The Complete Guide to Image Cropping

Cropping is where a photo becomes a picture: it chooses what the viewer sees. Done with intent, it is a compositional act. Done carelessly, it crops heads off. This guide covers the ratios, the composition and the workflow.

The aspect ratio cheat sheet

Composition basics in 30 seconds

• Eyes sit roughly a third from the top — crop with headroom above.
• Centre subjects in square crops; off-centre is fine in wide crops.
• Keep important elements inside safe margins (platforms overlay icons and text).
• When in doubt, crop looser — you can tighten later, never loosen.

Crop before you resize

Cropping removes data; resizing averages it. Crop first to the exact aspect ratio, then resize to the target width. Resizing first wastes pixels that the crop will discard.

The workflow

1. Upload the original (highest resolution you have).
2. Pick the preset ratio for the target platform.
3. Drag to frame the subject, using zoom for precision.
4. Export at the native crop resolution in the right format.
5. Resize or compress only if the file is still too large.