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M
my cc
Inspiring
June 1, 2025
Answered

Automatically crop images to “cut out” a person

  • June 1, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 412 views

Hey,

 

I have several hundred RAW shots, each with a person in a landscape. This person is sometimes more, sometimes less far away. So sometimes more, sometimes less large in the shots. To ensure that there is not too much landscape and that the person is in the foreground, I always manually crop the image so that only the person is shown (with space on all sides, of course).
Of course, this is a laborious task, picture by picture.

 

Is there therefore an automated option? For example, Lightroom can mask subjects or mask the background:

 

 

 

If I could reverse the masking, expand the area and then crop - all automatically instead of manually - that would be a great help.

Any tips or tricks or plugins or anything like that?

 

The final result should look like this:

 

Have a nice Sunday!

mycc

Correct answer my cc

My solution (after asking a KI and trying several options):

 

– saving the dng as object in a psd (to have the chance to edit the original file; )

– German: Auswahl → Motiv

 

– expand selection, e.g. 300px:

 

– crop to selection (preserving the whole/original image)

 

– then in my case: move the image a little bit to the left (because the runners run from left to right ;-))

 

- via script: expand the canvas size to “restore” the original ratio of 3:2 or 2:3 (I want all my images to have the same ratio)

 

Final result:

 

 

... and leaving my PC alone at night to apply these steps to 767 images 😉

 

Happy running!

1 reply

JohanElzenga
Community Expert
JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 1, 2025

Lightroom Classic does not have such a feature, I'm afraid. If the person is more or less in the same location, then you could select all images, toggle the little switch on the left of the 'Synchronize' button to turn on Auto Sync, and then crop. All the selected images will now be cropped the same way. Then disable auto sync and go through each picture to adjust the crop if necessary.

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga
    M
    my ccAuthorCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    June 2, 2025

    My solution (after asking a KI and trying several options):

     

    – saving the dng as object in a psd (to have the chance to edit the original file; )

    – German: Auswahl → Motiv

     

    – expand selection, e.g. 300px:

     

    – crop to selection (preserving the whole/original image)

     

    – then in my case: move the image a little bit to the left (because the runners run from left to right ;-))

     

    - via script: expand the canvas size to “restore” the original ratio of 3:2 or 2:3 (I want all my images to have the same ratio)

     

    Final result:

     

     

    ... and leaving my PC alone at night to apply these steps to 767 images 😉

     

    Happy running!

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