Put the Crop Tool to Work for You
Cropping is the quickest and easiest way to improve the composition of your photos. The enhanced Crop tool in Corel® Paint Shop Pro® Photo XI makes it easier than ever to control the size and alignment of your crop window.
What you'll need
- Corel® Paint Shop Pro® Photo XI
- Sample image PSPPXI_04.jpg (download)
When you complete this tutorial, you'll be able to
- Use the Organizer to open a photo
- Crop photos using the Crop tool
Open the photo
- Download the PSPPXI_04 image, and save it in your My Pictures folder.
- Once you have the image saved, begin typing the file name PSPPXI_04 in the search box at the top of the Organizer. Your collection of image files is automatically filtered.
- Once you find the sample image, double-click the photo to open it in the workspace.
Choose a Standard Photo Size
- On the Learning Center palette, click Adjust, and then click Crop. Now you should see the crop window on your photo.
- Click the arrow next to the Presets drop-list (located on the floating toolbar at the bottom of the crop window), and choose 5 × 7 in.
Note: To crop to a nonstandard size, just choose Freeform.
- Click the Rotate button (it's next to the Presets drop-list) to change the orientation of the crop window from horizontal to vertical. The vertical crop option is better suited for this photo.
Adjust
- To resize the crop window, click one of resize handles (the boxes on the outline of the window) and drag. We've selected a preset size, so the window is resized proportionately.
- To move the crop window, click and drag anywhere inside the window's outline. Then, just drag the window over the portion of the photo you want to retain. Anything outside the crop window is discarded.
- When you're happy with the placement and size of the crop window, press Enter to apply the crop (or you can double-click inside the crop window). That's all there is to it!
- If you're not satisfied with the crop, press Ctrl + Z to undo it. You can start again by repeating the steps above.
Next steps
Improving the composition is a breeze! Cropping is an easy way to rid your photos of background distractions and focus attention on the subject. Now that you know how to use the Crop tool to improve photocomposition, try using the tool on your other photos, and see how quickly you can improve them with this simple technique.
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