PhotoPlus X2 User Guide - Serif

Cropping an image
Manipulating Images 57
Cropping is the electronic equivalent of taking a pair of scissors to a photograph,
except of course with a pair of scissors there is no second chance! Cropping deletes
all of the pixels outside the crop selection area, and then resizes the image canvas
so that only the area inside the crop selection remains. Use it to focus on an area of
interest—either for practical reasons or to improve photo composition.
Before After
(Rectangular
Crop)
PhotoPlus allows you to crop unconstrained, or to a standard or custom print size.
Cropping with the Crop Tool affects all image layers. Everything outside the
designated region is eliminated. If there's a marquee-based selection, it is ignored
and deselected during cropping.
To crop unconstrained:
1. Select the Crop Tool from the Tools toolbar's Crop Tools flyout. Ensure
the Unconstrained option is set in the Context toolbar's first drop-down list.
2. Drag out a rectangle to create an unconstrained rectangle, then fine-tune the
areas dimensions if needed by dragging the edges. Note that you can also
constrain the crop area to be a square, by holding down the Ctrl key while
dragging.
3. To crop to the designated size, double-click inside the crop area.
The Shading check box and Opacity option on the Context toolbar sets the shade
colour and transparency of the unwanted region outside the rectangle, respectively.
Uncheck Shading to view only the rectangle, with no shading and full
transparency.