Cropping problems

[Bareboats]

Hi all,

I am getting really frustrated with Paintshop Pro 2019. I have thousands of photos to edit and ALL of them need to be resized and then cropped. I went to the "Chat" line on Monday and was told by the fellow I was talking to that he had "escalated" my case to somebody else. I haven't heard a word since. I HAVE to get this work done and cannot wait indefinitely for an answer.

HERE'S THE JOB THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE:

I shoot in Raw. When I had my old Nikon, I would resize the photo width to 520 pixels and that gave me a height of 344 pixels automatically. I have thousands of photos on my website that are all this size ... and therefore cannot change the dimensions for any new product photos because they won't fit the format.

I lost my camera in hurricane Irma when I lived in the BVI and bought a new (much cheaper) Nikon when I relocated to Canada. The new camera (for whatever reason) produces photos that are 347 pixels high when resized to 520 pixels wide.

Obviously, that means I have to crop all of my new photos to 344 pixels high. Sometimes I want to crop off the top and sometimes I want to crop off the bottom in order to make the photo balanced.

HERE'S THE PROBLEM:

After I resize the photo to 520 pixels, I click on "Select" and then "Custom Selection" and then enter 344 in the top field, but it will not accept a value of "0" in the bottom field. It seems to insist on having at least 1 pixel in that field. OK ... I guess the programme is a little buggy. Soooo, I enter 343 into the top field and 1 into the bottom and then go to "Image" and select "crop to selection" ... the image comes out to 343 and sometimes 342 pixels!

I can't always crop 3 pixels off the bottom, as the photos are product shots and I get in tight on certain areas when I shoot. I need the option to crop on the top OR the bottom. It's bad enough that I have to crop them at all ... but I have no choice.

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Has anyone else run into this problem and if so, how did you fix it or work around it? I have been sitting here since Monday literally doing NOTHING because these photos have to been done in sequence. I can't just pick and choose which photos I can crop on the bottom and get those done. Frankly, I am getting a little ticked off with Corel. I would have thought they would manage to get back to me in threes days ... but not so much as a "hint" as to when they will contact me, despite having written to them and asked.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Jean-Luc]

When you say "Select" I suppose it is "Selection" with the Rectangle type...
In Custom Selection, set the Right value to 520 and the Bottom field to 344.
That will place the selection on the top.
If you want it placed bottom, add pixels in the Top field.
You may record it as a script for each placement.

[JoeB]

When you say "Select" I suppose it is "Selection" with the Rectangle type...
In Custom Selection, set the Right value to 520 and the Bottom field to 344.
That will place the selection on the top.

I'm not the OP, but the above works of course for placing the selection at the top and cropping the bottom.

If you want it placed bottom, add pixels in the Top field.

I don't know what you mean by this. As the OP notes, you can't put 344 in the top field and zero in the bottom field because the bottom field won't accept a zero for some reason. So exactly what number are you suggesting should be put in the top field and what number in the bottom field to cause the selection to be placed at the bottom and therefore allow cropping of 3 pixels from the top of the image?

AND A QUESTION FOR THE ORIGINAL POSTER:

If your images are so tightly framed that a 3 pixel crop makes a noticeable difference top or bottom, can you explain how you managed to frame them that tight and arrange it so that there was exactly 3 pixels at the top of some images that can be safely cropped and, with other images, exactly 3 pixels from the bottom that can be cropped?

[ehume]

Another way to go is not to use the Crop or Selection tools at all. Instead, resize your photos to 520px wide as you have been doing. Then go to Resize Canvas and set that to 520x344. You can choose all at top, center or all at bottom.

Try it and see. Or you can do the Selection tool and switch to the Crop tool, choosing "Snap crop rectangle to > Current Selection."

[JoeB]

Another way to go is not to use the Crop or Selection tools at all. Instead, resize your photos to 520px wide as you have been doing. Then go to Resize Canvas and set that to 520x344. You can choose all at top, center or all at bottom.

