Cropping

Defines crop as it applies to desktop publishing (not a crop of food grown by farmers).

Glossary defines crop marks as used in desktop publishing. Includes a graphical representation.

It is seldom that you'll find a photograph that is ready to use in your page layout without some sort of editing. One basic way to modify images is to crop them -- remove some part of the image. Cropping changes the appearance of photographs and clip art in order to better fit the layout, make a statement, or improve the overall appearance of...

See before and after examples of using cropping to reduce clutter, add emphasis or interest, and change the shape of a photograph.

Despite the fact that today's desktop publishing software offers graphics manipulation options such as resizing and rotating and cropping, in most cases these are tasks best handled in a dedicated graphics software program.

Direct the eye by zooming in on what's important.

There's no rule that says you have to use the entire clip art image. Crop out parts you don't want or don't need. Cropping clip art can help to focus on important parts of the image, simplify it, or change the meaning. Take the clip art apart and use bits and pieces of the image.

A closely cropped image is great for many applications and the designer should be the one deciding what to crop, how close to crop, and what to focus on when it comes to photos used in page layout. Right?

Here's how to use Photoshop to crop images.

Learn to use Photoshop Elements to crop photographs.

In Photoshop or Elements, rescue a crooked photo using the crop tool.

Get tips on choosing and cropping photos to use in scrapbooks.

Edit your photos with a few common print sizes such as 8x10 and 5x7 in the Photo Gallery of Windows Vista.

Print Diva explains how to combine cropping and bleeds.

Posted at creativepro.com, this Before & After tutorial (PDF) describes ways to crop images to pump up the interest.

Break out of the box. Try this cropping technique for photos from Before & After, posted at creativepro.com.

Not all cropping is done in graphics software. Stan Ketterer has tips for those times when you must work with actual photos rather than digital ones.