Described is a technology by which an image such as a stitched panorama is automatically cropped based upon predicted quality data with respect to filling missing pixels. The image may be completed, including by completing only those missing pixels that remain after cropping. Predicting quality data may be based on using restricted search spaces corresponding to the missing pixels. The crop is computed based upon the quality data, in which the crop is biased towards including original pixels and excluding predicted low quality pixels. Missing pixels are completed by using restricted search spaces to find replacement values for the missing pixels, and may use histogram matching for texture synthesis.