Help with my cropping of images

It was always as it is now when using Free Transform /Ctrl + T/. If you want to crop only top part then you must use the Crop tool and I will inform you that image on Smart Object layer / which you have active in video/ can not be cropped but can be hidden if you are using Crop Tool or simply use selection then add layer mask to hide top part of image on Smart Object layer.

I'm not sure if I understand. If you want to crop, as you say, you need to select the Crop tool. In the video it does not look like it is selected. If you want to resize the image (rather than crop it), then do as MaianeAraujo said and hold down Shift.

If I get it right you want to change the image without maintain proportions, right?

If so, all you need to do is hold shift while scaling it. Recently photoshop has updated and this feature changed so now the hold proportion is the default while scaling an image. Hope it solve yours problem. 🙂