Create a Crop Preset with the Crop tool
Crop Presets Save Time
Crop presets are extremely useful and can save you a lot of time. They are quick and easy to create and also give consistency if you often need to crop images to the same size.
Crop presets can be created to crop just to set dimensions in pixels, or if printing you can also crop to include resolution that is suitable for printing.
This tutorial is about creating and using Crop Presets. For more information about the Crop tool, see Crop Tool.
Tools sharing the Crop tool button
Create a new crop preset
Create a Crop Preset 1000 x 1000 px
In this tutorial you will learn how to;
- Create a preset to crop an image to a specific size
- Use a Preset
- Delete a Preset
If you want to create a montage will all images the same size, it's often a good idea to crop them all to the same size first. This tutorial will explain how to do that. Once you have cropped your images to the same size, see Create Montage with Contact Sheet for a great method of creating montages.
Create a preset to quickly crop to a specific size time after time
Step 1: Select the Crop Tool on the Toolbar
Select the Crop tool from the toolbar. Note that the visible button shows the last tool used, so it may not show the Crop tool. Click and hold on the button, to see the other tools.
For more information see Crop Tool.
The Crop tool shares the button with other tools
Step 2: Select W x H x Resolution
Select W x H x Resolution from the drop-down box on the Options bar. It's highlighted here in red and is the second item on the list.
Select W x H x Resolution from the drop-down list
Step 3: Enter Crop Dimensions
Enter the dimensions in px (pixels), in (inches), or cm (centimeters). When entering numbers, Photoshop tends to remember the last type of measurement (px, in, cm), so to specify your measurement unit, add the abbreviation; px, in, or cm.
Enter the dimensions in px, in, or cm
Step 4: Select New Crop Preset from Menu
In the drop-down list on the Options bar, select New Crop Preset.
Do this after adding the dimensions, as in the previous step.
Select W x H x Resolution from the drop-down list
Step 5: Name your Preset
The screenshot shows the preset name, as suggested by Photoshop. If you're happy with that, just clikc OK.
Personally, I have a lot of presets and I prefer to use shorter names. The next step shows my preferred name for this preset.
Select W x H x Resolution from the drop-down list
Step 6: Preset Name Suggestions
I prefer preset names to be as short as possible, so there is less clutter in the drop-down list.
Here are some suggestions. If the preset is designed for printing, I include the resolution of (300), which means 300dpi (dots per inch), which is the default printing resolution. If the image is not being printed, but is for screen use, the resolution is not important.
Preset Name suggestions
Step 7: Using the Preset
Click on the drop-down list in the Options bar and select your preset.
Select the preset
Step 8: Crop Box without Overlay
If you have used another tool and select the Crop tool you will see a crop box around the image, without the crop overlay. In the following steps, the crop overlay is a Grid of Thirds, but other options are available.
Crop box
Step 9: Crop Box with Overlay
If you select a preset the Crop Overlay will appear. If the correct preset is already selected, click on the image to add the Crop Overlay.
For more information about Crop Overlays, see Crop Overlay.
Crop Box showing Crop Overlay (Thirds)
Step 10: Crop the Image
Click and drag the handles in the corners and along the edges of the Crop Box to resize it.
Click and drag on the image, inside the Crop Box, to move the image.
Drag the handles and/or the image
Step 11: The Cropped Image
Press Enter (if you have a keyboard), or click the Tick on the Options bar.
Click the Tick to commit the crop
Step 12: Saving the Cropped Image
IMPORTANT! Your image has now changed, so you will probably want to save it. But, be careful! Caution is advised.
If you firstly created duplicates of the original images, then it will be ok to just save the image, as you will still have the originals available.
If you did not create duplicate images, saving the image will overwrite the original image. This is not good practice, as you will lose access to the original image. You may have other ideas for it in future, which require the original uncropped image in its original size and resolution.
If you are working on original images, then instead of selecting, from the File menu (red highlight), Save (pink highlight), select Save As (green highlight), or Save a Copy (orange highlight). These are very similar and it doesn't matter which you choose. Both will preserve the original and save the new version as a separate image.
Save A Copy: saves the document under a new name, but the original stays open for editing, not the new one.
Save As: saves the document under a new name, and the new file stays open for editing.
Click the Tick to commit the crop
Step 13: Delete a Preset
You can easily delete any presets you no longer need.
Firstly, select the preset.
In the drop-down list on the Options bar, select the bottom item; Delete Crop Preset.
You can easily delete any presets you no longer use
Happy editing!
