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Prodigy9
Prodigy9
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Cropping and the snap to grid?

Apr 6, 2012 8:51 PM

When cropping my crop area (square/rectangle/what-have-you) is always snapping to some sort of invisible grid.  Is this just how Lr4 works or is there a setting I have settup incorrectly?

 

And also, When I crop an image I have to move the image into the cropping "square" and cut of a portion of the photo but it's only part of the image I want cropped.  And when I do have the image I press "return" and the image appears to be cropped until I go to crop more of the image.  Suddenly I'm left back at the state before the previous crop.  What am I doing wrong?

 

Thanks!  (I hope this makes sense)

1872 Views   16 Replies   Latest reply: Prodigy9, Apr 8, 2012 7:38 PM
 
Replies
  • Cornelia-I
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    1. Cornelia-I,
    Apr 7, 2012 1:06 AM   in reply to Prodigy9
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    No, not really ;-)

    I am unclear whether you might be bitten from a bug or if you need some explanations about what to expect.

    So I'll adress the latter. To chase a bug you need to give more info about your OS and the steps you are exactly doing.

     

    Snapping while in crop mode is something I know when I try to switch from a portrait image to crop for landscape or vice versa. If I want to crop like this I hit the X key first, as this will give me the same image ratio with the side-lenghts swapped. Then I can drag around without further snapping.

     

    LR displays cropping the opposite way as Photoshop: you move the image underneath the crop-rectangle, not placing the crop part on top the image.

    As LR is non-destructive, you should get your latest crop rectangle ("overlay" in proper terms) displayed again whenever you return to crop mode. So you start refining from there.

    If you do not see the crop overlay you may have toggled off the visibility of overlays. Set it back to visible from the menu choices in the crop panel in the top right corner.

     

    Cornelia

     
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  • Prodigy9
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    2. Prodigy9,
    Apr 7, 2012 5:46 AM   in reply to Cornelia-I
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    OK...

     

    Well first thing first...  I'm running Lr4 on a Mac Pro... 

     

    The cropping is different then photoshop for sure...  Basically, almost inverted.  So, my Lr4 is functioning fine.  It's just my tactics which are reversed. This is good to know.

     

    One question...  How do I tell Lr4 I'm done/satisfied with the newly cropped image?  I guess the "Done" button at the bottom?  Or do I need export the updated image?

     

    Also, Is the rectangle the only way to crop an image?  Can there be a square or even possibly a circular crop function?

     
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  • Cornelia-I
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    3. Cornelia-I,
    Apr 7, 2012 6:41 AM   in reply to Prodigy9
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    When you are satisfied, you either hit the <enter> key or click on "close" on the crop-panel. It is the bottom of the crop panel, but that is still high on the right-hand panel.

    I do not find a "done" in my LR4.0.

    ...as I am more of a keyboard-guy than mouse-guy I always have to take a look to answer.

     

    <esc> is the shortest way to abandon the crop endeavour and return to where you started invoking the crop (which could be library module if you used the R key).

     

    To my knowledge you can only crop in rectangular way. You have different overlays to guide your decision-making (like spiral etc. - toggle with O key), but the result will always be some rectangle, which can be square, of course.

    If you open the padlock you are free to drag the ratio, or you could choose from the drop-down menu "Aspect" one of the presets or enter your own dimensions. LR will recalculate them, though and display maybe different.

    So circular is not possible.

     

    For circular you could employ a trick e.g. in Print module: create a watermark or identity plate with circular opening, opaque for the rest.

     
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  • Prodigy9
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    4. Prodigy9,
    Apr 7, 2012 7:56 AM   in reply to Cornelia-I
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    Are you using Windows?  The X Key for me is to "Set Flag"...  Also the "done" button is in the lower bottom on right.

     

    And how many overlays can you have?  It looks like two total.

     

     

    btw: I like the watermark/identity plate trick for the circles.

