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malathan
Participant
June 23, 2010
Question

Crop to specific dimensions?

  • June 23, 2010
  • 8 replies
  • 28061 views

Is there a way to crop to a specific dimension?  I have a 3888x2592 image and would like to crop it to 2400x1600.  Problem I am having is I can get it to 2388x1589 or 2420x1619 or finally after many tries (over a minute of attempting) got it to 2399x1599.  Is there any way to FORCE it to a specific dimension?

Also, on export I know you can resize an image, but are you able to apply a resize within lightroom itself?  Can't think of a situation where I would want to do that, but just out of curiousity...

Thanks,

Clayton

      This topic has been closed for replies.

      8 replies

      S360
      S360
      Participating Frequently
      June 25, 2014

      As a long, long time user of PS we've finally decided to add LR to our workflow, not without some hesitation from staff. Besides catalog sharing which I believe we've resolved there's this issue "cropping to specific pixel dimension" We have several odd sizes that cannot be changed one of which 1601x1149. Our goal is to automate exporting of images with watermarking and various image corrections.

      Other than Rob Cole's possibility project saving plug-in (untested) we've found no way of automating the export of a specific pixel dimension without introducing PS back into the workflow before LR. I'm really amazed that this feature "common in PS" is not in LR.

      Options we've tried are:

      -Entering custom aspect ratio and entering pixels to convert, doesn't work.

      -Export, Image Sizing, Entering Dimensions 1601x1149. The result is 1601x1144

      Adobe can this not be a simple fix to include pixels and aspect ratios together?

      areohbee
      areohbee
      Legend
      June 25, 2014

      Consider going here to request or vote on the feature

      http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/products/photoshop_family_photoshop_lightroom

      (this is the user-to-user forum)

      S360
      S360
      Participating Frequently
      June 25, 2014

      Thanks Rob I will. edit: After visiting there was nothing specific posted to voting so i posted a feature request.Feature Request: Crop to specific pixel dimensions

        areohbee
        areohbee
        Legend
        July 2, 2012

        malathan wrote:

        Is there a way to crop to a specific dimension?

        Answer (in summary) @Lr4.1:

        Via direct support in Lightroom UI: No.

        Via manual xmp editing: Yes, if you are willing to figure out the correct values to use, and edit xmp using text editor, read metadata, and then save cropped photos for copy/paste in future.

        Via XmpCrop plugin: Yes, you can crop to a specific dimension, quite simply.

        Rob

        G
        GrizzlyAK
        Known Participant
        July 2, 2012

        Contrary to what everyone is telling you here, yes, you can crop to exact dimensions, kinda. I had the same problem. I first crop to a  specific aspect defined by the dimension I want, for example, 2400x1600. I do this by chosing "Enter Custom" in the crop box at the top right. You enter it as a 2.400 and 1.600, since 2.4x1.6 is the same as 2400x1600, and LR does'nt let you enter big numbers. Then, one you have it cropped to the right aspect, you can export the file to that exact dimension from LR using the Export command. I do this all the time to create exact dimension jpegs for my web site. Works great.

        areohbee
        areohbee
        Legend
        July 2, 2012

        Nobody is disputing whether you can export to exact dimensions or not, but if you read a little closer, you'll see the distinction some folks are making, and why they want to crop to exact dimensions, instead of exporting to exact dimensions.

        DdeGannes
        Community Expert
        DdeGannesCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        July 2, 2012

        OK so its not possible in LR, is it possible in a pixel editing program like Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro etc. without resampling?

        Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5,; Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; (also Laptop Win 11, ver 24H2, LrC 15.0.1, PS 27.0; ) Camera Oly OM-D E-M1.
        areohbee
        areohbee
        Legend
        July 1, 2012

        XmpCrop supports cropping to exact pixel dimensions:

        Click here...

        K
        keylightdigital
        Participating Frequently
        July 2, 2012

        Rob Cole wrote:

        XmpCrop supports cropping to exact pixel dimensions:

        Click here...

        Cool.  I downloaded and installed, but coming up with an error (which I've submitted via your site).

        areohbee
        areohbee
        Legend
        July 2, 2012

        Thx - I replied...

        R

        areohbee
        areohbee
        Legend
        May 3, 2012

        Dunno if it's worth the trouble to you, but you can set the crop in xmp using exif-tool (or a grep util, or text editor), then re-read metadata in Lightroom.

        There may be a plugin that automates it.

        PS - To "resize" in Lightroom, export back to catalog. I've done this before for special-purpose images.

        Cheers,

        Rob

        MikeKPhoto
        MikeKPhoto
        Known Participant
        May 4, 2012

        This is an interesting topic as I become more familar with LR I have been considering using the print module rather than printing from PS. This in part by comments from some of the forum guru's on how much better the print workflow is compared to PS.

        About 5 times I year I go into mass printing mode for my shows. I use pre-cut archival matts and buy in bulk to keep the costs down. So in PS I have custom crops that give an image about 0.15" greater than the window opening. This helps me keep the ink costs down as well (all about the margins, $ ones that is).

        I have been experimenting with LR and output cropping to keep the workflow within Lightoom, but not being successful. For instance in PS I can crop an image to 4.15"x6.15" to fit an 8x10 matt (I let PS handle the resampling) and print a bunch of copies. Is this possible within LR, because I either I am really missing someting or doing somthing really wrong.

        Any ideas more than appreciated

        Cheers

        G
        GrizzlyAK
        Known Participant
        June 24, 2010

        I've complained about this before too, and requested it be added as a feature. You can, however, enter exact aspect ratios, even if your pixel dimensions are greater than 999.999 (the max for LR). You can just enter it as a rational number, so 1900 x 1200 would be 1.900 x 1.200. These numbers provide the same ratio and will work in LR. Not having a way to specify exact pixel dimensions is just LAME, LAME, LAME and would be trivial to do in LR. WE WANT IT ADOBE!

          exploded_view-6yAW9i
          exploded_view-6yAW9i
          Participant
          June 23, 2010

          I don't know if you've been doing this, but you can crop to a specific ratio (through Enter Custom...), which in your case would be the very common 3:2 (then set the specific pixel dimensions on output, as, I think, you have been doing).

