I Need a Graphics Tool to do “Live” Cropping / Zooming

I’m sure someone out there can help me with my problem, but I don’t know what to call it so I can’t Google it. I’m trying to create some banners that are 865×180 pixels (the specific size doesn’t matter, that’s just what I’m using today). I’ve got lots of images that are way bigger than that so I need to be able to zoom in and out and see what it’ll look like if I crop it. I’ve been doing it with some other tools, but my zooming scales are limited with Graphic Converter (I need some in-between scales) and with iPhoto (I do want to do this on my Mac) I’ve got no decent way to see what the crop will look like. Graphic Converter almost does it, because if I’m close (but bigger) I can paste it in a smaller window and fine-tune it; but when I want to look at an image at 20% or 30%, it’s not an option,

Obviously, I’d prefer to not have to get an ultra-exspensive tool for this. But there’s got to be a better way than I’ve been experimenting with. I’m hoping a flash tool that I upload my photo to and it zooms around for me. Or maybe just using a tool in a way I haven’t tried it yet…

3 responses to “I Need a Graphics Tool to do “Live” Cropping / Zooming

  1. I must not understand what you’re meaning, because I do this all the time with Photoshop, and assumed it was a function of all imaging software with a crop tool. Maybe you can download a Photoshop Elements demo and see if it’s what you are looking for??

  2. I was going to recommend asking Dave2 ;) Photoshop is the way to go… or maybe the cheaper Elements version.

  3. Ooh! I never thought about just downloading a demo of that to try it (and possibly just get it done)

    I also forgot about Elements, that would be much more affordable…

    To (maybe) clarify the problem a little more: I can semi-highlight a block/box the size that I want and scroll it around the picture to see if I like the resulting image, but I can’t zoom in and out at the same time as scrolling so it’s really inconvenient. Plus, when I zoom in or out the size of the pixels keep changing (and I have to keep re-highlighting the block/box I want). Maybe I should be adjusting the DPI so my box is the same “physical” size…

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