Constrain Crop Click to see a larger image

The proportions of the photos your digital camera takes are most likely different from the proportions of the prints you print at a photolab. iPhoto lets you crop your photos to the most common print sizes (4 x 6, 5 x 7, etc.) If you crop your photos to the desired size BEFORE you send them to the photolab, they will print as you cropped them. If you do not pre-crop, the lab will do the cropping and you may not get the results you want.

To pre-crop your photos:

1. Choose the photo you want to print and select Edit from the bottom toolbar.
2. Choose the Crop tool. You will enter cropping mode.
3. Make sure that the Constrain checkbox is checked and then choose the size of the photo you want to print. (4x6, 5x7, etc.)
4. The center of your photo will remain "clear", and the edges of the image will be "darkened". The darkened part is the part of the image that will be lost when you do the cropping.
5. Drag the clear part of the image around until you get the cropping you desire. You can also drag the corners of the clear part of the image to increase or decrease the size.
6. Press the Done button. Your image is now cropped to the exactly the size you are going to print.
7. Make any other edits you want to the image and then click the Edit button again to exit edit mode.

Related Items: iPhoto | Crop