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How to Crop a Photo for Printing in Photos on Mac
Learn how to crop an image to a print aspect ratio in Photos on a Mac, including duplicating the file first and saving your edited aspect ratio.
To crop a photo to a print aspect ratio in Photos on Mac, you can select an aspect ratio from the preset options, such as 4:5, which is intended for printing [Apple Support]. Because cropping a photo changes its appearance everywhere in Photos, you must duplicate the image before making edits to avoid altering the photo across your other projects [Apple Support].
Duplicating the image before cropping
Cropping a photo changes its appearance everywhere in Photos, including in your albums, slideshows, and projects [Apple Support]. To create different versions of a photo and edit without changing it everywhere, you duplicate it and work on the copy [Apple Support] [Apple Support].
Select the item you want to copy, then choose Image > Duplicate 1 Photo, or press Command-D [Apple Support]. As a practical suggestion, consider adding a keyword to your duplicates so you can easily locate the print-ready files later.
Applying a print aspect ratio
To open the editing tools, double-click the photo, then click Edit in the toolbar [Apple Support].
To crop to specific proportions, click Crop in the toolbar, then click the aspect ratio you want in the sidebar [Apple Support]. For printing the photo, choose one of the preset aspect ratios, such as 4:5 [Apple Support]. Adjusting the crop frame is recommended to ensure the new aspect ratio does not cut off important subjects in your image.
Saving and reverting crop adjustments
To save your changes, click Done or Save Changes [Apple Support].
If the cropped dimensions do not look right, you can reverse the edit. When you change a photo, Photos keeps the original so that you can always undo your changes and revert to the original look [Apple Support].
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