# Questions about cropping in Lightroom.



## Sgt_Strider (Sep 10, 2012)

I just want to make sure that I have a decent understanding of the cropping feature of Lightroom. I know there are various aspect ratios to pick from for the crop. However, when I drag the border to manually determine the crop, I see that the aspect ratio shows custom. I would prefer this for my digital uploads since I can achieve a tighter crop for some pictures. 


I just want to make sure that going with a custom ratio doesn't introduce any distortions or anything bad. Am I right? Any negatives going with a custom aspect ratio instead of going with one of the defaults?


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## Jim Wilde (Sep 10, 2012)

For a start, no there are no distortions or anything like that.....all that custom really means is that it isn't one of the defined aspect ratios. 

As to negatives of doing a custom crop instead of a fixed aspect ratio, that all depends on what you intend to do with the image. If, for example, you intended to print it then generally you'd use a defined aspect ratio to match your print size. But if you were just putting on a web-site you might think it more important to crop artistically (i.e. custom) rather than to a defined aspect ratio.

That's generally what I do.....for pictures that I intend to upload to Flickr, say, I'd not worry about aspect ratio and would instead custom crop to suit my preference for that image. But if I was intending to display on a digital photo frame, I would want to try to fill the frame so I'd try using a defined aspect ratio to match the display resolution of the frame. Horses for courses, really.


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## Jimmsp (Sep 10, 2012)

TNG said:


> .....for pictures that I intend to upload to Flickr, say, I'd not worry about aspect ratio and would instead custom crop to suit my preference for that image. But if I was intending to display on a digital photo frame, I would want to try to fill the frame so I'd try using a defined aspect ratio to match the display resolution of the frame. Horses for courses, really.



I tend to do the same. I will sometimes make a virtual copy if I want both a web crop and a print crop. I wish there was an easy way to distinguish them other than key words. What I'd like is the equivalent of another set of color labels.

Jim


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## Mark Sirota (Sep 10, 2012)

I often use the Copy Name to describe the crop. Generally I just set it to match the aspect ratio (e.g. "4:5").


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## Jimmsp (Sep 10, 2012)

Mark Sirota said:


> I often use the Copy Name to describe the crop. Generally I just set it to match the aspect ratio (e.g. "4:5").



Yes, that works. Except I can't find an easy way to do that from the development module. I was looking for a 1 click approach.


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## Mark Sirota (Sep 10, 2012)

Ah, I see -- quite right, there's no way to do that automatically. It's worth a feature request, posted at the official Adobe site (there's a link in the grey bar at the top of the page). I'd favor an "aspect ratio" token that could be used in the export filename template on export, as well as the ability to see them in the filter bar.


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## Jimmsp (Sep 10, 2012)

mark sirota said:


> ...... I'd favor an "aspect ratio" token that could be used in the export filename template on export, as well as the ability to see them in the filter bar.



perfect !


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## Allan Olesen (Sep 11, 2012)

I think we need a "crop manager" in Lightroom.

I would really like to be able to manually set the optimal 3:2 crop, the optimal 16:9 crop and the optimal 4:3 crop for each photo, and then do an export of all three crop versions when I have finished the set of photos. And then if I change a setting in the photo, re-export all three crop versions again with the new setting.

Right now this can only be handled inside Lightroom with a combination of virtual copies, keywords and copy/sync settings. Or you can handle it outside Lightroom by backing up the xmp sidecars for each crop version and then use exiftool or similar to copy the crop info back in the current set of xmp sidecars followed by a "Read metadata from file". But neither approach is elegant.


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## MarkNicholas (Sep 12, 2012)

Allan Olesen said:


> I think we need a "crop manager" in Lightroom.
> 
> I would really like to be able to manually set the optimal 3:2 crop, the optimal 16:9 crop and the optimal 4:3 crop for each photo, and then do an export of all three crop versions when I have finished the set of photos. And then if I change a setting in the photo, re-export all three crop versions again with the new setting.
> 
> *Right now this can only be handled inside Lightroom with a combination of virtual copies, keywords and copy/sync settings. *Or you can handle it outside Lightroom by backing up the xmp sidecars for each crop version and then use exiftool or similar to copy the crop info back in the current set of xmp sidecars followed by a "Read metadata from file". But neither approach is elegant.



This can actually be achieved very quickly. Simply select all the concerned photos. Batch create VCs and then batch apply your desired crop ratio and batch apply an appropriate keyword. You will still have to run through each photo to position the crop.


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## Allan Olesen (Sep 24, 2012)

I know how to do it. That doesn't change the fact that it is a clumsy approach.


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## Victoria Bampton (Sep 27, 2012)

Allan Olesen said:


> I know how to do it. That doesn't change the fact that it is a clumsy approach.



Then it's time to put in a request at the Official Feature Request/Bug Report Forum


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## Allan Olesen (Sep 27, 2012)

I am quite certain that the request already exists at that forum, and that I have already supported it. But since I can't find a way to see a listing of the ideas I have supported, I can't find it the request right now.


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## RikkFlohr (Sep 27, 2012)

Click on your profile
In the Show Topics pulldown, select "I agreed with"


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## Allan Olesen (Sep 28, 2012)

This is embarrassing on at least two levels: I am not able to navigate the photoshop.com site - and I am searching help for that problem by spamming a thread here instead of asking there.

Anyway, since the damage is already done in this thread:
I go to http://www.photoshop.com/home .
Now I see a link near the top saying "My profile".
I click on that link and end up at http://www.photoshop.com/users/Allan_Olesen/profile .
No matter which links I follow from there, I never see a Topics pulldown.


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## Jim Wilde (Sep 28, 2012)

Don't worry, Allan....I went round in the same circles as you!. I agree that Rikk's tip doesn't work if you click on your name at the top right of the page and get to your profile that way. However, if you click on your name in a post that you've made, you get a different profile page and there you CAN get to see the TOPICS pulldown. I haven't worked out yet how to get to that page without having to find one of my posts first!!


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## Victoria Bampton (Sep 28, 2012)

It's not just you - I can rarely find stuff on the Photoshop.com site and I mod there!!!


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