Cropping Aspect Ratio auto-detect... disable it?

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Ruahrc

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So I have noticed that LR will auto-detect the aspect ratio of your crops depending on the aspect ratio of the original image.

For example, say I have a picture I took in portrait format, so the original image is taller than it is wide. If I select 8x1' from the Crop aspect ratio list, it gives me a crop box that is 8 high by 1' wide -taller than it is wide- like my original photo.

On the next picture I took it in landscape format. So it is wider than it is tall. I select 8x1' again, and the crop box is now 1'x8 -wider than it is tall- like my original image.

This is handy, but sometimes I want to crop an 8x1' section out of a landscape photo. For example I was looking through my pictures for a suitable photo to use as a desktop background for a monitor that has been rotated 9' degrees into portrait mode. Some of my candidates are in landscape format, but I could pick out a nice 8x1' section.

The trouble is if I select 8x1' crop from a landscape photo it sees the base photo as landscape format and gives me 1'x8. If I try to put in 8x1' in the custom aspect ratio box, it still "auto-detects" and gives me 1'x8 too. If I try to rotate the image 9' degrees and select it again, now it thinks it is portrait mode, and gives me 8x1' on the rotated picture which still equates to 1'x8 on the original photo.

Is there a way to get around this, short of maually dragging a crop box in roughly the right aspect ratio? Since the cropping in LR is pretty crude (no pixel-for-pixel accuracy), it is hard to get it exactly the right ratio. I'd have to BS it as good as I can and then maybe to a slight trim in Photoshop or something. Not optimal.

If there is no workaround, perhaps this should get posted in the feature request forum...

Norman
 
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Norman, if you close the padlock it will keep the chosen aspect ratio when you drag the corners. You don't have to rotate the image to accomodate for the crop orientation! Just drag a corner of the crop box around outside the image until it flips. Hard to explain but try to drag outside the image.
 
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Thanks, I tried that and it worked. You're right it's hard to explain but by dragging around the corner you can "squish" it into the new aspect.

I guess it's pretty intuitive once you know how to do it, but I wonder if it would be better if they had something like a checkbox or button that would flip the aspect ratio from tall to wide and vice versa? As it is there is no button or feature or label that inidcates how to flip the aspect.

Norman
 
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Soon, you will not need that check box. and it is easier to flip at will rather than having to click a box and come back. Let time do its job and you will become an expert at it. ;)
 
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Fortunately (and unfortunately), Lr is full of UI features(annoyances) like this. A great deal of time and attention has been paid to implementing an efficient and productive interface. Sometimes the result is intuitive and familiar, sometimes it's different and foreign seeming. And sometimes it's just a huge bone of contention.

I think that's part of the reason fora, like this one, stay so busy.
 
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