Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2

First, the only change from Lightroom 1 to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 in regards to the crop tool is its new home. It moved from the Develop module’s Toolbar to the new Toolstrip under the Histogram.

You can still jump to the Crop Tool from anywhere in Lightroom by selecting a photo and pressing R.

Once you are in the Crop Tool you can choose between different crop overlays to help you find the strongest composition by pressing O to cycle through them, or look under the View > Crop Guide Overlay menu.

Cropping to an aspect ratio not a size

One of the most important things to keep in mind is that in Lightroom you crop to an aspect ratio, not a size. Size is determined during output (such as a print from the Print module or when creating copies during Export).

Every photo has an aspect ratio, which is just a way to express the relationship between the long side and the short side. A square photo has an aspect ratio of 1:1. As soon as you’ve have one side longer than the other you have a rectangle and the aspect ratio changes accordingly.

A common photo aspect ratio is 2:3. You can determine an aspect ratio by dividing the long side by the short side. So, for a shot from a D200 is 3872 x 2592, so if we do some math: 3872/2592 = 1.49, which we can round up to 1.5. So, our aspect ratio is 1:1.5, which is just another way to say 2:3.

So for example, if you want to produce a print that is 5 x 7 you would first crop your photo to match a 5 x 7 aspect ratio. Here’s how:

Step 1.

Select the photo and press R to jump to the Crop Tool.

Step 2

In the Toolstrip, click the Aspect Ratio drop down menu and choose the 5 x 7 preset (or for a different aspect ratio you could choose Enter Custom and enter the dimensions that match the aspect ratio you want to use). Lightroom will set the crop rectangle to match that aspect ratio.

Step 3.

Click the Lock icon to close it (press A to close/open the lock), which locks in that aspect ratio so that if you move the resize handles you won’t change the aspect ratio.

Once you’ve finalized the crop you can switch to the Print module and create a layout with 5 x 7 cells and the photo will fit snugly inside the cell.

If you want to send the photo away to be printed you would select your photo and go to File > Export. On the Export dialog, choose your file type in the File Settings panel, then expand the Image Settings panel and check the Resize to Fit box. Configure Export settings as desired. Click Export to have Lightroom create a copy of the source file that matches the settings you’ve chosen.

Change the orientation of the crop

There is an aspect of the Lightroom crop tool that is not as intuitive as it could be (based on how often the question gets asked), and that is how to change the orientation of the crop rectangle.

Let’s say you have a photo with a landscape orientation, but you want to create a portrait orientation crop within it. Here’s what you need to do:

Step 1

Select the photo and press R to jump to the Crop tool.

Step 2.

Choose the aspect ratio you want to be applied. Close the lock icon to “lock in” that aspect ratio.

Step 3.

Grab a corner resize handle and drag to the opposite corner along the longest edge until the orientation of the crop rectangle flips.

Since the aspect ratio is locked in, as soon as you decrease the length of the long side to the point that it is no longer the longest side the orientation has to switch to maintain the aspect ratio. Once the orientation has changed you can re-position the photo for best composition. Believe me it is easier to do than explain! Give it a try.

Cropping multiple photos easily

If you have a lot of photos to crop to the same aspect ratio it is much faster to apply the crop ratio to all the photos in Grid view of the Library module first, and then make any tweaks in the Crop Tool later. Here’s how:

Step 1.

Press G to jump to Grid view and select all the photos to be cropped.

Step 2.

Expand the Quick Develop panel and then expand the Saved Preset section.

Step 3.

Click the Crop Ratio drop-down menu and choose the desired aspect ratio. This will apply that ratio to all selected photos at once.

Step 4.

Press R to jump to the Crop Tool and make any composition tweaks as needed.

I hope that takes your cropping experience to the next level and speeds up your workflow a little more!