Where is the Resize Canvas option? Are you suggesting that a resize - of some sort - be done with the 520 x 347 pixels image to resize it to 520 x 344? If you do so without cropping then you have to uncheck any option to keep aspect ratio, and the aspect ratio of the image elements will change (they will be a bit shorter and fatter than they were at 347 pixels). Probably not really noticeable given it's only 3 pixels but likely not what the OP would want.

[ehume]

Another way to go is not to use the Crop or Selection tools at all. Instead, resize your photos to 520px wide as you have been doing. Then go to Resize Canvas and set that to 520x344. You can choose all at top, center or all at bottom.

Where is the Resize Canvas option? . . .

I have it on the main toolbar near the resize icon. I realize that is specific to me. You can find it by choosing Image > Canvas Size... and it doesn't care what the aspect ratio was.

[JoeB]

Another way to go is not to use the Crop or Selection tools at all. Instead, resize your photos to 520px wide as you have been doing. Then go to Resize Canvas and set that to 520x344. You can choose all at top, center or all at bottom.

Where is the Resize Canvas option? . . .

I have it on the main toolbar near the resize icon. I realize that is specific to me. You can find it by choosing Image > Canvas Size... and it doesn't care what the aspect ratio was.

First, thanks for clarifying that by Resize Canvas you meant to use the Canvas Size tool. But otherwise, I'm afraid it doesn't quite work as you suggested.

When using Canvas Resize, if you want to take an image that is 520 x 347 pixels and resize the canvas to 520 x 344, you do have to untick the Lock Aspect Ratio box, because the tool will respect aspect ratio if that box is ticked.

Also, once you untick that box you can, of course put 520 in the width and 344 in the height. But this resizes the image the same way that using the Resize dialogue does - i.e., it will squish the image from top to bottom by 3 pixels while keeping the image the same size from side to side. This distorts the image the same way as it would if you did the same thing in the Resize dialogue.

[ehume]

First, thanks for clarifying that by Resize Canvas you meant to use the Canvas Size tool. But otherwise, I'm afraid it doesn't quite work as you suggested.

When using Canvas Resize, if you want to take an image that is 520 x 347 pixels and resize the canvas to 520 x 344, you do have to untick the Lock Aspect Ratio box, because the tool will respect aspect ratio if that box is ticked.

Also, once you untick that box you can, of course put 520 in the width and 344 in the height. But this resizes the image the same way that using the Resize dialogue does - i.e., it will squish the image from top to bottom by 3 pixels while keeping the image the same size from side to side. This distorts the image the same way as it would if you did the same thing in the Resize dialogue.

First of all, it is "Resize Canvas" to me:

Resize Canvas.jpg (24.25 KiB) Viewed 2878 times

Secondly, I did not experience the "Lock aspect ratio" as a default. Thirdly, the dialog has three different placement options:

Choosing the top square will cut off the bottom, etc. This has been present at least since PSP7 (when it was "Change Canvas Size") in JASC days.

[hartpaul]

All of the suggestions have made my head turn.
Now let me get this straight. Your old camera had a certain aspect ratio such that hen you resized the images to 520 pixels on the long side they became 344 pixels on the short side.
Your new camera has a slightly different aspect ratio so gives 520 x 347 pixels nd you need to crop to 520 x 344 but your crop needs to be sometimes on the top and sometimes on the bottom.

Manually this can be done by setting your crop rectangle to 520 x 344 pixels and moving it up to crop out the bottom and down to crop off the top.

You can set that crop rectangle as a preset and then move the rectangle as required.
However cropping on such a small image has problems in movement.

I would prefer to work with a larger image and crop rectangle eg starting with a double dimension crop rectangle 1040 x 688 pixels with maintain aspect ratio selected then working on the larger images enlarge or reduce the rectangle to get exactly what part of the image I require , crop and then save at highest quality.
Then do a batch resize of all those images and since they will all be the right aspect ratio they will resize to 520 x 344 pixels.

[Bareboats]

Thanks to all for your suggestions. I will go through one by one to see if any solutions you've provided will work.

In the meantime, I'll try to provide more info.

Firstly, I would like to retain the aspect ratio. "Squishing" the shot is really not an option. Likewise, batch resizing won't work as there are likely other edits that need to be done first. Specifically, I may need to straighten many of the shots.

