How to Crop and Straighten in Lightroom (Step-By-Step)

How to Crop & Straighten in Lightroom

Among Lightroom’s many features, the ability to crop and straighten photos is essential for achieving a polished and professional look.  Whether you want to remove distractions, improve composition, or align a crooked horizon, mastering the art of cropping and straightening in Lightroom is key.

In this tutorial, we will explore step-by-step instructions and useful tips to help you effortlessly crop and straighten your photos, unleashing their full potential with precision and finesse.

Step 1. Choose a Photo

With Lightroom open, select the image that you want to crop and/or straighten.  You can do this in the Library module or the Develop module.

Step 2. Open the Crop Tool

Once your image is selected, open the Crop Tool.  You will find it located on the toolbar just above the Basic Panel in the Develop Module (along with many other important tools).  The crop tool icon looks like a rectangle with corner handles which symbolizes the concept of cropping and adjusting the composition of a photo.

As a shortcut, you can also click the "R" key on your keyboard to activate or deactivate the Lightroom Crop Tool.

Step 3. Adjust the Crop Overlay

Cropping your photo is easy.  Once the Crop Tool is open, a grid-like overlay will appear over your photo (Note: clicking the crop tool again will make the crop grid disappear). 

To crop your photo, click and drag the handles found on each corner and side of the crop frame as desired.  You can also adjust your crop by clicking and dragging within the crop frame to position your photo.  In other words, move the photo around under the bounding box to select WHAT YOU WANT or DO NOT WANT to be in the frame.

Step 4. Straighten if Needed

You can straighten your image using the Lightroom Crop Tool, by clicking OUTSIDE of the cropping frame and cropping handles.  When you do this the tool will change to a "curved arrow" that will allow you to rotate the crop to straighten your photo or provide a different perspective.

Alternatively, you can also use the "Angle Slider" in the Crop and Straighten tool panel to adjust the angle of the crop.

Step 5. Apply the Crop

To commit the crop simply hit the "enter" key or the "R" key on your keyboard or click the “Done” button in the toolbar.  

Keep in mind the crop is not permanent and can be redone as many times as you want and your original in-camera crop will always be available by tapping "Reset" at the bottom of the Crop Panel.

Step 5. Export the Photo

Once you're done cropping, you can export the image by selecting File and then clicking on Export.

When you export the photo to a JPEG, the changes including the crop, will be applied to the new JPEG that is created.

Additional Crop Tool Options

Now that you know the basics of cropping and straightening in Lightroom, let’s look at some additional options the Lightroom crop tool offers:

1. The Crop Tool: (the two square rules intersected): clicking on this tool will allow you to drag a crop box (similar to the way that Photoshop has typically done) if that is what you are more comfortable doing.
2. Aspect Ratio: Clicking the double arrows next to the words “original” will allow you to select the aspect ratio that you would like to crop at.  There are a lot of preset aspect ratios to choose from, but if you select “Enter custom” from the drop-down menu, you can enter any custom dimensions you'd like.  Remember: You can also change your mind as many times as you like!
3. Lock: When the lock looks closed, the aspect ratio is locked and you can drag without any fear of losing the aspect ratio you have chosen.  Clicking the lock will open it.  When it is open, your aspect ratio is no longer locked and you can drag any crop you'd like.
4. Angle (the ruler inside a circle): This is a really neat tool that will help you straighten any crooked horizon or line (flag pole, building, etc.)  Just click once on the tool to select it, and click and drag a straight line over your crooked horizon.  Lightroom will automatically crop/rotate the photo so that the horizon (or whatever line you drag) is straight.
5. Angle Slider: The slider next to the angle tool will allow you to rotate the photo using the slider if you prefer.  You can also use the crop handles on the photo.  By positioning your cursor outside the crop handles you'll get a curved arrow that will allow you to rotate the photo directly on the photo.
6. Constrain to Image: This is a little-used tool that you'll only need if you apply a lens correction.  This will help make sure that only image data is showing and not the white space created by applying the corrections.

Conclusion

Mastering the crop tool in Lightroom can greatly enhance your photos and take your editing skills to the next level.  By following these step-by-step instructions you should now be able to refine your images with a well-placed crop quickly and easily.

How To Use The Lightroom Crop Tool - Video Tutorial

If you are more of a visual learner, watch our video tutorial below to see the Lightroom Crop Tool in action!

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