Lightroom CC Classic changing the dimensions of my photo when I export it.

[D R Smith]

Sometimes I need to export some photos to my harddrive to 1920px wide X 1080px high.  Everytime I try to do this Lightroom changes the dimensions to 1620px wide by 1080px high.  I'm a newbie to Lightroom and Photoshop so I'm hoping someone can help me figure out what I am doinng wrong.  I DID try searching for the answer before posting this question here.  Any guidance would be most appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

[Just Shoot Me]

It is because the original file you are working with, the one you are exporting, is in the 3:2 ratio.

1620 / 3 = 540  540 x 2 = 1080

If you want the final exported file to be 1920 wide then the height needs to 1280. Again the 3:2 ratio and retain the complete image

Again 3 units wide by 2 units tall 1920 / 3 = 640    640 x 2 = 1280

Your 1920 by 1080 is 16:9 ratio so you would need to Crop the image to that ratio before doing the export.

[Rob_Cullen]

JSM has shown the math, and the answer to "Crop as 16:9" to FILL 1920x1080.

Here are screen-clips to visualize the concept of "Resizing in Lightroom"-

1. The DIMENSIONS you type in the Export Resize boxes define the "Boundaries" for the exported image.

So if you type [w1920 x h1080] then you are defining an empty 'page' that your image must fit within.

2. The image you are exporting must FIT within the Dimensions, and as JSM explains if the image has a different ratio of w:h then it will export at suitable dimensions to FIT.-

[Just Shoot Me]

This is a reply to a post you made saying you used Photoshop to resize your image to fit the dimensions you wanted. Somehow it got removed.

Yes but what you are doing is Stretching the file in the horizontal dimension. That will make it look odd.

Please give this a try.

With the original image in the LR Develop module click the Crop tool icon or press the r key to bring that tool up. In the crop tool area in the right hand panel click the double triangle next to the Lock icon and where it says Original then select 16 x 9 from the list that drops down. If you don't see 16 x 9 then select Enter Custom and type in either 16 and 9 or 1920 and 1080 in the respective boxes, width & height respectively.

Here are screen shots.

Crop tool dialog. Crop tool icon and the 16 x 9 drop down in red boxes.

Enter Custom aspect ratio input box.

And how the crop tool will crop out part of your image to fit those dimensions.

The areas in red will be removed from view (But they will still be in the original image if you want to Undo the crop after you export it at your 1920 x 1080 dimensions).

You can move the image around inside the area to get exactly what you want in the exported image file.

I hope this helps.

[D R Smith]

Thank you.  I didn't realize I would be stretching my photos by resizing them in Photoshop but that makes sense.  (Newbie!)

Anyway, these dimmensions I'm trying to reach are for submission to the camera club I belong to's digital judging night each month.  The requirement is that the "maximum" horizontal size is 1920px or less for landscape oriented images.  So I suppose the 1620px by 1080px will still work.  I can see that I have an awful lot to learn.

Thanks again.

[Just Shoot Me · Accepted solution]

Yes but if you read my other reply you can leave the image in the aspect ratio it is in, 3 x 2, and have the width that 1920 and the height 1280. That leaves the image in its native ratio and doesn't go over the max horizontal width the club wants.

No need to do anything but change that one dimension.