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Open an image, rotate it and crop it

Overview

Name of explainer: Open an image, rotate it and crop it

Creative theme: Image editing

Software used: GIMP

User level: BEGINNER

This is explainer 2 of 5 in this series

This series includes:

Open an image, resize it and save it
Open an image, rotate it and crop it
Open an image and apply basic colour correction
Open an image and add text
Create a new image with a single-colour background

The Software

This series of beginner explainers uses GIMP, which is completely free to download and use.

This month we’re also running explainer series for Photoshop (which requires a paid monthly or yearly subscription) and Corel Paintshop Pro (which has a one-time cost of around 70 pounds / 80 USD).

The pre-requisities

This is a BEGINNER workflow explainer, so you just need to install and open the software. We’ll take it from there.

If you’re new to IT / computing, you may need help downloading and installing the software. Start with a search for ‘how do i install gimp’ or speak with someone who’s familiar with downloading and installing.

Why would I do this?

Being able to rotate images is essential. Images may need to be re-orientated (E.g. Requiring a 90 degree rotation) or rotated by just a couple of degrees (E.g. To straighten an horizon). It’s also important to be able to CROP images, which involves trimming away the ‘bits’ you don’t need and ensuring the shape of the updated image matches its destination (E.g. Printing on photo paper or using it in a slideshow).

Let’s do it!

Click the play icon to watch this video. Subtitles are available – Click the settings cog at the bottom right for options. You can also watch this video full-screen by clicking the full-screen icon at the bottom right.

Good to know

The image we’ve opened and saved in this explainer is in JPEG format. This is the most common file format for photos. If you have a high-end mobile phone or traditional camera you may also be able to save your photos in RAW format, and HEIF format is also becoming more popular. For compatibility reasons it’s best to for most users to use JPEG format for general use at time of writing.

Where to next?

Remember, this is part of a series of explainers for this software – Join us again for the other explainers in the series 🙂

Notes and updates

There are no notes or advisories at this time. This video explainer was last updated in February 2022. This page was last updated in February 2022.

We at pixels.cool are not responsible for the content of any external webpages or software downloaded from third party sites. Links are included in good faith at the time of writing. All explainer content is compiled in good faith using processes and methods used by the team. Modern software gives users many ways in which to accomplish the same task, and for reasons of clarity we choose not to reference multiple options. All computer users should run up to date virus / security software at all times to minimise risk.

Download the asset pack for this series

If you’d like to follow our explainers using the actual assets demonstrated, you can download them using the link below. Not only do you receive the logos and images used in this series – You also gain access to versions of the videos without the background music. Nice!

ASSET PACK AVAILABLE END FEB.