How to Crop Images with Gimp – Tutorial

Do you want to know how crop images with Gimp? Cropping part of an image can be useful in many situations. You may want to selectively edit part of the image or remove the background. Most people use Photoshop for this, but GIMP is a great alternative if you're looking for a free program. We'll show you how to crop images with GIMP in just a few steps!

6 Methods to Crop Images with GIMP

Now, let's look at the methods you can use to crop images with GIMP. Each of these options is detailed so that the removal and cropping process is simple.

Here you can read about: How to Center Layers in Photoshop CS5, CS6 and CC – Tutorial

Method 1: Crop Images with GIMP (Remove Background)

• Step 1:: Open your image by dragging it from your desktop into the program.

NOTE: : Please note that GIMP does not support RAW files. If you want to open a RAW file, you will receive a notification that you must first install and use a RAW loader. Currently, the program supports RAW loaders. darktable y RawTherapee .

• Step 2:: use the Route toolYou will need to plot a path around your subject.
• Step 3:: To do this, select the route tool in the left sidebar. After this, start putting anchors around the topic.

NOTE: : Anchors are small circles connected by white lines. These lines give you the border of your selection and are where the cut will be made. Make sure you place your anchors carefully and precisely. You can adjust the anchors by dragging and moving them where needed.

• Step 4:: Once the route is drawn, press CTRL and click in the first anchor. This way, the program will connect the first and last points around your topic.

• Step 5:: Create a selection. In order to make adjustments to the subject, you must convert the path to a selection.
• Step 6:: On the left sidebar, click on «Route selection« You will know that the conversion has been successful once the solid lines disperse.

• Step 7:: create an alpha channel. An alpha channel will allow you to have a Transparent background. To get to this, right click on the layer you are using and click on «Add alpha channel«.

• Step 8:: invert the selection. You must have the background selected instead of the theme. Press CTRL+I to invert the selection. You will also see the outlines of the selected images.

• Step 9:: remove background. After inverting the selection, you can remove the selected area by pressing Delete on your keyboard. You will see the checkerboard background

NOTE: : If you don't create an alpha channel beforehand, the background would be white instead of transparent.

• Step 10:: Delete unnecessary parts. You may have accidentally selected too much or you want to delete some parts of the theme. You can correct your mistakes with the Eraser tool.

NOTE: : If you want softer edges, change the size, opacity, and hardness of the eraser in the left sidebar. The lower the opacity and hardness, the softer the eraser tool will be.

Method 2: Crop images with GIMP (paste an image onto another image)

Once you have your subject with a transparent background, you can use GIMP to paste it into any other image.

• Step 1:: To do this, first, you need to save the current photo with the transparent background. Go to "Archive" in the top left corner and select «Export How«.

• Step 2:: Click on «Select file type«. Choose PNG image, because . Png is the extension that saves your photos with a transparent background. Click on «Export» to save the image.

NOTE: : Now all you need to do is open the image you want to paste the old photo into. In this example, it will be a darker version of the original background. Drag the saved photo onto the other image. If you save it correctly, the subject should appear in the other photo without a background.

• Step 3:: You need to merge the layers before saving the image. Right click on the top layer and click on “Merging down«. After this, you can save your final photo in any format.

Other methods to crop images with Gimp

Below we will explain other simpler methods to crop images with GIMP. Crop an image, or "to render" an image, is one of the most useful things you can learn to do.

This means that you can extract part of an image and paste it into another image, or you can save it with a transparent background, or you can combine it with other images in a collage – you can do many things, just let your imagination run free.

Method 3: Crop Images with Gimp (Background Removal)

• Step 1:: Open your image, you can use any format it is in, for example, .jpg, .png, etc.

NOTE: : In this example we are going to cut to an image of a character called 'Pinkie' from the white background, so I can put this image of Pinkie on other images.

• Step 2:: Select the path tool from the menu (if you just opened GIMP and know how to find this tool, the menu is on the left side of the screen), the path tool looks like this:

• Step 3:: Put 'anchors' around the image. Anchors are the points that appear when you click the mouse on the image with the tool selected route. Using your mouse, click on a line around the image.

