If the Delete Cropped Pixels option is unchecked, a Background layer will become a Layer 0 layer. If the crop options are set to delete cropped pixels, an image that starts out with a Background layer will retain the Background layer after being cropped. Note there is also a single undo available when working in a modal crop and while the crop tool is modal you can hold down Shift key to define a new crop area.įigure 2 The Layers panel view on the left shows an image in mid-crop, displaying a crop preview layer. Both these behaviors make the Photoshop crop tool more like the one that's in Lightroom and (in my view) makes it easier to work with. As you drag a crop handle you'll notice how the underlying image moves as you adjust the crop and when a crop is active you can click and drag inside the crop area to reposition the image (and use the keyboard arrows to nudge the crop bounding box). It doesn't mean any layers have been deleted – this is just a temporary preview (see Figure2). Then, as you apply a crop and switch to a modal crop mode the Layers panel temporarily shows a crop preview layer. As you crop an image the outer crop appears shielded (Figure 1, right). Or, you can click anywhere in the image area and drag to define the area to be cropped. You can then drag any of the corner or side handles to adjust the crop.

Note that when the crop tool is selected, the crop bounding box overlays the entire image (Figure 1), but only becomes visible until after you roll the mouse over the document window. To crop an image, select the crop tool from the Tools panel.

On the right you can see the image being cropped, before confirming the crop. Or alternatively you can use the Enter key to OK the crop and the Esc key to cancel (on Macintosh and PC keyboards, these keys should be diagonally positioned, with Esc key at the top left and Enter key at bottom right).įigure 1 On the left you can see an image with the crop tool active, but no crop applied yet. You can then use the large Commit or Cancel buttons in the crop Options bar to OK or cancel a crop. This provides a useful visual clue when making a crop. When you apply a crop with the crop tool, it uses color shading to mask the outer crop area. The crop tool can be used to crop an image to ‘delete’ or ‘hide’ the image data that falls outside the selected crop area.

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