Cropping and resizing images
To “crop” an image is to remove unwanted portions of it. When you crop an image, you draw a rectangle around the part you want to keep, and then remove the areas around the rectangle.
Resizing an image means simply making it bigger or smaller. Unlike changing an image’s display size, this operation permanently modifies the image itself.
To crop an image
- Select the image you want to crop.
- Click the Layout tab, go to Effect, and then click Image Effects to open the Image Effects dialog box.
- On the toolbar, click (Crop). A rectangle with resize handles will appear around the image.
- Click and drag any of the resize handles so that the rectangle defines the area you want to keep. To preserve the rectangle’s proportions while you size it, hold down the Shift key while dragging a corner handle. You can move the cropping rectangle by clicking inside and dragging. To start over, click (Cancel Crop/Resize) and then click (Crop) again.
- When the cropping rectangle surrounds the area you want to keep, click (Accept Crop/Resize).
- Click OK.
- In the Save as box, enter the path and file name under which to save the modified image. Initially, the box contains the original image’s path and file name; if you want to replace the original image file, leave the path and file name unchanged.
- Under Save format, select the desired image format.
- Click OK.
To make the cropping area an exact size in pixels, enter the desired width and height in the W and H boxes on the toolbar. Then, drag the cropping rectangle so that it surrounds the area you want to keep.
You can round the corners of the cropping area by dragging the slider on the toolbar before clicking (Accept Crop/Resize). Drag the slider to the right to make the corners more rounded. If you round the corners of the cropping area, it’s a good idea to select the Transparent check box to make the corners of the cropped image invisible.
You can “feather” the cropping area, causing the edges of the cropped image to blend with the background color specified in the BG color box. To feather the cropping area, enter a number in the (Feather) box before clicking (Accept Crop/Resize). The number represents the width of the feathered area in pixels.
It is possible to set the cropping area so that it is partially outside the original image bounds. In such a case, the outside area will effectively be added to the image, and it will have the color specified in the BG color box. To make the added area transparent, select the Transparent check box.
To resize an image
- Select the image you want to resize.
- Click the Layout tab, go to Effect, and then click Image Effects to open the Image Effects dialog box.
- On the toolbar, click (Resize). A rectangle with resize handles will appear around the image.
- Click and drag any of the resize handles until the rectangle is the size you want to make the image. To preserve the rectangle’s proportions while you size it, hold down the Shift key while dragging the corner handle. To start over, click (Cancel Crop/Resize) and then click (Resize) again.
- When the rectangle is the size you want to make the image, click (Accept Crop/Resize).
- Click OK.
- In the Save as box, enter the path and file name under which to save the modified image. Initially, the box contains the original image’s path and file name; if you want to replace the original image file, leave the path and file name unchanged.
- Under Save format, select the desired image format.
- Click OK.
To resize the image to an exact size in pixels, enter the desired width and height in the W and H boxes on the toolbar.