• Step 4:: Important step:you must connect the first and last anchor. When you are on the last anchor, hold the button CTRL and click In the first anchor, this connects the first and last anchor and creates a complete loop around your image.
• Step 5:: You can now, if needed, go back and pull the line around the image in and out to make it match closer to the ideal cut line. Do this by clicking on the line and while holding down the mouse button 'tire' from the line inwards and outwards.

• Step 6:: Go back to the left side menu and click on the “create selection from path«.

The line should now look like 'ants on the march'.

• Step 7:: Now you need add an 'alpha channel''. This helps GIMP to create a transparent background. In the top menu, go to 'Cover', scroll down to 'Transparency', then click on 'Add alpha channel'.
• Step 8:: Now you need invert and crop the image. In the top menu, click on 'Select'and then in'Invest'. Alternatively, you can press CTRL+I, then from the top menu select 'Edit', soon 'Cut', alternatively you can press CTRL + X.

NOTE: : Done, you should now have an image with a transparent background, which actually looks like a bunch of light grey and dark grey squares.

• Step 9:: To get rid of the marching ants (the anchor points), simply click outside the screen or go to «select» and then click «no«.

NOTE: : To save the image with a transparent background, you must save it in a format that can support not having a background (.jpg does not support transparent backgrounds). We recommend saving it first in GIMP's native .xcf and then save as a file . Png which is compatible with most other programs. Save as a file .xcf means you can easily go back and play with it in GIMP.

Method 4: Crop Images with Gimp (Background Removal, Option 2)

Cropping is just an operation to crop the image to a smaller region than the original. The procedure for cropping images with Gimp is simple.

• Step 1:: You can access the tool Cut out via the Tools palette like this:

• Step 2:: Use the tool Cut out to crop images with GIMP. You can also access the cropping tool through the menus: Tools → Transform Tools → Crop

NOTE: : Once the tool is activated, you will notice that the mouse cursor on the canvas will change to indicate that the tool is being used. Crop tool.

• Step 3:: Now you can click with the left button anywhere on the image canvas and drag your mouse to a location to create the cropping boundaries.

NOTE: : You don't have to worry about precision at this point, as you will be able to modify the final selection before cropping.

• Step 4:: Crop Selection. At this point, hovering your mouse cursor over any of the four corners of the selection will change the mouse cursor and highlight that region. This now allows you to fine-tune the selection for cropping.
• Step 5:: You can click and drag any side or corner to move that part of the selection.
• Step 6:: Once the region is good enough to be cropped, you can simply press the "Enter» on your keyboard to crop.

NOTE: : If at any time you want to start over or decide not to trim at all, you can press the » key I » on your keyboard.

Method 5 Crop Images with Gimp Using the Rectangle Selection Tool

Another way to crop images with Gimp is to make a selection first, using the rectangle selection toolLet's see the process:

• Step 1:: First you must go to Tools → Selection Tools → Select Rectangle.

• Step 2:: You can then highlight a selection in the same way as the Crop tool and adjust the selection as well. Once you have a selection you like, you can crop the image to fit that selection via Image → Crop to Selection.

Method 6 Crop Images with Gimp by Setting Window Mode

The screenshots in this method use GIMP in single window mode, which may look different than what GIMP does by default on your system. LinuxFor example, GIMP has by default 3 separate floating panels over whatever is behind it.

To change this, in the top toolbar of GIMP, go to Windows and select «Single window mode» in the drop-down menu.

Steps to crop images with Gimp

• Step 1:: Open your image. [«File» > «Open…»]
• Step 2:: Use the rectangle selection tool [«Tools» > «Selection Tools» > «Rectangle Selection»] to select only the part of the image you want. (Not in the photo)
• Step 3:: Crop the image with [«Image» > «Crop to Selection»]

Isolate the object

Determines the border pixel count

• Step 1:: Extends the edge of the object you are selecting.
• Step 2:: Get an approximate count of how many pixels are fading between the object and the background.
• Step 3:: In my case, the lemon's border looks to be about 6 or 8 pixels. This won't be a precise number, just try to get a little closer.

