Cropping to a Specific Size?

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Rastus

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I am having to crop images in LR 2.6. I do not want my crops to be smaller than 8" x 1'" or 1'" x 8" on export to Photoshop CS4.
When cropping how do I know when I've cropped too small? There are no interactive dimensions.

Rastus
 
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If you use the Info Overlay (Loupe Info 1) you will see (interactively when in crop) the image dimensions in pixels.

Use View>View Options to choose Info 1 or Info 2, you can then switch the overlay off and on using Ctrl+I.
 
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Just crop to 5 x 4 or 4 x 5 and send to Photoshop. Dimensions (or "size" for that matter) only exist on paper, not on screen. Photoshop can then "prepare" to print to inches. You see the behavior because your Photoshop is set to a default value making images set to a given ppi value. Changing this value do not add or remove pixels from the image. It is just adjusting printing "size".
 
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Thanks for the replies.
Great tip TNG. If only I had a choice between pixels or inches.

[quote author=Denis Pagé link=topic=9615.msg64986#msg64986 date=1271787242]
Just crop to 5 x 4 or 4 x 5 and send to Photoshop. Dimensions (or "size" for that matter) only exist on paper, not on screen. Photoshop can then "prepare" to print to inches. You see the behavior because your Photoshop is set to a default value making images set to a given ppi value. Changing this value do not add or remove pixels from the image. It is just adjusting printing "size".
[/quote]
Denis-
Are you saying if my cropped image exported from LR to PS CS4 is too small to print an 8x1' at the default ppi, which is 3'', then I should go into PS --> Image --> Image Size and boost the resolution from 3'' pixels/inch to what ever is needed to achieve an 8x1'?

Doesn't this degrade the image if I'm blowing up the pixels to an artificial bigger value?

Rastus
 
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In LR when you apply a crop to the image it is a ratio e.g 5 by 7.

When you export at that time you can apply a size /resolution to the output file.

If you are printing direct from LR then yes LR will resize to the selected size and dpi when sending info to the print driver.

LR never actually changes the size of the original file.
 
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Rastus, while not exactly interactive, you can set the Info Overlay to display cropped pixel dimensions, in View Options. Additionally, you can see the original and cropped pixel dimensions in the Metadata Panel in Library.

As far as up-rez interpolation of the image, yes, you're correct, this will 'degrade' the images. Actually, semantically, it's the cropping that degrades the images, the interpolation is a mathematical best guess calculation to repair the damage.

When working with Lr, it pays to think about crops in terms of X x Y ratios, but for down stream utilization, get used to thinking in actual pixel dimensions. Lr can either downsample and discard pixels for web displays, or interpolate and create pixels for large format printing. In either case, something has to give.
 
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Thanks for all the replies. I think I understand.
Bottom line, if I ultimately want to export for a 8x1' or 1'x8 don't crop below 24''x3''' or 3'''x24''. Otherwise interpolation will occur.

Rastus
 
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