Mac edit image in preview mac#

(YouвЂ™ll find shortcuts to these commands in the Edit toolbar.) The means for doing so are the Adjust Color and Adjust Size commands found in the Tools menu. Or, I can copy it and choose File > New From Clipboard to place the selection in a new PNG document.ДЄlthough Preview has nowhere near the editing power of iPhoto, Aperture, or Photoshop, it does let you manipulate your images in important ways. I can then crop the image so that only the logo shows. If I click the Instant Alpha selection tool, click in the middle of that logo, and drag gradually to the right, increasing amounts of that logo will turn red (based on how close they are to the color I initially clicked) indicating that theyвЂ™re selected. For instance, suppose that I have an image of the Apple logo-the gray version-on a red background. Again, Preview tries to guess what you mean to select, but this time it bases its assessment on nearby contiguous colors.

The Smart Lasso permits you to be a bit sloppy with your selection. For instance, if you have an image of a tree against a blue sky and you outline the edges of the tree, thereвЂ™s a good chance that the selection will include all of the tree but none of the sky. Preview will then decide what youвЂ™re trying to select based on detectable edges. The idea is to вЂњpaintвЂќ around the edge of the area that you want to select. When you choose Smart Lasso Preview presents you with a very broad drawing tool. For this reason, Preview includes the other two selection tools-Smart Lasso and Instant Alpha. Making a selection in this way can be challenging because a mouse or trackpad isnвЂ™t exactly a precision device.

But a Lasso selection isnвЂ™t complete until the two ends meet you must end your selection where you began it. (If you wish to force a perfect circle, hold down the Shift key while making your selection.) The other three selection tools require a bit more explanation.ДЄ Lasso selection lets you draw a selection that exactly matches the contours of the object that you wish to select, much as you might trace around the edges of a magazineвЂ™s picture with a pencil or pen. Elliptical is straightforward-you use this to create an oval or circular selection. If youвЂ™ve exposed the toolbar, youвЂ™ll see five selection tools listed along the top-right of the toolbar: Rectangle, Elliptical, Lasso, Smart Lasso, and Instant Alpha. You donвЂ™t have to use a rectangular selection tool, however. YouвЂ™ll see the exact same sheet with the same options in the Format pop-up menu. If you have some objection to touching the Option key (and really, isnвЂ™t it time you got over that?), choose File > Export. Use PreviewвЂ™s Save As or Export command to convert your images.

Mac edit image in preview mac#

(If youвЂ™re unfamiliar with these image types and wonder why you might choose one or another, see my вЂњ 20 more technical terms every Mac user should know.вЂќ) Unless you have a very good reason for using JPEG 2000 or OpenEXR, stick with JPEG or PNG. (The Save As command wonвЂ™t appear if you donвЂ™t hold down Option.) In the sheet that appears, click the Format menu and choose a different format your choices are JPEG, JPEG 2000 (a more recent JPEG standard that provides better compression than the original JPEG format did), OpenEXR (a high-dynamic-range image format), PDF, PNG, and TIFF. One avenue for doing so is to hold down the Option key and choose File > Save As. Once an image is open, you can convert it. Or within the Preview application, you can choose File > Open and navigate to the image you want to open. Alternatively, you can drag images to the Preview icon in the dock. By default, it (they) will open in Preview. The easiest is to double-click a compatible image file (or group of selected files). You have various ways to open images in Preview. Consequently, weвЂ™ll concentrate on images this week, and In the next lesson weвЂ™ll turn our attention to Preview and PDFs. Because PreviewвЂ™s abilities go beyond the obvious ones, we have a fair bit of ground to cover.