          I don't think you can crop to specific pixel dimensions within Lightroom (save for doing this on export). The current setup is probably a better way to do things anyway, since you can use any region of your original photo at the chosen ratio, rather than having to use a 100% crop.

          I've used this method for blog headers, etc., and I've found it very handy to just be able to set the ratio in Lightroom, select the section I want as a header, then export at exactly the dimensions I need.

          dorin_nicolaescu
          dorin_nicolaescu
          Inspiring
          June 23, 2010

          No, you cannot.

          Why do you need to crop to exact pixel dimension? Is it a photograph or some technical drawing?

          Andrzej007
          Andrzej007
          Participating Frequently
          May 2, 2012

          I like macrophotography where magnification and details matters.

          I have a photo 4000 x 3000 and I want to crop SPECIFIC region of the photo having EXACT size of my desktop i.e. 1440 x 900.

          This would give me maximum magification without losing details.

          It's not possible with LR

          Keith Reeder
          Keith Reeder
          Participating Frequently
          June 30, 2012

          I agree with Andrzej007.  Sometimes I need a 1:1 crop

          First, to those who ask, "Why not do it during export?"  Or worse, "Why would you want to do that?"....   Does it REALLY matter to you WHY I want to do a crop of a specific number of pixels?  The fact is some people really need this.

          I do a lot of timelapse stuff and build videos at 1920x1080.  I shoot full frame (in my case that is 4608x3456).  I correct my shots in LR.  So, what's the best way to get my images to 1920x1080?

          Here's an example image:

          Well, I could crop with a fixed aspect ratio (which is 16:9) and then export with a resize to 1920x1080, which would give me this:

          Of course I can crop a smaller portion of the image, and then on export resize down to 1920x1080.

          But what about cropping to exactly 1920x1080 at a true 1:1 pixel crop (without resizing down)?

          So to crop this image...

          ... and end up with this....

          ... I would need to "guess" at the size, release the mouse and check (with informaion overlay turned on).  Then do it again.  And again.  And again.....until I got it exactly at 1920x1080.  That's a royal pain in the rear.

          In Photoshop I can use the Marquee tool and define exactly 1920px x 1080px and then go to Image > Crop:

          But in LR there is NO way to define actual pixels.  Seems like it would be fairly easy to do, since you can already enter in a custom aspect ratio.  Just add something like a little checkbox in the custom aspect ratio box.  Something like this:

          Or make it a set of radio buttons with the ability to choose between aspect ratio and actual pixels.  (And rename the setting to "Custom Dimmensions" instead of "Custom Aspect Ratio".

          --------------------

          JimHess raised an interesting issue (emphasis added):

          In Lightroom, photo dimensions is part of the export function, not the editing.  You cannot specify a size in the develop module.  You are going to have to modify your workflow.  Crop to the 2:3 aspect ratio, and then export with the long side set to 2400 pixels.  That's the way it works.  Otherwise, you would have to have a separate image for every purpose.  The whole idea (for me, at least) is to have one master image that I can use for any purpose.  Then I use the export function to customize the copy for whatever purpose I need.

          Is this true?  Doesn't seem to make any sense to me. Here is some sample crop metadata that LR saves:

             crs:CropTop="0.232327"

             crs:CropLeft="0.587547"

             crs:CropBottom="0.541667"

             crs:CropRight="1"

             crs:CropAngle="0"

             crs:CropConstrainToWarp="0"

          So LR is saving information about 3 corners (don't really need the 4th).  That's it.  So it should absolutely be doable to define a specific number of pixels to crop to instead of an aspect ratio.  The software will still write the same resulting metadata - the location of each of the three corners.

          So then, why not just do what other people suggest?  Why crop to whatever portion of the image I want and then resize to 1920x1080 on export?

          Well, as Jim said, the whole idea behind LR is to have a single master image that I can use in a whole bunch of ways.  So I can make virtual copies to do other kinds of crops.  But exporting?  That actually means I'm creating "a separate image" for the purpose of doing a timelapse.

          See, as it stands right now, I can make all my changes in LR, and then import the RAW files into After Effects, and AE will read the metadata from the file and apply it.  So if I get my crop right in LR (set exactly to 1920x1080) then I can simply import the RAW files and AE will see the footage at the right size.  No need to render before importing, and no scaling needed, which improves the render time.  I don't need to create a whole new set of exported images that eat up storage space.  And I can easily go back in and make an adjustment to my crop in LR, then switch over to AE and reload the sequence.  It'll instantly update, with no need to re-export from LR.

          See, THAT's the power of LR.  Exporting is great when you're at the END of your workflow, and for me, LR is just the first step in a long post production workflow.

          Edit:  Of course sometimes I don't need 1:1 pixel crops; sometimes I'll want to resize.  In these cases I'll set my crop using a set aspect ratio and then deal with the resizing in After Effects, avoiding the need to render twice (because I still don't need to export from LR to use the RAW files in AE).


          keylightdigital wrote:

          Does it REALLY matter to you WHY I want to do a crop of a specific number of pixels?  The fact is some people really need this.

          Well yes, of course it matters, if you're expecting something to do a thing it's clearly and unambiguously not designed to do - it'd be like complaining that a little 1 litre city car can't do 200 mph, even though you "really need" it to.

          You use the tool that does the job - you don't buy a screwdriver then complain that it's crap at driving nails home.

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