Photo Software, Trim by Proportion

I'm finding myself going back to using my trusty ThumbsPlus program for one simple feature. I can trim a photo based on Proportion; namely I use the 4:3 Screen which then allows me to trim a portion of a photo down and have it proportional. Then I can easily change to 800x600 or which ever size needed. I have been unable to find this feature, at least by name in any Mac software.

Can anyone offer any advice?

try rapido resizer.

Photoshop will do this. I presume that Photoshop Elements will as well. Any Elements users out there care to comment?

I just DLed the trial version of PS elements, and yes, you can do this. The Rectangular Marquee Tool can by set to normal, fixed size, or fixed aspect ratio, and the Canvas Size/Image Size options give you complete control of the pixel size of the photo.

Actually, I am a bit surprised by the functionality of Elements. I always assumed it was a bare bones version of PhotoShop. The version I had on my PC was 5.5 and it was all I ever needed. The current version of Elements seems to have all the features and functionality of 5.5. I think I am going to buy it instead of the entire CS3. (I can use the other Adobe apps at school, and when I graduate, I'll probably spring for CS4)

But if all you intend to do is Crop a photo with a certain aspect ratio, just use iPhoto. I like iPhoto's crop system, because it gives you a 3x3 grid overlayed on the preview to line up your selection. If you know what the "rule of thirds" is, then you will understand why this is helpful.

I use Photoshop Elements 6 and, yes, you can specify cropping proportions.

Thanks for all the feedback. I've tried iPhoto and Rapido Resizer, but find both take way to many steps to accomplish the task. I'll try PS Elements to see how it goes.

Well isn't that special... all, or most Adobe product trials are off-line until July 1. So much for giving PS Elements a try. What a crock of...

According to Adobe they have a lazy programmer and nobody wants to fix the problem "During the month of June 2008, certain product trials that are launched for the first time (regardless of when they were installed) will function for only one day instead of 30 days, due to an error in a line of code that counts down the remaining days in a trial."

Sure makes me think twice about buying this program now. Even more aggravating is today is the 31... its not even June yet. All other download sites seem to point to Adobe, looks like I'm SOL.

Photoshop Elements is a great program - it is definitely NOT a minimalistic stripped down version of Photoshop. I have always been amazed at how much Adobe does include in PE - it appears to be most of the mainstream photo editing tools from Photoshop, plus "consumerized" versions of things like Bridge. It is a great package for the price.

I guess my point is that if you go out and buy it, irrespective of any trial, you will not regret it.

y-guy said:

Well isn't that special... all, or most Adobe product trials are off-line until July 1. So much for giving PS Elements a try. What a crock of...

According to Adobe they have a lazy programmer and nobody wants to fix the problem "During the month of June 2008, certain product trials that are launched for the first time (regardless of when they were installed) will function for only one day instead of 30 days, due to an error in a line of code that counts down the remaining days in a trial."

Sure makes me think twice about buying this program now. Even more aggravating is today is the 31... its not even June yet. All other download sites seem to point to Adobe, looks like I'm SOL.

Click to expand...

That's really strange. I'm not sure I'd buy the 'lazy programmer' excuse but whatever. I'll say this. I'd bet if you bit the bullet and bought PE6, you would not regret it. It is an awesome application! I've been into photography since the late '80s and digitally editing for about 10 years (used a real darkroom before that) and I'm completely satisfied with it.

Thanks for the comments on Photoshop, I'm going to wait to jump into it when I can demo it first. Most of what I needed was a quick way to reduce the file dimensions down. I found that Image Well from XtraLean can do this task and is priced right too. I'll demo it for a few to see if it's going to fit the bill.