2 Cropping Questions

[W Thorne]

Is there an easier way to remember a previous crop then using Shift-A? For example I have about 100 images to crop and process. Usually the crops are the same ratio for each image and it is usually a 4x6 perspective. On the first crop I select 4x6 then when I go to the second image I select Shift-A to get the same ratio. The Shift-A only works about 50% of the time so then I have to select it again in the drop down box.

Also, I'm not really clear what the "As Shot, Original, and Custom" mean under cropping. Do they mean the same if you have constraints locked or not?

Thanks for the help.

 

[frdjohns]

Original and As Shot will give you whatever ratio your camera used when you took the image. For most, this will be the 4x6 aspect ratio. Custom lets you specify a ratio that is not in the drop down list. If the constraints are locked, your aspect ratio will remain the same when you change the size of the crop. If you pull on one side, the other sides move also. If constraints are unlocked, then pulling on one side of the crop not only moves that side of the crop, it changes your aspect ratio.

I think that all you need to do is leave it set to "As Shot" and locked. That will start each image at a 4x6 ratio and lock it so that as you change size, your ratio remains the same. If you are looking to have the size and location of the crop the same, then I think you would be better served by cropping the first image, and using either the copy function for just a few images, or the synchronize function to copy the crop to the remaining images. Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[clee01l]

Original and As Shot will give you whatever ratio your camera used when you took the image. For most, this will be the 4x6 aspect ratio. ...

I would like to clarify this a bit. Most cameras have a sensor aspect ratio of approximately 3:2. If you count pixels closely you will find that is not precisely 3:2. Lightroom treats this as Original. And for most cameras, this corresponds to AsShot as well. Some Cameras have the capability of cropping in the camera. This is based upon a setting made by the user at the time the photo is taken. The camera may record the full sensor (original) but SOOC JPEGs will only capture the cropped "AsShot" aspect ratio. It gets tricky when shooting RAW when the Original and AsShot aspect ratios differ. It is for this reason (and certain cameras that report different aspect ratios in the EXIF) that LR introduced this distinction in a decimal release of LR4.

 

[Jim Wilde]

Is there an easier way to remember a previous crop then using Shift-A? For example I have about 100 images to crop and process. Usually the crops are the same ratio for each image and it is usually a 4x6 perspective. On the first crop I select 4x6 then when I go to the second image I select Shift-A to get the same ratio. The Shift-A only works about 50% of the time so then I have to select it again in the drop down box.

Also, I'm not really clear what the "As Shot, Original, and Custom" mean under cropping. Do they mean the same if you have constraints locked or not?

Thanks for the help.

If your camera produces 3x2 images, then there really shouldn't be a problem when cropping to 4x6....as others have said, leave the crop tool locked and you should automatically be at the correct aspect ratio when you move to the next image. If, however, you are trying to crop a bunch of images to a different (same) aspect ratio, I would go into Grid mode in the Library Module, select all the images you wish to crop, open the Quick Develop tool and then select the required aspect ratio from the "Crop Ratio" function. That will apply a centred crop using your selected aspect ratio, then go into Develop with the same images selected, open the Crop Tool, keep it open, then work you way through the images adjusting the crop position to suit.....all the images will open with the required aspect ratio already set waiting for you to adjust as needed.

 

[W Thorne]

Thank you Fred, Cletus, and Jim. All your answers really helped and I have a lot more clearer picture on how it all works.