Crop

Updated: 03/05/2023 by Computer Hope
Cropped image

To crop means reducing the size of an image by removing non-important objects or space surrounding a focal point. For example, you may have a picture of your daughter and her friends at a high school graduation. You could make a selection around her, then crop and remove the surrounding people, making her the sole subject of the image.

A common mistake often seen on the Internet is where users scan a picture using a flatbed scanner and have a large blank area around the main subject. Cropping the scanned image not only isolates the subject, but reduces the overall size of the image, decreasing the time it takes to download.

The image shows an example of a non-cropped and cropped image. As shown, the original image has wasted space, making the image visually and physically larger. Cropping the image reduces the picture's overall size and eliminates wasted white space.

Note

Removing an object from a photo is called "cutting" rather than cropping. See our cut definition for further information.

What is outcrop?

Outcrop describes adding extra white space around an image. This process is often done by increasing the canvas size of an image.

Image editor, Photoshop terms, Resize, Software terms