cs4 - Photoshop: Select item and crop it directly

I'd like to know if this is possible with Photoshop CS4 :

1. Select an item with Ctrl+T (on windows).


2. Crop it directly, without selecting the item manually.

It is possible?

Answer

In order to crop to a specific layer there are three different methods that I would use:

1. 
   

   Duplicate the desired layer to a new file by Right Clicking on the layer in the Layers Panel, selecting Duplicate Layer, changing the document to New. Once you go into the new document you can select Image > Trim, and select Based on Transparent Pixels (keep everything checked for Trim Away. (you can do this in the same file as well, but it does require you to hide all other layers, which can be exhaustive.)

   
   


2. 
   

   Another solution is to do the Ctrl+Click trick on the layer, specifically on the thumbnail of that layer. Then just go to Image > Crop. This is the quickest way to do it, but you have to make sure layers behind the object are hidden. If you set your Crop Tool to a keyboard shortcut then it's really just a quick Click and Keyboard Shortcut and you're done.

   
   


3. 
   

   The last possibility is a special trick I use for any items that are all the same size. For example if I have a mobile device screen that I want to save as an image without the environment displayed around it. You can make a rectangle shape overlaid on top of the screen and quickly do the same Ctrl+Click on the layer thumbnail and Ctrl+C afterwards. The rectangle shape layer ends up being a tool but doesn't contribute to the visuals themselves, so make sure that layer has 0% transparency or is just simply hidden at the time of the cropping.