# Use smart cropping
<a name="use-smart-cropping"></a>

This solution uses Amazon Rekognition for face detection in images submitted for smart cropping. To activate smart cropping on an image, add the **smartCrop** property to the **edits** property in the [image request](use-the-solution-with-a-frontend-application.md).
+  **smartCrop(optional, boolean \$1\$1 object)** - Activates the smart cropping feature for an original image. If the value is `true`, then the feature returns the first face detected from the original image with no additional options. For example:

  ```
  const imageRequest = JSON.stringify({
      bucket: "<myImageBucket>",
      key: "<myImage.jpeg>",
      edits: {
          smartCrop: true
      }
  })
  ```

  The following **smartCrop** variables are shown in the following code sample:

   **smartCrop.faceIndex(optional, number)** - Specifies which face to focus on if multiple are present within an original image. The solution indexes detected faces in a zero-based array from the largest detected face to the smallest. If this value isn’t specified, Amazon Rekognition returns the largest face detected from the original image. **smartCrop.padding(optional, number)** - Specifies an amount of padding in pixels to add around the cropped image. The solution applies the padding value to all sides of the cropped image.

  ```
  const imageRequest = JSON.stringify({
      bucket: "<myImageBucket>",
      key: "<myImage.jpeg>",
      edits: {
          smartCrop: {
              faceIndex: 1,  // zero-based index of detected faces
              padding: 40,   // padding expressed in pixels, applied to all sides
          }
      }
  })
  ```

**Note**  
 **smartCrop** is not supported for animated (such as, GIF) images.