Help! Photoshop ?

[Sierra]

I know this may be a very simple task, but i'm in the process of learning Photoshop. I would like to take a square photo and place it underneath a circle (overlay), and cutaway the remnants of the photo outside the circle. I can't seem to find a simple way to do this, there is no circle cropping that I can see. Please help me!!!:)

[popejoydesign]

Sierra...easiest way to do it....

Select your elipse selection tool (the marching ants thing) and then circle the part of the image you want to keep. Then simply go up to the tool bar and click "SELECT", then scroll down to "INVERSE" and that will select everything OUTSIDE your circle...then you can just delete it and have a transparent or colored background.

Shortcut key for "Select - Inverse" is SHIFT + CTL (or Command) + I

[Sierra]

Thank you so much! You've saved me hours of frustration!!:)

[Ned]

If you make an elipse on a blank layer, and fill it with a color (Shift-F5), you can use that as a clipping mask for your image. Just place the image on a layer on TOP of the elipse layer, then hold ALT/OPT as you hover over the space in between the two layers. That will give you a little double circle and an arrow cursor. When you see your cursor change, click with your mouse, and you will create a clipping mask. Then you can move your image around within the circle, as you please!

[Craig B]

Ned's option is great because it's non-destructive. You still have the full photo underneath in case you want to "crop" a larger or different area.

[popejoydesign]

true about the clipping mask...I don't like eliminating a part of an image for eternity if I don't have to...but it was a quick, pretty newbie safe way of explaining it :)

[Craig B]

I agree popejoy ... with Photohsop there are always several ways of doing things ...

[popejoydesign]

Also there is an option in the tool bar when using the crop tool. You can have it completely crop it or trim it. Trimming will not permanently destruct the part of the image you aren't wanting, it will merely hide it. I forgot about that little function too.

[foxo]

Don't you just love photoshop :rolleyes:

[jessicam]

Also there is an option in the tool bar when using the crop tool. You can have it completely crop it or trim it. Trimming will not permanently destruct the part of the image you aren't wanting, it will merely hide it. I forgot about that little function too.

This sounds like such a great option, but I can't figure out how to use it. I am using PS CS2. With the crop tool selected, I can set width, height, and resolution. When I have selected the area on an image that I want to crop to, I have delete and hide radio buttons, but they are greyed out. Any ideas?

[urstwile]

I think you need to make sure that you're not cropping what Photoshop considers a Background layer (the layer name changes to background and is in italics if it's a background layer). To change a layer from a Background layer to a layer that respects transparency and such, simply double click it and give it a name or use the default name that comes up. Then your Delete and Hide buttons should be ungrayed out and you can choose one or the other.

You'll see that your transform handles will be larger than the cropped area if you choose Hide, and will fit your newly cropped area precisely if you choose delete.

[jessicam]

Thankyou thankyou! I like this new cropping trick. :)

[Ned]

You won't be able to use the crop tool to make your circular crop though. Only a square crop.

[tZ]

You could also use your layer masks and do it that way.

This method is non-descructive as well.

In the layers pallete the thrid option on the bottom from the left hand side is a graphic that is a box with a circle on it. If you click that it will add a mask.

Think of a mask like a sheet of paper being added to the layer you have selected. Then if you select the layer mask which is next to the layer image in the layer pallete you can fill it with black to hide something and white to reveal something.

So what you can do is add a layer mask to your image then create your circle select the inverse and fill with black. Everything that becomes black will be hidden. However, latter if you decide you want to show other parts of the photograph you can ad white to your layer mask and that will reveal it.

You can also use a layer mask to show an image at a different opacity. If you add a layer mask to an image and drag a white to black gradient the image will gradual go from full opacity to hidden. However, you must have your layer mask selected otherwise you will paint directly on your image.

Layer masks are very powerfull tools when you learn to use them properly. They are also non-descructive so you can go back and edit them as much as you like.

[Ned]

Layer masks rule... To add to Tz's method, besides creating the mask then filling your desired mask area in black, you can create your selection first, then turn it into a mask, in 3 steps: 1) make circle with elipse marquee tool (If you want a perfect circle, hold SHIFT while drawing it, for an oval, don't hold shift), 2) Select Inverse (CTRL/CMD-SHIFT-I), 3) Click on layer mask icon. The mask will be created for you all at once.

Either method is just as fast if you know what you're doing, but this is just the way that I would do it, and seems somehow a little simpler to my muddled mind.

Remember, if you want to move the image within the layer mask, you have to unlink it first. Just click on the little chain link icon between the layer and its mask (in the layers palette).

[urstwile]

Yes, yes, yes, layer masks rule, and I would advise you to go that way. But in terms of the cropping thing, I figured I'd answer that question specifically. And I got to learn a little trick myself, which I'd never paid attention to before. :)

[Ned]

Oh, absolutely, your advice was spot on, Urst. I just had to make sure that the orignial poster wasn't being misled (keeping in mind the original topic), by our new conversation regarding the crop tool... It is not very often that I actually pay attention to what the original topic is, in a thread. :D

[urstwile]

The hell you say! http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/party/party0046.gif (my new favorite smiley)

[Ned]

Oh, I'm liking that smiley, too! Whee! It's just... fun!

[urstwile]

:D Glad you like it, Ned. :D