# Ability to Lock Crop Tool until you want to unlock it



## NaturePhotog (Jul 21, 2011)

It may be that I am misunderstanding this tool, in which case I apologize ahead of time, but, it seems that it is Impossible to Lock the Crop tool to a certain aspect ratio, say 5 X 7 and have the Crop tool STAY locked to that crop dimension as you move from one photo to the next. 

It DOES seem to lock FOR that individual photo that I was on when I locked it.

Surely I can't be the only one who would want to say go through 100 images and crop them all to 5x7 or 8X10 (a wedding photographer for instance would conceivably do this for a client). 

As it is, when I Lock it to 5x7, the crop tool setting will stay "Locked" ONLY for that image. If I select the next image in line the Crop tool defaults back to the original default crop tool size, and is not still at 5x7.
This means that, if I want to crop 100 different images in a row to 5X7 (that are not all going to have the crop applied in the same place so I cannot SYNC the crop), then I have to take the time to manually select 5X7 on each and every image. I can set the crop tool size to a certain ratio in Photoshop and have it stay that way until I change it, so obviously someone at Adobe understands that someone might want to do this.
Again I apologize if I am not doing something right with the crop tool, but I asked this question of one of the reasonably well known Lightroom figures Nationally teaching Workshops, and there didn't seem to be anything beyond what I just mentioned.


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## MarkNicholas (Jul 21, 2011)

What you have to do is batch apply your chosen crop ratio to the photo you want it applied to. You will still have to go to each photo to rotate as required and to move the crop position to suit the particular photo.


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## NaturePhotog (Jul 21, 2011)

Thank you Mark, I appreciate your reply and I understand that I COULD do that, but, frankly the point of Lightroom is to simplify and streamline Workflow. Doing it the way you suggested, means that I first have to go and select ALL of the images I want to crop to 5X7, then, crop one, batch apply the crop to all of the images, and then go back to each image separately again. So, I am having to revisit these images twice, instead of during my edit process, as I view each image, just crop them at 5X7 with the crop tool having been locked on the aspect ratio I wanted. 
Again I would note that, this is a feature that has been long available in Photoshop, where I could set the crop tool  (essentially "LOCK" it) to a certain dimension, and then go from image to image to image and just use the crop tool with it having been already set (and staying that way) from when I selected that aspect ratio.


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## RikkFlohr (Jul 21, 2011)

Why not mass crop the entire batch before you edit and then adjust the crop when you do your first edit? You will only edit once and the 5x7 will be preserved throughout.

I would never do this myself as cropping for output aspect ratio is one my very last steps in the process as I never know when I retouch a photo what size  or sizes the client might order it in. I keep my options open. But that is my workflow preference.


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## Mark Sirota (Jul 21, 2011)

In LR3, to crop to the same aspect ratio as the previous picture, press Shift-A.  (In LR2, press S.)


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## NaturePhotog (Jul 21, 2011)

To Rick and Mark,
Again thanks to both of you and, obviously I am not going to go on defending my position in perpetuity  here. I do appreciate all of your suggestions. To Rikk, I would say that I would not want to do that since I would not necessarily be cropping EVERYTHING in a group of photos at the same size, however it certainly is feasible to be going through 100 images lets say, and knowing that I am going to choose 20 of them to output at 5X7 for use in greeting cards. It would be non-productive for me to batch crop the whole group, since I would not be cropping them all.
To Mark, thank you for that tip, I was unaware of that, but again, that is adding another step to the editing process, so, in this case as described above to Rick I would have to press SHIFT A 20 times as I went along to edit, or, Select 5x7 20 times. Obviously just because it is my opinion that this is an omission on Adobe's part, that doesn't necessarily make me right. In closing I will once again point out that, for years Adobe Engineers have recognized in Photoshop that someone might well want to go through multiple images, one after another and crop them at the same size, and toward that end, in Photoshop one can set the crop aspect ratio and it stays that way for one image after another until you choose to change it. I would also point out that there is a LOCK in Lightroom, and I don't see how it would be a huge stretch to have it actually LOCK the crop at a certain aspect ratio, regardless of how many images you clicked through, until such time as you chose to unlock it. Thanks again to all for your feedback. I hope everyone is having a great summer.


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## Kiwigeoff (Jul 21, 2011)

I recommend you place a feature request/idea at the new site for that here


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## MarkNicholas (Jul 22, 2011)

You say that batch processing a crop ratio is not what you want because not all the photos require cropping. So if there was a crop lock engaged how would you proceed when you came across one that didn't need it ? You would have to unlock it ? It would take about the same amount of time to reset the crop as it would to unlock the crop ratio. When you then came to a photo that needed it you would have to turn the crop lock on again ? I think you would be creating as many new steps as you would be eliminating and possibly more. You will still have to individually rotate and move the crop box which in my experience will take considerably longer than initially batch applying a crop setting which would take no longer than 5 seconds if you were slow !


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## NaturePhotog (Jul 24, 2011)

Hello Mark, Thanks for taking the time to respond, but, I don't understand your reply at all, especially when you say
"So if there was a crop lock engaged how would you proceed when you came  across one that didn't need it ? You would have to unlock it ?"
If I came to a photo that did not have to be cropped, why would I care what the crop was locked at?
While I have the potential at times to be a complete bonehead, I'm rather certain this is not one of those times, in terms of me understanding/not understanding the advantages and shortcomings of the crop tool. I will take the time to say again that obviously the engineers at Adobe AGREE with my thinking (or at least did in the past), since in Photoshop, for years, there has been the ability to set the crop tool to a certain size, move from image to image to image and have the crop tool remain at the same size. Obviously an understanding that this would be a desirable feature in certain circumstances, so I a making the point that I don't quite understand why if they think people would want to do that with photos in Photoshop, now that LR is supposedly the "Go To" editing software for photographers, why they would not have the same feature.


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## MarkNicholas (Jul 25, 2011)

I dont remember the crop tool in Photoshop as it is so long since I have used it. When I switched to LR I did find the LR crop tool much better and intuitive.

I thought I understood what you were trying to achieve but now I am not so sure.


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