Basic photoshop question

[Matt]

Hi guys,

Got a quick Photoshop question to do with cropping photos.

I've searched and searched for this but can't find any info: is there a
way to make Photoshop maintain a fixed aspect ratio with the crop tool,
but keep the original PPI? Basically I want to crop 6x4 images (and
other sizes) out of larger photos, but I don't want Photoshop
upsampling/downsampling them - I just want it to crop out the pixels I
don't select.

Failing that, how do you do your cropping? Allow Photoshop to
upsample/downsample to 300 PPI?

Cheers,
Matt

[Scott Coutts]

Matt wrote:

> Hi guys,
>
> Got a quick Photoshop question to do with cropping photos.
>
> I've searched and searched for this but can't find any info: is there a
> way to make Photoshop maintain a fixed aspect ratio with the crop tool,
> but keep the original PPI? Basically I want to crop 6x4 images (and
> other sizes) out of larger photos, but I don't want Photoshop
> upsampling/downsampling them - I just want it to crop out the pixels I
> don't select.
>
> Failing that, how do you do your cropping? Allow Photoshop to
> upsample/downsample to 300 PPI?
>


Hi Matt,

Photoshop will not resample your image if you crop them using the
marquee tool and then choose crop from the menu (or hotkey). It will
only do that if you resize them without changing the dpi, or if you use
the crop tool and specify a size and a dpi. Otherwise, you could use the
crop tool, but specify 6x4" at 300dpi, and select a 6x4" region.

So I think the quickest way would just be to open it, select a 6x4"
region, and choose crop from the menu.

Cheers,

Scott.

[Witold]

Matt <mattjk@geeeeemail.com> wrote in
news:417dab21$0$13766$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au:

> I've searched and searched for this but can't find any info: is there
> a way to make Photoshop maintain a fixed aspect ratio with the crop
> tool, but keep the original PPI? Basically I want to crop 6x4 images
> (and other sizes) out of larger photos, but I don't want Photoshop
> upsampling/downsampling them - I just want it to crop out the pixels I
> don't select.

When I crop an image, I set the aspect ratio depending on the desired
orientation (e.g. W:H=3:2 or W:H=2:3, or whatever), and I leave the
resolution setting completely blank. Then I just use the crop tool to
select the region I want. When I have finished selecting, I right-click
and select "Crop" from the menu. This seems to maintain all the cropped
pixels without any upsampling/downsampling being carried out.


--
Witold.

[StudioJ]

Hi Matt,

As the others have suggested picking your marquee tool and then setting a fixed aspect ratio in there works.

I'm shooting in RAW mode and if I'm cropping for a specific size I will crop it in Capture One and let it do the resampling as I find it works better than stair stepping or Genuine Fractals.

Jamie

[Rowan Crowe]

Matt <mattjk@geeeeemail.com> wrote in message news:<417dab21$0$13766$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au>...
> Hi guys,
>
> Got a quick Photoshop question to do with cropping photos.
>
> I've searched and searched for this but can't find any info: is there a
> way to make Photoshop maintain a fixed aspect ratio with the crop tool,
> but keep the original PPI? Basically I want to crop 6x4 images (and
> other sizes) out of larger photos, but I don't want Photoshop
> upsampling/downsampling them - I just want it to crop out the pixels I
> don't select.

I don't really understand your question... when you crop (marquee
tool, image->crop) the resolution isn't changed. I just tried this on
a 300dpi file and the cropped image retains the same dpi setting.

If you ever want to change dpi settings without resampling, use
image->image size, uncheck "resample image", select the desired
resolution and click OK. This will change the dpi setting without
resampling the image.

[Scott Coutts]

Rowan Crowe wrote:
> Matt <mattjk@geeeeemail.com> wrote in message news:<417dab21$0$13766$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au>...
>
>>Hi guys,
>>
>>Got a quick Photoshop question to do with cropping photos.
>>
>>I've searched and searched for this but can't find any info: is there a
>>way to make Photoshop maintain a fixed aspect ratio with the crop tool,
>>but keep the original PPI? Basically I want to crop 6x4 images (and
>>other sizes) out of larger photos, but I don't want Photoshop
>>upsampling/downsampling them - I just want it to crop out the pixels I
>>don't select.
>
>
> I don't really understand your question... when you crop (marquee
> tool, image->crop) the resolution isn't changed. I just tried this on
> a 300dpi file and the cropped image retains the same dpi setting.
>

Yeah, he's talking about using the actual crop 'tool', not the crop menu
selection. The crop tool allows you to specify a size and resolution,
and then select a region which it will them make into that size and
resolution. It works a little differently.

[Matt]

Thanks everyone, much appreciated - I didn't know about the Crop option
in the Image menu.

Cheers,
Matt

[BenOne©]

Matt wrote:

> Hi guys,
>
> Got a quick Photoshop question to do with cropping photos.
>
> I've searched and searched for this but can't find any info: is there a
> way to make Photoshop maintain a fixed aspect ratio with the crop tool,
> but keep the original PPI? Basically I want to crop 6x4 images (and
> other sizes) out of larger photos, but I don't want Photoshop
> upsampling/downsampling them - I just want it to crop out the pixels I
> don't select.
>
> Failing that, how do you do your cropping? Allow Photoshop to
> upsample/downsample to 300 PPI?
>
> Cheers,
> Matt

If I want a 6x4 but the image is some other ratio, I use the crop tool and set
width to 6 in and the height to 4 in and use the dpi field blank, then I select
the area I want and hit enter.

--
Ben Thomas
Opinions, conclusions, and other information in this message that do not
relate to the official business of my firm shall be understood as neither
given nor endorsed by it.

[StudioJ]

Cropping using the Crop option to reduce your image size isn't the cleanest of options, there is quite a bit of detail loss with bicubic image resizing via the crop command.

As an alternative you might want to consider using the marquee to select a ratio 3:2 (6x4) to select your image size and then cropping this without changing the image values and then using a stairstep action to up or downsize your image to the right ppi (say 1500 x 2250 x 300 for 4 x 6 portrait)

You will find the clarity of images isn't overly important at that size of print but there is a noticeable amount more image definition with bigger prints and it allows cleaner interpolation of images for anyone wanting to break out past the 8x10 print size with their 6mp DSLRs