How do crop image around guidelines?

[Mason Dixon]

I just want to make the spaces to the far left and right of the vertical guidelines the same black as the background. How do I do this? Thanks

 

[MrToM]

I'm not sure I follow that exactly...

Your thread title says 'Crop around guidelines' and yet your post doesn't mention cropping at all.

Do you want to 'Crop' this where the guides are OR...
Fill the areas each side with [background colour]...OR...
Delete the foreground on each side to reveal the background...OR...
Something else entirely...??

Regards.
MrTom.

 

[Mason Dixon]

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I placed the photo on the black background using File-Place embedded.....can I still crop the photo to the guidelines?

 

[MrToM]

Gotcha!

Yeah.....have the 'placed' layer active.
Drag out a rectangular marquee from the very top left of the canvas down to the bottom right and snap to the first vertical guide.

You can select the other side too using 'Shift' and dragging from the top right down to the bottom left of the second vertical guide.

When you have your marquee just hit 'Delete'.

This will delete everything inside your marquee.

You can start your dragging from outside the canvas too.....it will auto correct to the very corner of the layer.

WARNING:
Adobe have tried to do the impossible by trying to split pixels.
Make sure your guides are snapped correctly and do not 'sit' within a pixel......your marquee could be out by a pixel if they are.

You can use 'Shift' to snap a guide (on creation or later by moving) to exactly between pixels.

Regards.
MrTom.

 

[Mason Dixon]

Thanks so much, I've got both my marquee selections but when I hit 'Delete' I'm getting a "the smart object is not directly editable" error

 

[MrToM]

No worries....

'Placing' images has a couple of options in the Preferences.....one of which is 'Place As Smart Object'....obviously that must be turned on.

If you are not familiar with Smart Objects and just want to place images normally then turn this option off in the Preferences.

For now, and with this image, all you need to do is double click the THUMBNAIL on the layer.

This will open the 'Smart Object' in another document where you can edit it.

NOTE:
This new document is not a PSD file but a temporary PSB file.
When you have done your edit (deleting) simply SAVE this document or CLOSE it.
It will update in your original PSD file.

If you want to revert the 'Smart Object' back to a normal layer before editing then right click the layer and select 'Rasterize Layer'.

You can then edit it as normal without opening in a PSB file first.

The choice is yours.

Regards.
MrTom.