NOTE: : Use this number in a couple of steps when we tell the selection tool how many pixels to "Dispel", which is basically when to start fading to clear.

Foreground Selection Tool

The Foreground Selection Tool allows you to color in 3 different regions (Background, Foreground and Unknown), then automatically creates a selection for you around the edges of your object.

• Step 1:: Launches the foreground selection tool [«Tools» > «Selection Tools» > «Foreground Selection»]
• Step 2:: Draw a polygon around the edges of your object by clicking on the points. Stay completely on the outside of the object.
  • You can't undo during this step, so if you make a mistake, just press the Esc key and start again.
  • If it doesn't want to start over, leave it as is and you can fix it in the next step.
• Step 3:: When you are done with the polygon, press the key Enter and you should see something like this.

This is what the colors mean.

• The dark blue around the outside indicates the background.
• A lighter blue on the inside indicates Unknown.
• As you draw the foreground, the light parts will indicate the foreground.

Now look at the tab Options from the foreground selection tool in the bottom left panel of the screen.

• Step 1:: Make sure that «Feather edges» is selected and set Radio at the number you chose earlier. (In this case, 8 was chosen, but again, it doesn't have to be perfect and feel free to experiment)

NOTE: : This controls the gradual transition from opaque to transparent at the edges, which will become visible once we remove the background.

• Step 2:: Choose «Draw foreground» to paint inside the object.
  • Don't get too close to the edge, GIMP will automatically select the edge based on similar colored pixels
  • Use small brush strokes and undo if you make mistakes
  • Change the «Stroke width» to cover more or fewer pixels at a time.
• Step 3:: Choose «Draw unknown» If you accidentally go over the edge and want GIMP to figure out which pixels to select
• Step 4:: Choose «Draw background» if you want to get closer to the outer edge

NOTE: : In the screenshot below, you can see that a margin of "is the unknown» but shading in the foreground very close to the edges. You can play around with how close you need to get a nice selection. Eventually, you'll be able to do this very quickly. This takes less than 2 minutes to get a really clean cutout of this lemon.

• Step 5:: Brand "Preview Mask» in the foreground selection box at the top right of the image.
• Step 6: When you are satisfied, click «Select«

You will get a dotted line selection boundary like the image below.

Copy and paste into a new layer

• Step 1:: Copy the selection [«Edit» > «Copy»] and immediately paste it on top in the same place [«Edit» > «Paste»].
• Step 2:: Pay close attention to the Layer panel in the upper right corner.
• Step 3:: You must click on the green button «New layer» below. This will create a new layer for the pasted object.

Hide background

• Step 1:: Click on the Eye icon next to the original image to hide the background. You will be left with an isolated foreground.

• Step 2:: Crop the image to fit the content. [«Image» > «Crop to content»]

Now if you zoom in, you can see the smooth transition from solid to transparent at the edges.

Export as .png

• Step 1:: Export the image with an extension «.png» to save transparency/alpha. [«File» > »Export as…»]
• Step 2:: It's as simple as changing the name to «png«. GIMP automatically does the right thing.

The default export settings should be fine.

With some practice, you can get pretty fast at this process. Repeat with as many examples of the object as you like on several different backgrounds. The more examples, the better.

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Gimp Basics and Useful Tips

We would recommend you look up some beginner tutorials on YouTube if you get stuck anywhere in these steps. Below are some tips that you might find helpful.

• Get familiar with Zoom tools in [«View»> «Zoom»] and also with the magnifying glass icon in the top left toolbox, which will allow you to draw a box and then zoom in on that area. A particularly useful tool is [«View» > «Zoom» > «Fit image in window»] if you get too close.
• You can deselect by going to [«Select» > «None»].
• Some operations require several steps and you must press the key Enter to continue (or the key I to go out).
• When you're painting over an image, it's often easier to make lots of short strokes and undo a stroke if you make a mistake. (Ctrl+Z)If you try to do it all at once, it's much harder.

Conclusion

Cropping images with Gimp accurately can be considered a fundamental asset for a GIMP user. You can choose which method best suits your needs and explore its potential. You can crop part of an image and paste it into another photo using GIMP. You can also use this program if you want to make a transparent or white background.