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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 to many image editing workflows. Images may need to be re-orientated (E.g. Requiring a 90 degree rotation) or rotated by just a few degrees (E.g. To straighten an horizon).
It’s also important to be able to CROP your images, which means ‘trimming away’ parts you don’t want to include and ensuring the shape of the updated image is suitable for where it will be displayed or uploaded to. (E.g. For printing on photo paper, using in an online presentation or uploading to socials). This shape is commonly refered to an ‘image aspect ratio’. Common aspect ratios include:
1:1 Aspect Ratio (Often used for portrait thumbnails, and suitable for general use.)
16:9 Aspect Ratio(Often used if an image will be used in a traditional widescreen video)
9:16 Aspect Ratio(Often used if an image will be used in ‘vertical video’ on social / mobile media)
7:5 Aspect Ratio(A common ratio for printing photos)
6:4 Aspect Ratio (A common ratio for printing photos)
Let’s do it!
You can download the image used for this explainer from the section further down this page.
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 used in this explainer is in JPEG format – You can download it below. This is the most common file format for photos. If you have a recent mobile device or traditional camera you may also be able to save your photos in RAW format, and the HEIF format is also becoming popular. For compatibility reasons it’s best 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 🙂
Download the image used in this explainer
You’re welcome to download this image for personal use only:
Notes and updates
There are no notes or advisories at this time. This video explainer was last updated in February 2023. This page was last updated in March 2024.
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.
This is number 7 of the 15 explainer videos available for image editing month! Make sure you check out the others!
