Crop Tool (C)
The crop tool probably doesn't need much explanation - you use it to trim unwanted areas. Enough said...perhaps not. Photoshop 7 offers so much more than most other imaging applications. Scan in your image, but don't make any precise crops at this stage - allow some extra area around the image. Select the Crop tool and drag out a marquee and release. Now you can fine tune your crop by dragging any of the eight handles in or out. Hold down the Shift Key whilst dragging any corner to constrain the crop. Double click on the image, press the Enter Key or click the tick on the Options bar to make the final crop.

Drag out the crop Marquee

Fine tune the crop with the handles


The new crop tool has even more options. You can shield the cropped areas with a variable opacity and colour. Set the opacity on the Options bar (75% by default), this will visually assist with the crop. I often set the opacity to 100% (black). This cuts out all the distractions of image areas you are going to remove.

A feature that is really useful is the crop to size option. Enter the print size and resolution on the Options bar and then drag out a crop. This resamples the image to your exact size - the crop will always be proportional no matter how large or small the marquee is. This method eliminates the need to use the Image > Image size dialogue palette. You can save often used crop sizes (handy for wedding & social photographers). Click on the down arrow next to the crop tool (on the Options bar) and then click the small Create New Tool pre-set icon, enter a name and click OK. Your crop size is added to the list for future use.


Another feature is the ability to make a crop and yet still keep all the discarded image should you want to reposition later. Convert your image into a layer (this only works with a layer) and drag out the crop marquee. On the Options bar there are two radio buttons by Cropped Area, Delete and Hide. Check the Delete to make a straightforward cut, or check the Hide button to keep the image information with the picture. To access the cropped areas, use the Move tool and reposition the image within the window - nothing has been cropped.

The crop using perspective, first introduced in Photoshop 6, is an unbelievably useful feature. Perspectives can become distorted when you point a camera upwards to get the whole building in or if you are not quite square on - this is known as keystone distortion.
Original image
Select Perspective after dragging out the marquee, then using a corner handle align the edge of the marquee with the building.
Reposition the crop marquee using the middle handles
Apply the crop for the final version

The Crop using perspective comes into its own when faced with problem pictures, for example, when copying works of art you can spend a lot of time lighting the picture and aligning the camera, but due to reflections on the Oil paint you are forced to shoot at a slight angle. A small workaround in Photoshop will save hours on location.
Original shot
Perspective set
With a Perspective crop