help wanted: non-rectangular photo cropping

[jxyama]

i am trying to put together a collage of photos... and i want to crop photos in non-rectangular shapes (circle, ellipse, polygon, etc.). iphoto can't do this.

any free or shareware apps out there that can do this? i also own photoshop elements and freehand and also can access illustrator.

i'm sure one of the programs above can do this, but i can't find the way. i'm in kind of a hurry (a gift for a date coming up very soon) so any simple pointers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

photoshop elements should be able to do it - also illustrator.

But if you put each image as a separate layer in photoshop, you can edit them and lay them in the order you like. Probably the easiest solution.

D

 

[jxyama]

thanks. but i still can't find the tool in PSE to crop... there's an option to draw an ellipse. i assume i now have to map the image into it or something?

sorry if this is really easy, i'm a complete newbie at PSE...

i was going to layer the cropped images in one large canvas, as you had suggested.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Assuming... that Photoshop Elements is similar to PS.

Put your images to be cropped on separate layers, select one of those layers, go to the Marquee tool (top left of tools), click and hold down, choose Elliptical Marquee tool.

Still working on that same layer, drag/draw your elliptical selection (ie. what you want left after the crop).

Go to the Select menu>Inverse (thus choosing the opposite of your original selection) and then Clear with the Backspace key or choose Cut/Clear from the Edit menu...

(If you want a softer edge to your selection, then feather it before Inverting it -- also under the Select menu)

Hope this is of some help

 

[jared_kipe]

you could probably do the same thing by using the eleptical marqee tool and then just copy and paste in new layers.

 

[Blue Velvet]

you could probably do the same thing by using the eleptical marqee tool and then just copy and paste in new layers.

doh!

I wonder if I could have made it even more roundabout & convoluted than my first description. Mind you, I don't like creating too many layers anyway as it bloats everything...

 

[jxyama]

worked like a charm!

thanks to everyone for their helpful and wonderful suggestions!