How to Crop an Image in Illustrator

Sometimes a photo just needs a bit trimming off.

There might be too much background, something distracting at the edge or the image simply doesn’t fit the space you’ve got. You don’t need to jump into Photoshop for a straightforward crop… Illustrator has a tool built in for it.

The main thing to know before you start is that Crop Image removes what sits outside the crop area. If you’re still playing around with the layout and might want that part of the image back later, a clipping mask will probably suit you better.

Using Crop Image

If the image isn’t already in your document, go to File > Place, choose the image and add it to your artwork.

Click the image with the Selection Tool. You only want the image itself selected… not a group of objects around it.

Then:

1. Go to Object > Crop Image. You may also see Crop Image in the Properties or Control panel.
2. A rectangular crop box will appear over the image.
3. Drag the corners or edges until the box covers the part you want to keep.
4. Move the crop area around if you need to adjust the composition.
5. Click Apply, or press Enter on Windows or Return on a Mac.

The part outside the crop box is removed and you’re left with the area you chose. Adobe also notes that a linked image becomes embedded in the Illustrator file when you crop it.

One useful thing to remember here… the crop box is always rectangular. If you’re trying to crop an image into a circle or another shape, there’s a better way to do it.

What If Crop Image Is Greyed Out?

Usually, it’s worth checking what you’ve actually selected first.

Illustrator only lets you use Crop Image on one selected image at a time. If you’ve accidentally selected two objects, the crop option won’t be available.

Click away from the artwork, select the image on its own and try again.

The same applies if you’re working with vector artwork rather than a raster image such as a JPEG or PNG. Crop Image is intended for images, so it isn’t the right tool for every object you can select in Illustrator.

When a Clipping Mask Makes More Sense

There’s a big difference between cropping an image and simply hiding part of it.

Crop Image removes the unwanted area.

A clipping mask hides it, which means the rest of the image is still there if you decide to reposition it later.

This is handy if you’re still building your layout or you want a photograph to sit inside a particular shape.

Draw the shape you want to use and place it over the image. Make sure the shape is in front, select the shape and the image together, then go to:

Object > Clipping Mask > Make

Everything outside the shape is hidden.

It also solves the problem if you want your image to appear as a circle, triangle or another custom shape rather than a rectangle.

You can still go back and adjust the image inside the mask afterwards, so there’s a bit more freedom if you’re not completely settled on the layout.

Cropping an Image for Print

This is where it’s worth paying a little more attention.

Cropping a photograph doesn’t automatically make it poor quality. The problem usually comes when you crop down to a much smaller section and then enlarge what’s left to fill a big space in your artwork.

You might start with a perfectly good photograph, crop most of it away and then stretch the remaining section across an A4 leaflet or poster. If you then enlarge that smaller section, there may not be enough image detail for it to print sharply.

For print, we normally recommend images at around 300dpi at the final size they’ll be used.

So once you’ve got the crop looking right, check how large the image actually needs to be in your finished artwork. If you have to enlarge it heavily after cropping, have another look at the resolution before you carry on.

And changing a low-resolution image to 300dpi afterwards won’t magically add the missing detail back.

If the photograph goes right to the edge of the finished piece, remember your bleed too. The image needs to continue beyond the trim rather than stopping exactly at the finished edge.

For our artwork, that normally means allowing 3mm bleed.

Crop First or Resize First?

For most jobs, I’d concentrate on getting the crop right first.

Decide what you actually want people to see, get rid of the unnecessary parts and then size the image to fit the design.

That makes it much easier to judge whether the photograph still has enough quality once it’s sitting at its final size.

If you crop a small area and immediately find yourself making it much larger, that’s usually the point to stop and check the original image rather than carrying on and hoping it will look fine in print.

Cropping in Illustrator itself only takes a few clicks. The bit worth spending time on is making sure the image still works once it’s part of the finished design… not just while you’re looking at it on screen.