Crop tool or Image Size tool?

[gholmes1936]

Millers Lab gave me some info that thru me a bit. A friend of mine emailed me an answer, but I am a little dense and would like your feedback on this.

Here is what he wrote:
When you use the Crop tool in Photoshop you can specify width, length, and resolution.

However, the way I was taught (and I believe the best way to crop) is to not specify resolution, i.e. specify the width and height but leave the resolution field blank and let the resolution default to whatever resolution your cropped image will have after the crop.

This way you’re not having Photoshop try to increase or decrease the resolution from the image’s native resolution.

The IMAGE à IMAGE SIZE tool is not meant for cropping…not sure why they had to tell you that. It’s meant for changing the dimensions of an image or it’s resolution. It’s also a great tool for seeing what resolution your image has after you crop it using the Crop tool.

[mistermonday]

Gunner, welcome to RetouchPro.
If you leave the resolution box UNchecked in the Crop Tool Option bar, that is the equivalent to using Image>Image Size with the "Resample Image" box also UNchecked. For the Crop tool that means that PS will take all of the pixels you selected and it will redistribute those pixels without deleting any or creating any new ones. So if the area you defined with the tool is currently 400 x 400 pixels (or 4" x 4" x100 dpi as read in Image>Image Size) and you have input a width of 1" and a height of 1" and no resolution, your resulting image in the Image>Image size window will be 1"x1" @400 dpi.
If you input dimensions of 16"H and 16"W your resulting image will be 16x16" @25 dpi.
PS will only throw away pixels or manufacture more if you also input a resolution value. Same is true for Image>Image Size.
Regards, Murray

[gholmes1936]

Originally Posted by mistermonday

Gunner, welcome to RetouchPro.
If you leave the resolution box UNchecked in the Crop Tool Option bar, that is the equivalent to using Image>Image Size with the "Resample Image" box also UNchecked. For the Crop tool that means that PS will take all of the pixels you selected and it will redistribute those pixels without deleting any or creating any new ones. So if the area you defined with the tool is currently 400 x 400 pixels (or 4" x 4" x100 dpi as read in Image>Image Size) and you have input a width of 1" and a height of 1" and no resolution, your resulting image in the Image>Image size window will be 1"x1" @400 dpi.
If you input dimensions of 16"H and 16"W your resulting image will be 16x16" @25 dpi.
PS will only throw away pixels or manufacture more if you also input a resolution value. Same is true for Image>Image Size.
Regards, Murray

Hey MisterMonday, thank you for this lesson. Seems like it must all be mathematics, d'oh, of course. I am going to try both ways out and see if I can tell any difference.

[gholmes1936]

Originally Posted by gholmes1936

Hey MisterMonday, thank you for this lesson. Seems like it must all be mathematics, d'oh, of course. I am going to try both ways out and see if I can tell any difference.

I did try it out and it gives one a better(sharper) image than using the Image size tool. for some reason for which I don't care, I am just glad that I have learned this FINALLY.

thanks again,
gunner