Photoshop crop is destructive?

[AntDX316]

Photoshop crop is destructive?  I can't crop back out like Lightroom?  You have to "know" to create a duplicate to prevent the 200+ photomerge from being cropped forever?

[Semaphoric · Accepted solution]

No, it's optional:

[DaveJCummings]

It being optional is a godsend.  

[AntDX316]

it should be unchecked By Default

[Semaphoric]

Feel free to post your idea here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem/ct-p/ct-photoshop?page=1&sort=latest_replies&filt...

[c.pfaffenbichler]

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@AntDX316 wrote:

it should be unchecked By Default

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Is changing the setting yourself a problem? 

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

It depends on the settings, as shown by @Semaphoric but it always pays to know how a tool works before you use it. Photoshop is very different to Lightroom so it is not always safe to make assumptions.

[Conrad C]

@AntDX316 wrote:

Photoshop crop is destructive?  I can't crop back out like Lightroom?  You have to "know" to create a duplicate to prevent the 200+ photomerge from being cropped forever?

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Photoshop works the way just about all photo editors worked when it was introduced (early 1990s), when all photo applications did destructive adjustments by default and it was considered normal. Lightroom came out almost 20 years later, and applies nondestructive adjustments by default, but that architecture also means it can’t do a lot of what Photoshop does.

As Semaphoric showed, Photoshop does offer you the Delete Cropped Pixels option. Disable that if you want a nondestructive crop. A lot of other photo editors still haven’t added that nondestructive crop option…but Photoshop has it.

[Semaphoric]

It should be noted that the Crop Command (from the Image menu) is always destructive.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

There is the additional issue of rotating while cropping (though I doubt this is what the OP is concerned about). 

If the Layers are not Smart Objects a crop-rotation would be applied destructively.