This article shows you how to use the Crop Photo dialog to choose exactly which part of a photo shows inside a photo layer's frame — and how to adjust, redo, or remove a crop later.
When cropping is available
Manual cropping works on photo layers set to Cover fit mode. In Cover mode the photo is scaled to fill the frame and any overflow is hidden; the Crop Photo dialog lets you decide which part of the photo fills that frame.
Cropping is not available on layers using Top Fill (face placement) mode — face placement positions photos automatically using the subject's face instead. If the Crop photo button is greyed out, check that the layer's fit mode is set to Cover and that a photo has been uploaded.
Open the Crop Photo dialog
There are two ways to open the dialog:
- Select the photo layer on the canvas or in the layer list, then click Crop photo in the properties panel on the right. If a crop is already applied the button reads Recrop photo instead.
- Select the layer and press c on your keyboard (when no text field is active).
Choose a print size
A row of print sizes runs across the top of the dialog: 4 × 6, 5 × 7, 8 × 10, 1 × 1 and Match frame. On the right of the same row is a pair of orientation buttons — portrait and landscape — that decide which way round the chosen size sits.
The important part: picking a print size reshapes the layer's frame to that ratio when you click Apply. That is how a landscape photo becomes a portrait crop. The layer on the canvas changes shape — it keeps its position and about the same overall size, but its proportions become the ratio you picked. The photo itself is never squashed or stretched to fit.
Match frame is the older behaviour: crop at whatever shape the layer's frame already is and leave the frame alone. The orientation buttons are greyed out while Match frame is selected, because that shape comes from the frame rather than from a print size.
What's selected when the dialog opens
- If the frame already matches one of the print sizes, that size and orientation are preselected — so reopening an 8 × 10 frame doesn't propose a reshape you didn't ask for.
- If a crop is already applied to an odd-shaped frame, the dialog opens on Match frame — you chose that shape deliberately, so it is left as it is.
- For a fresh crop on an odd-shaped frame, the dialog defaults to 4 × 6, in whichever orientation the photo itself is.
Either way, the highlighted button and the crop box on screen show exactly what Apply will do.
Pan and zoom inside the frame
The dialog shows your photo behind a white-bordered frame. The frame represents the layer's exact proportions — only what sits inside the frame will appear in the final render.
- Pan — click and drag the photo to reposition it inside the frame. Drag left to reveal the right side of the photo; drag up to reveal the bottom.
- Zoom — scroll the mouse wheel over the dialog to zoom in or out, or drag the Scale slider at the bottom. Scale 1.00× is the default centered cover-fit; higher values zoom in and make the subject larger within the frame. Switching print size or orientation keeps your pan and zoom rather than resetting them, so you can compare 4 × 6 against 5 × 7, or portrait against landscape, without re-framing each time.
- Preview your framing in real time — the darkened area outside the frame will be hidden in the output.
Straighten a tilted photo
Below the Scale slider sits a Straighten slider that rotates the image inside the crop frame. The frame stays square to the page and the photo turns behind it — that is how you level a tilted horizon without reshaping or rotating the layer.
- Drag the Straighten slider left or right. The range is −15° to +15°, in steps of 0.1°.
- Check the current angle shown beside the slider — one decimal place, for example
1.5°. - Level the photo against the grid overlay that appears over it while you are straightening. The grid shows whenever the Straighten slider has focus, and whenever the angle is anything other than zero.
- To undo just the straighten, click the reset button to the right of the angle (labelled Reset straighten). It returns the angle to 0° and leaves your pan, zoom and print size as they were. The button is greyed out while the angle is already 0°.
Straightening turns the crop window too, so the window has to pull in a little to keep its corners on the photo. The Scale slider's lowest value rises with the angle and drops back as you straighten out — and easing the angle off returns you to the zoom you chose yourself, not the zoom the angle forced.
The straighten carries through to the final render exactly as the dialog shows it, so the output matches your preview.
How the crop is stored
When you click Apply, the crop is saved as a rectangle in the source photo's original pixel coordinates. This means:
- The full-resolution original is always preserved — you can recrop at any time without quality loss.
- If you resize the layer on the canvas after cropping, the crop scales proportionally with the layer. The same region of the photo stays visible.
- The crop carries through identically to the final render — what you see in the dialog is what you get in the output.
Recrop or reset a crop
To adjust an existing crop, select the layer and click Recrop photo (the button changes label once a crop is applied). The dialog re-opens with your previous crop loaded, ready to adjust.
To remove the crop entirely and return to the default centered cover-fit, click Reset crop next to the Recrop photo button. The photo snaps back to its default position filling the frame, and any straighten angle is cleared along with it.
Inside the dialog itself, the Reset button (bottom-left) restores the default centered crop — pan, zoom and straighten all at once — without closing the dialog, so you can compare and re-adjust before clicking Apply. Cancel discards any changes made in the current session of the dialog.
Reset crop on multiple layers at once
If you have several photo layers cropped and want to clear them all:
- Select all the affected photo layers (hold Shift or Cmd/Ctrl and click, or use the layer panel).
- In the multi-layer properties panel, click Reset crop on selected. This removes the crop from every selected layer in one step.
Reset crop on selected only appears when at least one of the selected layers has a crop applied.
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