Using the Crop Tool

The pecan_cluster_raw.png image shows not only the candy on the gray background, but also part of the table where the image was shot. You don't need all that surrounding material you just need the candy for the final image. The Crop tool allows you to select a rectangular portion of the image you want to keep and deletes the rest.

Tip

You can change the Crop tool preferences to leave the pixels outside of the cropping area. Choose Edit > Preferences (PC) or Fireworks > Preferences (Mac) and then choose the Editing category. Deselect the option to delete objects when cropping. You don't need to do this for this exercise.

1.	Select the Crop tool from the Tools panel. The pointer cursor changes to the cropping tool cursor.
2.	Start at the top left of the candy image and drag diagonally to the lower-right side. As you drag, you'll see a dashed rectangle that indicates the area you want to keep. Even after you release the mouse button, you can modify the area by dragging one of the corner handles or dragging on the sides of the rectangle. If you want to move the cropping rectangle, drag from within the rectangle to the new location. The pointer appears as a four-pointed arrow when you are within the cropping area.
3.	Press Enter (PC) or Return (Mac) to crop the image. Tip Press Esc to release the Crop tool if you change your mind and don't want to crop the image.