How to crop to a specific size in Lightroom CC-2015

[thorolson]

I want to crop my raw images to a specific aspect ratio, but also need them to be a specific pixel dimension.  I see how to set the custom crop aspect ratio, but there seems to be no control for (nor info window telling me) the exact size in pixels of the crop.  This topic was brought up earlier (Cropping to a specific size in pixels) but not answered.  Does anyone else have this issue?  I am new to Lightroom, maybe I am missing something?

[Mohit Goyal]

Hi thorolson,

Please check the below links for brief information about cropping in Lightroom CC 2015

Crop and level | Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC tutorials

Crop an image | Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC tutorials

Lightroom CC – Cropping Images « Julieanne Kost's Blog

Hope it helps.

Regards,

~Mohit

[thorolson]

Thank you for these references but I had reviewed them earlier and found that they did not address my specific need.  I want to crop to a specific aspect ratio (3:2) for all of my crops, and also maintain a constant magnification.  The easiest way to do this is to set a fixed cropping size, say 1500 x 1000 pixels (out of my full camera raw image of 5184 x 3456).  I just don't see how to do this, and the references you provided don't address this situation.  Can you advise further?

Thanks,

Thor.

[elie-d]

‌The simple truth is, you can't. The best you can do is to set the the Info Overlay to show the cropped pixel dimensions. If you then try to get the crop box to an exact size, you will soon drive yourself around the bend. The best you can do is to settle for a "near miss", like 1506x1004, and then at export resize to 1500x1000.

[F. McLion]

Actually, I think the way it is, it's perfect.

IMHO, when cropping one should not have to think about resolution and stuff - it's more an 'artistic' process of getting the best out of the photo.

In export, LR exports the best resolution (what is left after cropping) of your work or you may limit/set a desired pixel dimension.

[thorolson]

The reason I would like an exact pixel dimension is that I am preparing frames to be used in a time-lapse sequence.  I want to center my subject (in this case, the moon is my subject), and not have it "jitter" because the crop area changes from frame to frame (I will also need to ensure it is positioned accurately).  I like the idea of doing it in camera raw via the xmp metadata so that I can later come back and make other adjustments.  Once the images are exported, I fear that I would lose much of this flexibility.  I thought Lightroom had Photoshop-like tools that would allow me to do these things.  The Camera Raw editor doesn't have this crop ability either it seems.

Any suggestions for other camera raw metadata editors?

[dj_paige]

You might want to search this forum and/or search the internet for suggestions on how to use Lightroom for time-lapse photography.

[dj_paige]

This is a two step process in Lightroom

1. Crop to desired aspect ratio

2. Export to the exact pixel dimensions you want

[richardplondon]

You can set a crop frame aspect and cropped dimensions for one image, that you are happy with, and then Sync or Copy/Paste that onto all the other images.

Cropping happens in terms of a percentage shown of the overall image frame (visually), not in terms of any particular units (numerically) - not inches of course, but not pixels either (* see below). However if you sync (or copy/paste) a certain crop from one image onto another AND these two started out with the same overall pixel dimensions, then the cropped dimensions will correspondingly match too, by default.

Either the positioning of these crops needs to be constant, or else varying, within the various imported pictures. One could imagine two time-lapse projects: one where the moon travels across the sky while the scene stays still, and another where the moon is kept still in the frame while the scene wheels around. In the former case, if the camera is on a tripod then it is a simple matter to crop the whole sequence in one. In the latter case, the crop frame one synced between the frames in a common position, would then need to be manually moved or nudged suitably in each one (but without changing its size).

All of these identically sized crops would then naturally Export in a consistent manner, using the same Export settings (best not to impose any file size limit here, since that may in the event get implemented differently for one or another frame).

(*) If you import a fullsize original JPG, and crop it within Lightroom to show just someone's face, that will report particular cropped dimensions - but these are incidental, in that they do not themselves define the crop. Because: if you downsize a second copy of this original JPG and import that too, and then sync the Lightroom crop from the first picture onto the second version - that too will show just the face, in exactly the same way pictorially. But it will report different cropped dimensions; which will be equally incidental. The crop AFAICT uses coordinates defined as fractions of the total imported image width/height (when not cropped).

[KC2PED]

I have the same issue as the original poster.  I have a bunch of images of last night's lunar eclipse that I want to crop and turn into an animated GIF.  My idea was that I would crop the first image 1:1 to the appropriate size then sync it to the rest of the images.  The crop was synced but the size was not maintained.  The rest of the images were cropped 1:1 to the full height of the RAW image.  I manually resized all the crops but can't get them to be the same size by hand. I am using Lightroom 5.  If it is not possible to specify an absolute crop size in Lightroom is there another product that will do this for me?

[JP Hess]

Lightroom can only be configured to crop to ratios, not to specific pixel dimensions. The challenge in a project like you are doing would be to have the moon placed in exactly the same position in the cropped images, then export copies of those images and specify probably one of the two dimensions. That would require that all of the images would be cropped to precisely the same size with the moon positioned in precisely the same position in each of those images.

[KC2PED]

My moons are all over the place so I know I am going to have to drag the image under the crop border to get it in the center of each frame

I can live with percent crop if I can select it on one image and get the same percent on all images

But when I tried scncingmy crop from the first image across all of the images It only synced the crop command and not the percent of crop

So all the images that were synced ended up with a full height crop and not my ~1400 pixel crop from the first image

[johnrellis]

Normally, if you copy or sync a crop from a source photo to a destination photo that's the same pixel width and height and orientation, the destination should have the same pixel-sized crop.

In the copy / sync settings window, are you selecting both Straighten Angle and Aspect Ratio?