A Detailed Procedure
To Cropping Portraits
Programs Used: Photoshop 6
Skill Level: Basic
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| This tutorials shows a simple yet effective 2-3
step way to crop pictures. I used this technique in all my cropping no matter
what size. It is most widely used for say, cropping a person out of their
respective backgrounds. |
 1.
Select an image that you would like to crop. Right-click the following image,
select copy, then paste it into a new canvas in Photoshop. |
| 2. Select the polygonal lasso tool by clicking and holding
the lasso tool. |
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Now zoom into the picture by 500% using the navigator window
or the zoom tool  . |
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 3.
The key to cropping is to keep a consistent outline of the image. For example,
on the hairline, the first click is just on the outside of the hairline
(eg. on the background) by one pixel. Therefore, the following cicks
that you make with the lasso tool, should also be just on the outside
of region you are cropping.
But if you prefer, you can be clicking with the lasso tool so that
each click is in the inside of the region that you want to crop. So long
as it is consistent throughout the picture.
The above arrows represent the areas in which I clicked with the lasso
tool. The clicks are fairly evenly spread apart as the region that
I am working with is circular. However, if the region is much more details,
and the vertices vary in direction, then obviously, you will require more
clicks.
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This region can be found on the bottom left hand side of the picture. The
'frizzy' outer regions of her hair can be ignored as when zoomed out, they
will be unnoticeable. The important point here is the shadows inbetween
which are separated due to the strands of the hair. This is just a deselection
of the area already selected. To do this, hold Alt whilst clicking inside,
and it will deselect that region. Use your initiative here on what needs
to be deselected from the crop (Don't forget the big region below their
chins!). |
 |
 Here
is a final overview of my crop, zoomed out: |
4. This next step is a trial and error process.
Feather the selection with a radius of 1 (Select -> Feather, or alternatively,
Ctrl-Alt-D), then copy it into your new canvas. This is the final product.
If you have cropped outside the image a bit, and can see that the old background
is still evident (yet feathered), then go back to your original crop.
Now instead of just feathering then copying, go to Select -> Modify ->
Contract, and contract by 1 pixel (or if your cropping was really out, then
2, and so on). Now feather with radius of 1, and then copy into your new
canvas. This contraction of the selection makes sure that your selection
is well within the actual picture, and does not include the unnecessary
background. |
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 5.
Here is my final product with an outrageous yellow background so that
you can see the lack of the previous unwanted background.
I hope that your result is similar!
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