Cropping and straightening

About cropping

Use cropping for practical reasons or aesthetic reasons equally. For instance, an unwanted object or person can be excluded which might otherwise detract from your desired image. Aesthetically, you can balance image content in your composition so that it is more appealing to the eye.

Affinity Photo 2 lets you crop unconstrained or to original or custom aspect ratios. For print or web delivery, you can specify common print sizes (e.g., 6" x 4") or create pixel-accurate custom crop regions, respectively.

If snapping is active, the crop area can snap to page edges and guides when being resized or moved.

Unconstrained (Portrait)

Unconstrained (Landscape)

Original Ratio

Custom Ratio (16x9)

Resample (6inx4in; 300 dpi)

Crop modes

When cropping, you may wish to work unconstrained or to specific ratios or absolute dimensions. These are some of the context toolbar's Mode options available:

Unconstrained—The crop area can be sized freely.
Original Ratio—Retains your image's original aspect ratio.
Custom Ratio—Uses the adjacent X and Y radial buttons to set the ratio— X is width, Y is height.
Resample—Use the adjacent Width and Height radial buttons to set absolute dimensions for the crop area. Set your Units if needed.

Straighten image

When activated, dragging on the page will orient the photo to align it with the drawn line. We recommend using a reference within your photo such as the horizon or the edge of a building. When straightening or rotating an image, the crop box automatically adjusts to fit the new composition excluding any transparent areas.

?? before — Before and after straightening an image.

?? after — Before and after straightening an image.

Compositional overlays

If you're cropping to remove unwanted subject matter in your image, compositional overlays can be ignored. However, if you're looking for better composition, one of several overlays can be used. The examples below show a post-crop overlay applied to aid composition.

Thirds

Phi

Spiral

Diagonals

Thirds—Shown by default, the Rule of Thirds grid's intersection lines can be positioned over an object of interest in your image.
Phi—Unlike the Rule of Thirds, this grid doesn't divide the frame into nine equal frames; instead, only the top and bottom segments are the same. Position the subject of interest within the centre of the frame.
Spiral—Size and position the grid so the inner origin of the spiral is centred over the subject of interest; this balances the composition naturally. Also known as Fibonacci Spiral or divine proportions.
Diagonals—Position two objects of interest under the diagonal line intersections to balance the objects against each other.

To crop an image:

From the Photo Persona, select the Crop Tool from the tools on the left.
From the context toolbar, select a crop mode from the Mode pop-up menu.
Adjust the context toolbar settings.
Drag a corner, edge handle or anywhere on the edge to resize the grid to suit.
From the context toolbar, tap the check to apply the crop.

To reset your crop:

On the context toolbar panel, tap Cancel.

To crop an image to selections:

From the Tools panel on the left, select any Selection Tool.
Select the Crop Tool.
(Optional) Adjust the context toolbar settings.
(Optional) Drag a corner or edge handle on the grid to resize the grid to suit, then reposition the grid by dragging within it.
From the context toolbar, click Apply.

To uncrop the cropped image:

From the Document menu, choose Canvas>Unclip Canvas.

To straighten an image:

From the Photo Persona, select the Crop Tool from the tools on the left.
From the context toolbar, select Straighten.
Drag on the image to define the new alignment.
From the context toolbar, choose Apply.