     
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  • Mollysnoot
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    5. Mollysnoot,
    Apr 7, 2012 4:40 PM   in reply to Prodigy9
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    X key is for setting the 'reject flag', except when in crop mode - then it defaults to switching the orientation, as Cornelia stated.

     

    M

     
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  • Cornelia-I
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    6. Cornelia-I,
    Apr 7, 2012 4:44 PM   in reply to Prodigy9
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    Yes, I am on windows.

    X is "mark as delete" for me also when I am in Library module.

    But once I am in crop tool (after having hit R) the X becomes "invert ratio width-length".

     

    Crop overlays: I have two-thirds, diagonal envelop-like, spiral, narrow grid. That is hitting O once in crop tool (after R) to toggle them all thru.

    Shortcuts are identical on Mac and Windows apart from the modifier keys ctrl-vs-cmd, alt-vs-opt.

     

    So I'd expect you see the same.

     

    Cornelia

     
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  • Prodigy9
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    7. Prodigy9,
    Apr 7, 2012 5:15 PM   in reply to Cornelia-I
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    Yes...

     

    You are correct...  But I also noticed I had "A" Constrain Aspect Ratio checked which was really giving me a difficult time until I unchecked it.

     

    Thanks for the help...  I understand now that it's not the application...  It's just the way I'm used to designing as apposed to the way Lr4 works.

     

    I still find it interesting though that you do not have a "Done" button at the lower right-hand corner of the crop window.

     

    Thanks again

     
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  • trshaner
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    8. trshaner,
    Apr 7, 2012 8:45 PM   in reply to Prodigy9
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    Yup, it's there, as well as 'Close' in the Crop panel, hitting the 'Return' key, or hitting the 'R; key...all do the same thing. There's usually more than one way to control a function in LR.

     
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  • Prodigy9
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    9. Prodigy9,
    Apr 8, 2012 12:23 AM   in reply to trshaner
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    Cornelia had mentioned in a previous post they didn't see the "Done" button.  I wasn't sure if it was a Mac only thing.  i.e.  Maybe the Windows version while being almost identical is slightly different in some areas of the Lr4 Layout.

     
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  • trshaner
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    10. trshaner,
    Apr 8, 2012 6:20 AM   in reply to Prodigy9
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    I'm on Windows 7, but would assume the Mac version has the 'Done' button as well. Anbody?

     
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  • Rikk Flohr
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    11. Rikk Flohr,
    Apr 8, 2012 8:19 AM   in reply to trshaner
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    Mac also has a [Done] button. You can also hit [Return] or Double-click inside the cropped boundary.

     
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  • CharliePuckett
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    12. CharliePuckett,
    Apr 8, 2012 8:58 AM   in reply to Prodigy9
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    Ummm I don't know about the rest of you, but I just press the 'R' key again to exit cropping.

     

    Its a toggle: Now you're cropping, now you're not.

     
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  • Rikk Flohr
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    13. Rikk Flohr,
    Apr 8, 2012 9:12 AM   in reply to CharliePuckett
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    Some people prefer a mouse

     
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  • Cornelia-I
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    14. Cornelia-I,
    Apr 8, 2012 1:08 PM   in reply to Prodigy9
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    Hi prodigy,

     

    I stumbled upon one more option to achieve the look of a circle crop:

    Go to the Effects panel in develop module, and set the post-crop vignette to zero feather, completely round, and apply a strong amount.

     

    Maybe you like that look?

     

    Cornelia

     
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  • Rikk Flohr
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    15. Rikk Flohr,
    Apr 8, 2012 2:40 PM   in reply to trshaner
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    If you aren't seeing the [Done] button, hit the [T] Key to invoke the Toolbar...

     
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  • Prodigy9
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    16. Prodigy9,
    Apr 8, 2012 7:38 PM   in reply to Cornelia-I
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    Cornelia....  Yeah...  I actually you vignette a lot with my photos...  I think it adds a nice soft and/or sometimes extreme effect.

     
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