- Select rectangular markee tool
- With the
Styleoption configureFixed Aspect Ratiofrom the pulldown menu: set both width and height to 1. this will constrain the selection tool to produce a perfect square however you drag out your selection to whatever size
Center the square markee selection over your portrait image following the US Passport guidelines
for producing the necessary margins from your head and shoulders. Once the the selection is centered and with desirable
marigns then from the Image menu select Crop to crop the image.
(if more comfortable using the crop tool directly you can hold down the shift button and drag out a square then resize and
center etc. The crop tool can't be locked unlike the square markee tool which makes edits fickle getting just right)
Check current canvas size, verify square dimensions were produced, eg 7.771 in x 7.771 in
Calculate how big the canvas needs to be resized to for this cropped figure to occupy the full 2" spec. Resize the canvas accordingly by solving a proportionality equation like the one shown below:
7.771in / 2in = h/4 => h = 4*7.771/2 = 15.542
7.771in / 2in = w/4 => h = 6*7.771/2 = 23.313
In order to copy the image easily for the next step execute Select All and copy the square image to your clipboard. Now you
can extend the canvas to a 4x6 image with the new dimensions calculated above by navigating to the Image menu and selecting the Canvas Size... dialog. Choose the top left corner for the anchor and change the width and height to the values
calculated above. Be sure the units are selected as inches.
To sample different brightness etc for the image to be printed create several copies of the image into separate layers that can be edited independently of each other. With your clipboard paste the image several times and distribute the copies across the canvas being careful not to overlap any. You can squeeze three copies side by side, or go the full 2x3 matrix of with images and fill the whole print. There may be some risk of misalignment at the edges depending on the printer used so to be absolutely confident a single print right in the center of the canvas is safest. If you go with multiple copies in the same canvas then be sure to vary the brightness and color, etc so when printed you can cut out the one you judge to be the best version once physically printed. This is essentially a form of digital "exposure bracketing". Once you have the spread of images you want to sample then you may flatten the layers and save as an image file and upload to a photo printing service such as at your local drug store, shutterfly, etc.