In this article, you'll learn about some basic image editing features of Adobe Photoshop CS2 (version 9.0) for Windows® for capturing and cropping.
Adobe Photoshop 101: capture, crop and transform
In this article, you'll learn about some basic image editing features of
Photoshop CS2 (version 9.0) for Windows, including how to capture a screen
image, use the Crop tool to perform a basic image crop, use the Navigator
palette to zoom in on areas of your image, and apply some basic
transformations.
Capture a screen image
As you're learning the basics of the program, it's a good idea to use simple
images, because a complex image may be too distracting and overwhelming. In
this section, you'll learn how to capture a screen image to use for the rest
of the lesson.
Follow these steps to create a screen capture of a folder of image files in
Thumbnail view:
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Open My Computer to locate a file folder with images. For example, use a
file folder in the Sample folder of the Photoshop program files.
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If necessary, change to the Thumbnails view.
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Press Alt+Print Screen. This takes a picture or screen
capture of the active window, and the image is saved as data to the
Clipboard. You won't see the image until you paste it into Photoshop.
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Close the window and open Photoshop.
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Select File > New. Notice the Preset field in the New
dialog box displays Clipboard. Photoshop automatically opens a new file
with the dimensions and resolution based on the Clipboard data.
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Click OK, and then select Edit > Paste
(Ctrl+V) to paste the image into the new blank window.
Take a moment to look at the different information that has appeared in the
palettes. The History palette shows what you have done up to now. The Layers
palette shows the pasted image on a new layer.
You can also observe the image dimensions by pressing
Alt+click+hold at the bottom of the document window.
Use the Crop tool and Navigator palette
Now you'll learn how to crop an image. In the example, the only part of the
image to keep will be just the area of one of the image thumbnails. You can
use the Navigator palette to help zoom in on the area for your crop, as
follows:
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In the Navigator palette, experiment with the zoom slider. When you zoom
greater than 100% and move the mouse pointer over the small thumbnail of
your image, you can move the colored box (rectangle) to isolate an area of
your image. You can also use the Zoom tool to accomplish the same task.
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Select the Crop tool in the toolbox.
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In the document window, drag a rectangle around the part of the image you
want to keep. Notice the marquee around the area. You can adjust the area
by moving the whole selection area or dragging the handles.
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Release the mouse. The image area that falls outside of the crop marks is
darker in color, showing you the parts of the image that will be deleted.
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To finish cropping, either: right-click and select Crop;
double-click inside the marquee; click the check mark near the right side
of the options bar; or press Enter.
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To cancel the crop before you complete the task, either: right-click and
select Cancel; click Cancel on the
options bar (red circle with a diagonal line); or press
Esc.
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Look at the image dimensions in the document information at the bottom of
the screen. The width and height are now smaller. When you crop an image,
you delete the pixels.
Apply a transformation
A transformation is a change in the size, orientation, perspective, or other
alteration of an image. The transformations in Photoshop are scale, rotate,
skew, distort, perspective, and flip. CS2 offers two transformations called
warp and vanishing point. Although you think of vanishing point and
perspective together, the vanishing point feature it's not in the
Transformation group. It's actually located in the Filters menu; and when
selected, it launches in a separate window. Remember that perspective is a
transformation.
You can apply transformations to an entire image or to parts of an image. You
can also apply and execute transformations one at a time or in continuous
succession. The command for continuous transformations is Free Transform. If
you're going to apply more than one transformation to the same image, it's
best to use the Free Transform tool because the pixels' dimensions are
changed only once. The process of changing the dimensions of pixels is called
resampling.
To transform the cropped image:
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Select Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal. To commit
to this transformation, press Enter. To cancel, select
Edit > Undo (Ctrl+Z).
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Select Edit > Transform > Rotate. Notice the handles
that appear, and then look at the settings on the options bar. You can
rotate the image visually or type in an angle of rotation in the options
bar. To rotate visually, move the mouse cursor outside the boundary area
until it changes to a curved double arrow. Drag the image to the right or
left to rotate it. Notice that you cannot make additional transformations
without committing first.
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To cancel the rotation, click Cancel on the options bar.
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Select Edit > Free Transform (Ctrl+T).
Notice that handles, called Transform controls, appear on the image and
transform options appear on the options bar.
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Move the mouse cursor outside the controls until it changes to the rotate
symbol and then rotate the image.
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To reduce the size of the image, right-click inside the box and select
Scale, or press Shift and drag the top or
bottom corner inward. Press Enter or check the check mark
on the options bar to apply both the rotate and the scale.
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To skew the image, right-click and select Skew from the
transform menu or press Shift+Ctrl. Grab a top or bottom
center handle and drag right or left.
The display may appear somewhat pixelated. It looks betters after you apply
the transformation. If you have your image magnified with the zoom, you'll
see the pixels.
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Close the image without saving it.
