Cropping and Image Organization / Making Photo Copies

[Vish335065848u7s]

I was wondering if there's a way to more efficiently crop images in Lightroom. As of now, I've been having to make copies of images and new albums for cropped images. I'm struggling to find a way to crop an image and preserve the original image at the same time -- I mean like if I crop an image, I only have the one cropped image in lightroom. 

Sorry if this is a simple question, I would love any input on how to better organize my images. 

Also any recommendations about using the 1-5 star system. 

[richardplondon]

The original (uncropped) image is always preserved in the sense that it is still latently there. Only so far as an export, or a print, or whatever - are those changes actually committed; and even then, only so far as this output.

One way to get back to a prior appearance of (the same) image could be to reset its crop or to reset its adjustments - which would be to in effect reverse your work.

Another way would be to review the various prior appearances that this image has passed through, including the initial one, in the History panel of Develop. For any image state that you want, you can separate that off as an independent image treatment, with Create Virtual Copy. If you've done this from a History state you can then roll that image back forward to show latest edits again. Now both treatments appear side by side in the folder view. Both refer to the same imported file so it is very efficient. One is cropped and adjusted one way, the other has a different crop etc, and either can now be further worked on, and organised, and exported from, however you want.

The 1-5 star system very much has to serve your own needs. You may not identify any reason to use it at all. Just bear it in mind in case some usage for it that would be helpful to YOU, occurs to you. One observation: 0 stars is less stars than 1 star, but that is also the default: 0 stars may simply mean "not yet evaluated for number of stars". So it's better not to employ 0 stars to mean 'of least value'. It's better to use a reject flag for that purpose IMO. And you can filter or sort a view to separate star-rated images vs unrated images, to help in your workflow.

[GoldingD]

Create a virtual copy, crop the virtual copy as you see fit.

[Conrad_C]

I'm struggling to find a way to crop an image and preserve the original image at the same time -- I mean like if I crop an image, I only have the one cropped image in lightroom. 

By @Vish335065848u7s

First, an original file is basically never cropped permanently in Lightroom Classic. The crop is always applied as metadata that can be removed at any time, restoring the full image. Any crop you apply will permanently affect only a copy you export.

There is more than one way to do what you want in Lightroom Classic, depending on what your overall goal is. The typical choice is between snapshots and virtual copies. This comes down to whether you want to manage all crops in one image, or each crop as a separate instance in the catalog database.

If you want each crop stored as part of that one image, create snapshots in the Develop module. For example, I have some images in my catalog where I cropped the same image to 3:2, 1:1, and 16:9. Because I created a snapshot of each crop, at any time I can recall that snapshot in the Develop module. The reason to use this method instead of the next one is if you want to save different crops with an image, and you don’t want to clutter up your catalog with copies.

If you want each crop to be a separate listing in the catalog database, create virtual copies of the original image. For example, you could have the original (uncropped or cropped), and then three virtual copies individually cropped to 3:2, 1:1, and 16:9. The reason you would choose virtual copies over snapshots is if you need each crop to end up in a different collection, or just need them listed separately from the original file, for use in different collections shared to Lightroom Photos, different slide shows, print jobs, books, etc.