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USING PHOTOSHOP LIGHTROOM 2
Developing photos
Adjusting crop and rotation
Crop a photo
The Develop module contains tools and controls for cropping and straightening photos. Lightroom crop and
straighten controls work by first setting a crop boundary, and then moving and rotating the image in relation to the
crop boundary. Or, you can use more traditional crop and straighten tools and drag directly in the photo.
As you adjust the crop overlay or move the image, Lightroom displays a grid of thirds within the outline to help you
compose your final image. As you rotate an image, a finer grid appears to help you align to the straight lines in the
image.
Crop using the Crop Overlay tool
1
Select the Crop Overlay tool
in the tool strip, or press R.
An outline with adjustment handles appears around the photo.
2
Drag in the photo with the Crop Frame pointer or drag a crop handle to set the crop boundary. Corner handles
adjust both image width and height.
Note:
After you drag a crop handle, select the Crop Frame tool to use it.
3
Reposition the photo by dragging the photo within the crop frame using the Hand tool.
4
Click the Crop Overlay tool or press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac
OS) when you’re finished cropping and
straightening.
Press the letter “o” to cycle through different composition grid overlays in the crop area. To display the grid only when
cropping, choose View
> Tool Overlay > Auto Show. To turn off the grid, choose View
> Tool Overlay > Never Show.
Clear or undo a crop or straighten adjustment
❖
Click Reset in the Crop Overlay tool drawer.
Crop to a specified aspect ratio
1
Select the Crop Overlay tool
in the tool strip.
The Padlock icon in the tool drawer indicates and controls whether the crop controls are constrained.
2
Choose an aspect ratio from the Aspect pop-up menu next to the padlock. Choose Original to specify the photo’s
original aspect ratio. Choose Enter Custom to specify an aspect ratio that is not listed.
Press S to select the Crop Overlay tool with the last-used aspect ratio selected.
Lightroom stores up to five custom crop ratios. If you create more than that, the older ones drop off the list.
3
Drag a crop handle to set the crop outline or use the Crop Frame tool.
Press Shift as you drag a crop handle to temporarily constrain to the current aspect ratio.
Crop to a different orientation
You can crop a portrait (vertical) photo to a landscape (horizontal) orientation, or a landscape photo to portrait
orientation, using the Crop Overlay tool.
1
Select the Crop Overlay tool
in the tool strip.
Updated 03 September 2009