How Do I Crop A Photo Free Handed In GIMP?

How to measure a picture in GIMP by inches?

• I'm having to do a quick commission for a very picky client. It's a simple thing--just adding text to a photo--but she's going to take it to be printed on a glossy. I'm normally not the kind of person to do this kind of work--I work with paper and ink, not digital. She wants it to fit on something like an 8.5x11" or 8x10" and I have no idea how to see what the picture is at it's current state--except for the fact that it's too long. How do I determine how to crop it? Help!

• Answer:

  You can see the image dimensions if you click Image > Print size > change the units to inches. However, the size shown in inches will depend on the resolution settings you have selected. You can also change the ruler to reflect the print size in any units you desire. In the status at the bottom left of the main image window, click on the two little arrows next to px, scroll down, choose inches. For an image to print well at 8.5x11" at 300 ppi, the image needs to be at least 2550 x 3300. You could get away with a lower resolution, say 200 ppi, for a reasonable quality print. So for example an image 8.5x11" at 200 ppi the image needs to be at least 1700 x 2200 pixels. Just remember not to get hung up on the resolution, it's only pixels that count in digital images! Assuming the image is large enough (or bigger) in pixel dimensions to be printed at the required size, all you then need to do is crop it to the required aspect ratio. Click the crop tool, in the tool dialog options, check Fixed, Aspect Ratio, in the box underneath type 8.5:11 then click and drag the crop tool over the image to make the crop selection, then hit enter. You don't actually have to make the image exactly 8.5x11", as long as there are enough pixels and you have the same aspect ratio set. When she gets the image printed, the software at the printers will be able to reduce it to fit the sheet size.