Congratulations to Javier Sotomayor, November 2023 PFRE Photographer of the Month! The theme this month was "Open." Javier Sotomayor - Entry #879 Dave Koch - Entry #877 Peter Wingfield - Entry #874 Here's what Javier has to say: Hello First of all I wa ...
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Cropping helps remove unwanted backgrounds to draw the viewer to the main subject while reducing the image file size to meet the MLS requirements. Knowing how to crop a photo in a circle can help remove unwanted backgrounds in real estate photos of rounded houses or rounded rooms.
Generally, all DSLR and mirrorless cameras shoot photos in a rectangular shape with aspect ratios of 2:3 or 4:3 depending on whether it's full-frame, crop-factor, or micro-four-third. That means even with the best composition skills, your real estate photos will capture the unwanted background of the surroundings if you are shooting roundhouses with conical roofs.
Usually, this background can capture the viewer's attention and make them miss the key element you wanted to showcase in the photo, especially if the background involves physical features such as mountains or lakes. The best way to ensure the viewer focuses on the main subject and not the background is to crop it away.
Unlike many photo viewers and image editing applications that only allow rectangular or square cropping depending on the image's aspect ratio, Photoshop comes with complex features that allow you to crop a photo in a circle using the following steps.
Open the image you want to crop in Photoshop by clicking on File on the left top corner of the Photoshop window. In the window that pops up, browse through your hard drive, open the folder that contains the photo, select the photo, and then choose Open.
If you are using a windows computer, you can simply press Ctrl + O or Cmd + O if it's a Mac. Usually, the image will open in the Photoshop workspace as the background layer. Alternatively, you can drag the image into the canvas area of your photoshop to open it.
Keeping in mind that cropping will permanently cut off the image pixels, it is advisable to preserve the original image by duplicating the background layer. You can duplicate the layer by choosing Duplicate Layer from the layers panel or navigating to Layer and selecting Duplicate Layer in Photoshop.
Although it's not a must, consider renaming your duplicated layer to a more illustrative name. This makes your workflow more organized and prevents confusion, especially when working with multiple layers. Simply select the layer properties from the layers menu to open the dialog box, and then enter a new name next to the Name text box.
Although you will have a copy of the original image, consider converting the duplicate layer to a Smart Object so you can have the flexibility of doing and undoing your adjustments without quality loss. Typically, a smart object is a Photoshop layer similar to a normal layer, only that it allows you to perform non-destructive edits.
To convert the duplicated layer to a Smart Object Layer, click on Layer, go to Smart Objects, and choose Edit Contents from the drop-down menu that appears. A new window will appear, displaying the details of the created smart object.
Usually, Photoshop comes with several options for the marquee tool, including the elliptical marquee, rectangular marquee, and single-row marquee. A rectangular marquee is used to make a rectangular selection within the image, and a single-row marquee is used to make horizontal or vertical selections in the image.
On the other hand, the elliptical marquee tool helps to make circular selections in an image. Keeping in mind that you want to circle crop the image, it means you will use the elliptical marquee tool.
Usually, this tool is located behind the rectangular marquee tool, and you can pick it by right-clicking the rectangular marquee and then selecting the elliptical tool from the pop-up drop-down menu that appears. You can also open the marquee tool by pressing Shift + M key combinations.
The elliptical marquee will appear as a dotted circular pattern on the image. You can drag the edges using the following steps to crop the image in a circular selection.
The checkerboard patterns, normally black and white in color, help you to identify the transparent areas of your image. To remove the checkerboard from the background, go to the menu bar and choose trim.
At the top of the trim dialogue box, choose a transparent pixel, and then make sure that the bottom left and right of the checkerboard background are selected.
Press enter on the keyboard to close the trim dialogue box. You will notice that Photoshop trims away all the checkerboard pattern background, leaving you with a circular cropped version of the image.
Normally, it is advisable that you save the selection in a format that supports transparency, such as the PNG format. Saving your image in the JPEG format will prevent you from keeping the transparency around the corners by filling them with white colors all around.
To save the image in a PNG format, go to the menu bar and select Save As from the dialogue box. A pop-up window will appear where you will choose the destination you want to save your work. Normally, the pop-up window gives a choice on whether to save to the cloud storage or to your computer storage.
After selecting the storage, a window will appear where you will change the format type to the PNG format. Name the file and click Save. If Photoshop asks you to choose the PNG format saving options, you can accept the default options by just left-clicking.
Yes, you can circle-crop an image using Lightroom. Like the elliptical marquee in Photoshop, you can use the Lightroom radial gradient tool that allows you to crop your image in circular selections. If you have both applications, to make initial edits use Lightroom and then use Photoshop to make final photo retouches.
Open the text tool on the toolbar and then select and click Set to Path on the drop-down. Hover the text tool along the path until you see a curved arrow appearing on the cursor, and then write your text in the tool and position it around the circle-edged image.
Yes, you can blur the circular edges of an image using the elliptical Marquee tool in Photoshop. Open the elliptical marquee tool located below the rectangular marquee and set a feather radius in the tool setting bar to blur the edges of an image. There are around 14 types of blur in Photoshop which can help you achieve the edges of your liking.
Keeping in mind that rectangular aspect ratios are so common, learning how to crop a photo in a circle can make them unique and aesthetically pleasing. Simply change the image layer to a Smart Object in Photoshop and use the Elliptical Marquee tool to make a circular selection.
