Skip to main content
Participant
May 19, 2011
Open for Voting

P: A way to create a custom crop overlay.

  • May 19, 2011
  • 22 replies
  • 7100 views

I am looking for a way to create a custom crop overlay.  The few that Lightroom offer don't work when trying to do consistant head sizing in the program.  

22 replies

Participant
October 28, 2022

Hello,
I am a portrait photographer and I often take corporate photos, in this case, I have a large number of photos to crop while keeping a uniform appearance. I would like to have a custom template grid allowing me to crop easily a whole batch of photos

Participant
October 28, 2022

I've tried this technique before, but it's not practical, I would just like to benefit from an overlay with a head/eye area to be able to crop in an homogeneous way

Rob_Cullen
Community Expert
Community Expert
March 22, 2022

The nearest function possible in Lightroom-Classic is a 'Layout Image' overlay, but it is not real useful as it disappears when you choose the Crop Tool.

It is useful when Camera Tethering as you can position the camera view to place and size a 'face' view.

 

 

 

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.0, Photoshop 27.0, ACR 18.0, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0 .
Participating Frequently
March 22, 2022

Correct.  If you've shot hundreds of school portraits and want to make all their heads the same size using the crop tool, lightroom currently does not have an easy overlay that allows for this.  An oval that could surround the face, or better yet, A.I. that detects their eyes and then applies a crop based on that so all faces come out same size.

Participant
March 20, 2022

Wondering this too!!! 

Participant
February 3, 2022

Yes!! I need this too for headsizing!  It would be nice to create a custom overlay in Photoshop, and then upload into Lightroom.  Or for lightroom to be able to have custom lines created at specific distances, and/or ovals.  How is this not an option?!

Tanya5E41Author
Participant
September 21, 2021

What I am looking for has nothing to do with the aspect ratio.  I want a better option to use as a cropping overlay.  Thirds, Grid, Diagnal, Center, Triangle, Golden Ratio, Golden Spiral, and Aspect Ratio are the only current options.  I am trying to just send in a suggestion to Adobe to add a better option for those who would like to create their own custom overlay.  

GoldingD
Legend
September 21, 2021

From a similar posting, but for 1:1, modify for your desired 5:7

 

So, in the screenshot below, I have selected the crop tool, I have not specified a crop ratio. And my default overlay shows up (Thirds)

 

Now, I can change the overlay, in the below, to Aspect Ratio

 

select just tour desired ratio

 

 

 

GoldingD
Legend
September 21, 2021

I think the OP wants to have a specific overlay shwon when cropping.  The grid lines shown.

 

 

KR Seals
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 21, 2021

@Tanya5E41  I can't quite picture what you are asking for. How would it know where to position it's self? If that is what you are asking for.

Ken Seals - Nikon Z 9, Z 8, 14mm-800mm. Computer Win 11 Pro, I7-14700K, 64GB, RTX3070TI. Travel machine: 2021 MacBook Pro M1 MAX 64GB. All Adobe apps.
Tanya5E41Author
Participant
September 21, 2021

I am looking for a crop overlay, not custom aspect ratio.  I crop all my portaits at 5x7.  A custom overlay would adjust with your image as you crop in, the same way the grid or rule of thirds overlays do.