Cutting Images to Shape

[cjbrown50]

I want to cut to shape old newspaper clippings. Can't seem to figure it out. Need some help please. Using Elements 15. Windows 10

[99jon]

Have you tried using the crop tool in Expert mode? After dragging over the image you can move the corner or side handles and even rotate, to match exactly the dimensions of the clippings.

[cjbrown50]

Yes I have tried using that tool. I cannot manipulate the crop tool to do what I need.

To help me explain my situation one example appears below.

I want to crop out the lower right portion that is not related to the FCC announcement. 

[99jon · Accepted solution]

I would use the rectangular marquee tool. Simply drag over the bottom-right portion and press the backspace or delete key. See image below:

[cjbrown50]

Yes that works. Content is deleted. Is it possible to remove the empty white area?

[99jon]

You can double-click in the layers pallet on the background layer. That will convert to Layer 0 which will then accept transparency. You could then perhaps use the eraser tool to remove the white pixels. Save as PNG24 to preserve the transparency.  If using the PNG image on any website the cutting will appear completely cut out with the transparency reflecting the web page (background) below the image or page color in a prepared print document.

[cjbrown50]

It took me a little while to get the background eraser to function. But it does the job I was looking for. Saved as a PNG to preserve the transparency on a future print document. Thanks for all you help.