG. If you’re unsure how to do that, I explain the whole process in my guide to saving transparent backgrounds in Photoshop.
