photo editing - Photoshop: How to save only the masked area of an edited photograph?

Question

If you have a PSD file that consists of one main mask (masking all other layers), isn't there an easy way to save just the masked area as an image?

Background

So I have a photograph I've edited in photoshop, mostly cropping things and moving them around. As a final step, I created a rectangular mask to crop everything (while keeping all of my layers and edit history in tact). The end result is a picture of my wife standing in a different place and cropped smaller. That is, it looks like there's a photo in the middle of the canvas with about 2-3 inches of white all around it.

Now I want to save this picture in the simplest way possible. What I ended up doing was:

1. Save PSD file


2. Flatten image


3. Magic Wand > tolerance 1 > select all white area


4. Select Inverse


5. Cut


6. New File


7. Paste



8. Save For Web as JPG


9. Close everything, without saving

Summary

When I choose, save for web, it saves the entire canvas. I don't want the extra white "padding" all around and I don't want to manually crop it again (the mask has already done that for me). Surely there's an easy way to save only the area within the rectangular mask. Any and all suggestions welcome...

Answer

You can also select the mask (open the Layers palette, hold down the apple key, and click on the mask icon next to the layer) and then select Image→Crop.

SAVE FOR WEB (NOT JUST SAVE) or Save As if you want to keep a copy of the original.