I photograph sailing and motor yachts ... and even though they are at the dock and I am on board when I take "most" of the shots (some are taken from the dock) ... the nature of the beast is that water moves and therefore, the horizon "appears" to move in relation to the yacht. When you look out the window and see a crooked horizon, it makes the shot "appear" to be crooked even though it usually isn't. I generally fix that so the viewer doesn't get nauseous just looking at the photos.

Because yachts are big and the photos are small, I come in tight on all parts of the yacht so as to cut out extraneous stuff such as docks, people and other boats beside the yachts I am shooting. This leaves me with the biggest shot of the actual boat that I can get. It also leaves little room for cropping ... considering I often have to straighten the shot first. This has never been much of an issue in the past, because I didn't have this particular problem with Photoshop and knew how to deal with it in my sleep. However, in the future, I can see I will have to change my shooting habits to accommodate the way I will have to work with PSP. In the meantime, I have about 3500 shots to deal with.

So the order of edits is usually:

Straighten "as required".
Resize to 520.
Crop to 344.
Fix lighting "if required" - as the sun and shadows change from one second to the next.
Sharpen (which is another problem I am having) - simply because I haven't mastered that yet.
Add my copyright.
Save as JPG.

Thanks so much for your help. It is greatly appreciated!

<Added> In case anyone suggests that I redo the shots to accommodate the straightening issue. That is really not an option. The yachts are located in the British Virgin Islands and I now live in Windsor, Ontario. I can't afford to go back and reshoot.

[Jean-Luc]

If you want it placed bottom, add pixels in the Top field.

I don't know what you mean by this. As the OP notes, you can't put 344 in the top field and zero in the bottom field because the bottom field won't accept a zero for some reason. So exactly what number are you suggesting should be put in the top field and what number in the bottom field to cause the selection to be placed at the bottom and therefore allow cropping of 3 pixels from the top of the image?

My sample image is 520 x 350 pixels.
The first settings crop on top, the second on bottom. Both cropping will be 520 x 344 pixels.

[JoeB]

Choosing the top square will cut off the bottom, etc. This has been present at least since PSP7 (when it was "Change Canvas Size") in JASC days.

Well, you learn something new every day! I had only tried your suggestion using a few pixels and it seemed to me that it just squished the image by a few pixels. Now I have tried it with a lot of pixels and yes, it does crop. I had never realized that and it's a new - and likely useful - piece of information for me. Thanks!

[JoeB]

If you want it placed bottom, add pixels in the Top field.

I don't know what you mean by this. As the OP notes, you can't put 344 in the top field and zero in the bottom field because the bottom field won't accept a zero for some reason. So exactly what number are you suggesting should be put in the top field and what number in the bottom field to cause the selection to be placed at the bottom and therefore allow cropping of 3 pixels from the top of the image?

My sample image is 520 x 350 pixels.
The first settings crop on top, the second on bottom. Both cropping will be 520 x 344 pixels.

Thanks for that info - very helpful!

[JoeB]

Firstly, I would like to retain the aspect ratio. "Squishing" the shot is really not an option.

It seems that the suggestion by @ehume was correct and I was wrong. Using the Canvas Size does not squish the image after all and does actually crop it as he suggested, so that method could easily work for you. If you wanted to make it a one-click solution so that you don't have to constantly go to Image>Canvas Size and then change the position from the top to the bottom or vice versa depending on whether you need a bottom or top crop and finally click OK, you could simply record two scripts with all of the steps - one cropping the top, one cropping the bottom. Then bind them to icons and add them as buttons to a convenient toolbar. That should speed up the process for working with 3500 images.

[ehume]

Choosing the top square will cut off the bottom, etc. This has been present at least since PSP7 (when it was "Change Canvas Size") in JASC days.

Well, you learn something new every day! I had only tried your suggestion using a few pixels and it seemed to me that it just squished the image by a few pixels. Now I have tried it with a lot of pixels and yes, it does crop. I had never realized that and it's a new - and likely useful - piece of information for me. Thanks!

This method has been a prolific cropper for years. I use it mainly to enlarge my images from side to side, but you can use it for trimming. I'm glad you like it.