Adobe Photoshop CS6 Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks by Lynette Kent

1A
CROP YOUR IMAGES USING GUIDES to
improve composition
Perfectly composing a photograph in the
camera’s viewfinder is not always possible;
however, you can strengthen the
composition of your images by changing the
placement of the horizon or the relative
position of the main subject using
Photoshop’s Crop tool.
Designers and photographers use various
techniques to balance an image and focus the
viewer’s attention. They may offset the main
subject to guide the viewer into the image, or
they may use an overlay, such as the Rule of
Thirds principle, as a guide. Photoshop CS6
now includes a number of traditional overlay
guides that you can place on your image to
help you adjust the composition.
Photoshop’s overlay guides are applied by
default once you click in the image with the
Crop tool. You can use them, change the
overlay style, or turn them off to compose
your crop visually any way you want.
You can also crop by specifying dimensions
in the Options bar, using one of the preset
sizes, or by creating and saving your own
preset.
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DIFFICULTY LEVEL
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1 With the image you want to crop
opened, click the Crop tool.
The crop box is automatically set
to the image edges.
2 Click in the image.
A The Rule of Thirds overlay is now
visible.
3 Click the View drop-down menu
in the Options bar to change the
view options for the Crop tool.
B
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6
B The overlay changes.
4 Click and drag the side anchors
to reposition the crop on the
image.
5 Click and drag anywhere inside
the crop lines to change the
overall area to be cropped.
6 Click the Commit button to apply
the crop.
4
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