CROP PICS SMARTER

Improve composition with Pixelmator Pro

IT WILL TAKE

YOU WILL LEARN How to use the new machine learning (ML) Crop tool

YOU’LL NEED Pixelmator Pro 2.1 Coral (£38.99)

Pixelmator Pro 2.1 Coral uses artificial intelligence in a range of tools to speed up the photofixing process. The latest update has now added machine learning (ML) to the Crop tool. Cropping is a classic technique that photographers use to reshape a shot’s content for a host of reasons. You might need to crop an image to lose a stray finger (or unwanted object) from the edge of the frame. Cropping also makes distant subjects look more prominent in the frame.

As well as being powered by machine learning, Pixelmator’s ML Crop tool provides overlays that help you create a more aesthetic composition that obeys the classic Rule of Thirds used by classical painters. You can even adjust perspective while you crop to counteract the converging verticals caused by perspectival distortion. Let’s put the ML Crop tool through its paces. George Cairns

Machine Learning Crop

The ML Crop tool creates a custom crop to suit the subject. Here it has removed empty sections of sky and grass.

5 Fine-tune

The ML Crop may miss important details such as the rainbow in our shot. Drag with corner handles to tweak the crop.

2 Auto straighten

Click here to summon the Auto Straighten tool. If it can’t recognise a horizon manually, counteract the tilt using the Straighten slider.

3 Perspectival distortion

To straighten out a tall building’s converging vertical lines, drag this slider to the left. 4 Overlays

Here you’ll find a wide range of overlay grids to help you compose a more aesthetically pleasing shot when cropping.