Any Photoshop experts out there?

[wencit]

I need help cropping an image while still keeping the original aspect size the same. I went to a concert last night and got some lovely photos with my camera, but they are kind of small. I have enough megapixels (8MP) to crop and zoom in, but when I do this, the entire photo gets smaller. I want to be able to keep the aspect ratio the same.

I tried looking it up on Google, but all the talk about DPI, PPI, resampling, resolution is making my head hurt.

Can anyone help me? Thanks so much in advance!

[youngmommy]

I have read through your question a couple of times now, and I'm still not sure if I understand exactly what you're asking.

By saying that the pictures seem "kind of small," you mean that the part of the picture you want to save seems small relative to the entire photo?

When you crop a photo, you will end up with a smaller file. You can't get more detail than you already have.

Are you trying to say that when you try to crop the photo it shrinks instead? In that case you'll need to change the tool you're using.

Aspect ratio is really only relevant when you're printing photos, or maybe putting them into a digital photo frame. It just means how large the sides are with relation to each other. I could take time to explain this more fully, but I won't take the time unless you really need me to.
I would certainly save digital copies of the originals in any case.

What software are you using exactly?

[kellyotn]

Download Picasa (free!) from Google. ;) Their cropping is really, really easy. You can also do tons of other really cool stuff very easily!

If I understand the issue - when you are using "zoom" in photoshop, you aren't changing the picture, you are changing the size of the VIEW of the picture on your screen.

To crop the picture in photoshop, choose "rectangular marquee tool". In the style drop down on the top toolbar, chose "fixed aspect ratio" and enter in your ratio. Then select what you want kept in the photo. It'll automatically create a box in your ratio. Then go to image > crop and it'll take away everything outside of the box. (My photoshop is fairly old but hopefully this still helps.)

[wencit]

Thanks, ladies. Someone told me to use the "Front Image" button when selecting the crop tool, and that would keep the same dimensions as the original picture. This is exactly what I was looking for. The picture degrades a little for sure, but I can live with it.

Thanks again. :)

ETA: I am using Photoshop 7.0. And youngmommy, yes, when I cropped a picture, the size of the image itself would shrink, which was frustrating me.

[jenmcadams]

Just wanted to second the recommendation for Picasa...unless you're doing square cropping, I always use Picasa for cropping (4x6, 5x7, 8x10) and for most basic photo editing. I actually have a pretty decent understanding of Photoshop (and use it for lots of stuff), but I prefer Picasa for the basics. In fact, I run a crappy old version of Picasa on my Mac (using a cheap windows emulator called Crossover) b/c I hated iPhoto and missed Picasa so much. I'll probably upgrade to Leopard and start running Windows on my PC so I can use the full blown Picasa soon. Everything else about my Mac I love...I just really, really missed Picasa. I wish they would make Picasa for the Mac