Photoshop CS6 comes with an improved and redesigned Crop tool and the most significant thing is the cropping of the actual pixels of images with defined dimensions. The procedure basically calls for the setting in advance the preferred dimensions such as 480x 360 pixels and cropping the image without altering the resolution or changing the pixel interpolation.
Cropping without Changing the Pixel Interpolation
The initial reaction of most people would be to ask if there is anything wrong with the pixel interpolation. Strictly speaking, there are really no issues as far as pixel interpolation is concerned. It basically works out well like everything else associated with Photoshop.
However, we have to remember that interpolation means that we are making changes in the pixels. As you may be aware by now, users have the option to choose the interpolation method when the resampling of images is performed from the Image Size dialog. And this is done with setting of your default method for interpolation by going to the Preference dialog (press CTRL+K for the keyboard shortcut) and new for the Free Transform Mode in Photoshop CS6.
When you are cropping your images with the Crop Tool, the process is performed using the interpolation method that has been chosen in the Preference dialog. It is also important to note that the Photoshop CS6 comes with a new option known as Bicubic Automatic. The option refers to the special function where Photoshop CS6 can detect automatically and utilize the interpolation method deemed best for the user by taking into account the old and the new dimensions.
Scenarios Where You Should Skip the Interpolation
You have to skip the interpolation of pixels in situations where you are working on images that have already been resampled and have already been saved through lossy compression. One important thing that users have to keep in mind is that the details of the image will be lost during compression. Let us assume that one is working on an image that is already down-sampled, and this means that it has already lost some of its details as a result to jpeg compression. Another round of compression and interpolation won’t make it any better. What you can do is simply skip the interpolation of the pixels.
Of course, this will not be an issue in cases where you are trimming a defined area without doing any resampling of the image that you are working on. For instance, when you have an image of 560 x 420 pixels and you actually need an image of 480 x 360 pixels, the area or section of the image that will be trimmed will not have any importance. Another typical scenario is when you are working on a bigger image of what you actually need and all the important details that you intend to retain for the new image are already captured by the dimension of the expected output.
Cropping the Actual Pixels
In Photoshop, the Crop Tool cannot be used to grab the actual pixels of an image, although an image can be cropped in its fixed size, which is actually just one of the options of this Photoshop tool. Instead, you can use the Rectangular Marquee Tool for this purpose. The first thing that you have to do is to go to the Photoshop Toolbox to access the Rectangular Marquee Tool (Press M for the keyboard shortcut). The next thing that has to be done is to set the Style in the Options bar to Fixed Size and then input the dimensions for the Height and the Width, and this is followed by the unit of measurement.
After you are done entering the exact dimensions, the next step is to click the image once to define the selection within the image with the actual pixels based on the dimensions that you entered, and this is achieved regardless of the level of magnification.
It is at this instance that you go to Image – Crop, just like in the older versions of Photoshop or use the new option in Photoshop CS6 in order to activate the Crop Tool. The area that you want to trim will be shaded and the Crop Tool Marquee is displayed when you click the icon of the Crop Tool in the toolbox or press C on the keyboard.
An overlay will be displayed when you press Enter on the keyboard. You can move through the various overlays by pressing O on the keyboard or by clicking the selection and moving it around. One important thing to remember that instead of deleting unwanted pixels on the image that you are working on, the more appropriate option is by unchecking the Delete Cropped Pixels and this will automatically transform to normal the Background Layer and hide the pixels that you would have wanted to delete.
In this way, you will no longer have to contend with the single option of having to delete pixels completely and not to be recovered anymore. As an alternative, you can just designate what you want to remain as visible on the image that you are working on and also what will be hidden or cropped.
The Move Tool can be selected at any time if in the options bar the Delete Cropped Pixels is unchecked. And with the Move Tool selected, you can click on the image that you are working on and move it in any direction in order to change the visible pixels and these can be saved if you decide to export or save the image that you are working on.
Final Note
To attain an image that has the best quality possible, it is important for Photoshop users to know and learn how to apply several tricks and tips as it will provide them with the opportunity to handle those images that were saved by other people. This is significant when one is working on images that have already been compressed and resampled. And while Photoshop provide the best tools possible, the process involving compression and resampling will result to the degradation in the quality of the image. Thus, there are instances that skipping the interpolation of pixels becomes the most appropriate action. M.A.H.
