Cropping an image in Photoshop - here's how!

You don’t have to be a professional graphic designer to crop an image. Even when compiling a digital image collection, great effects can be achieved with a „crop“ and an appropriate background. How to crop objects in photos is shown here.

Why you should crop an image

In the past, you simply took a few photos, chose the best ones and then stuck them in a photo album. Today, pictures have taken on a different meaning. For example, for social media profiles, job applications or just for fun. It is very practical to be able to „cut out“ individual elements from the overall picture – and that is what cropping a picture means when editing photos. It is especially important to be able to crop individual objects as a basis for photomontages. For example, it is possible to take a photo of your girlfriend at home in the living room and then crop her on the computer using the cropping tools Adobe Photoshop Elements 2021 or Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. With a few clicks, the sofa is gone, as is the coffee table next to it and the wall in the background. In the next step, the girlfriend can then be mounted, for example, in a hammock on the beach in Hawaii or on the summit of Mount Everest.

Image cropping: Edit photos like a pro

Adobe makes image cropping a breeze with its cropping tools. There are just four steps to edit photos with them:

1: Select motif

First, of course, open the image in Photoshop on the computer that is to be edited with the corresponding cropping tool. With a key click on „W“ or the quick selection tool in the menu bar, the object in the picture (for example the girlfriend) can now be selected. Simply move the mouse over it.

2: Set the edges of the object

When cropping objects, now click on the tab „Enhance edges“. In order to cut out the motif precisely, the parameters „Radius“, „Round off“ and „Reduce/Enlarge“ must be adjusted until the motif has been completely captured and the edges are where they should be.

3: Mount photos

Once the motif has been cropped exactly as you want it, simply copy it with the shortcut „Ctrl + C“. Now open a new picture with the desired background and paste the cropped object. Normally, unsightly, unsmoothed edges should still be visible now. Press the „E“ key to open the eraser function in Photoshop. Select the hardness „0“ and carefully erase the edges around the subject.

4: Edit the finest details when cropping the picture

Depending on how large the radius of the eraser is, retouching usually results in the loss of interesting details such as small hairs or a striking shadow. In this case, simply press the „B“ key, which opens the brush in Photoshop. First enlarge the areas of the photo that are to be corrected. Then, while holding down the „Alt“ key, move the cursor over the part of the picture you want to improve. Now press the left mouse button to copy the colour and structure of the selected part of the picture. With a few mouse wipes over the corresponding spot, hair or other details can now be faithfully reproduced where they should be.

This is what the "magic wand" is all about

The Magic Wand tool is selected with a left click from the toolbar. If it is clicked on a simple, preferably single-coloured background, this area is activated – recognisable by the dotted line. The motif to be cropped remains unaffected because it normally has a different colour and structure. With the key combination „Ctrl + X“ or the „Remove“ key, the marked area – the boring background – is simply cut out. However, a clipping made this way is much less clean than with the above method.

Header Image: © monticellllo, stock.adobe.com