Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
TIP
It's important to understand that the suggestions Elements offers are pretty gener-
ic. They aren't based on a sophisticated analysis of the contents of your photo, so
don't just randomly accept one. Take charge and make your own decision about
the best crop. You can do a much better job of deciding what looks good than Ele-
ments can.
As you drag the crop box, a small black pop-up appears, showing the size your photo
would be if you cropped it using the current settings. If you drag the right or left edge
of the box, you see the changing numbers for the width of the photo. Drag the top or
bottom edge instead, and you see the changing height dimension. Drag a corner and
you see both the width and height numbers.
TIP
You may sometimes find the Crop tool a little crotchety. For example, if the tool
won't let you drag where you want and keeps insisting on creating a particular-
sized crop, you need to reset it. Simply click the little four-line square at the far
right of the Tool Options area and choose Reset Tool. If you want
all
your tools to
go back to their original settings, choose Reset All Tools instead.
You can also rotate the crop box to any angle (a handy way to straighten
and
crop in
one go). To do so, put your cursor near one of the box's handles (the cursor turns into
the curved, double-headed arrow circled in
Figure 3-8
), and then drag. For example, if
your image is crooked, turn the bounding box so that its outline is parallel to where
straight should be in the photo; Elements will then straighten out your photo when
you crop. As with Free Rotate Layer, when you drag, a black pop-up shows you how
many degrees you've rotated the photo.
