In this article, we’ll be taking a look at how you can crop and straighten photos in Adobe Lightroom.
Getting Started
Open Adobe Lightroom Classic, and import the image you want to work on.
Once imported, either click ‘Develop’ in the top right of the Lightroom Library module or press the ‘D’ key to enter the Develop module.
Finding the Crop and Straighten Tool
In the Develop module, select the crop tool from the right side-bar. You can also use the keyboard shortcut ‘R’. This will open up the Crop and Straighten tool, revealing the controls available for cropping and straightening.
The Angle Tool
One of the best features of the Crop and Straighten tool, is the ability to simply draw a line across the horizon of an image using the Angle tool. This alone is an amazing feature for landscape photographers.
To draw across your image using the Angle tool, click on the level icon and then simply draw a line across your photo from left to right along the line of the horizon.
Draw the line across your image by holding the mouse button. As soon as you release the mouse the image instantly orientates itself based on where you just showed Lightroom where the horizon is.
Hit enter, and your images new orientation will be saved.
If you’re not happy with the result, simply hit CTRL+Z (Command+Z on a Mac) to undo your changes and start over.
Alternatively, you can use the slider next to the Level icon to straighten your image manually.
Another way of straightening your image is by using your mouse.
Once you’ve selected the Crop and Straighten tool, and your image becomes highlighted, simply hover the mouse around the edges of your image to reveal the manual rotate tool.
Crop Your Images Using Fixed Aspect Ratios
With the crop tool selected, simply drag a corner of your image to resize it. Once you’ve reached the desired size of your crop you can drag the crop area mask around your image until you find your desired look.
When you crop using this method, the aspect ratio of your crop will be fixed to the aspect ratio of the original image.
To select a different aspect ratio, click on the label ‘Original’ to reveal a drop down menu of available ratios.
Once you have selected a new aspect ratio, your crop area will be restricted to that ratio.
How To Crop Without Using a Fixed Ratio
Finally, if you want to crop your image to a custom size, Lightroom allows you to crop completely free of any fixed sizes or ratios.
In the Crop and Straighten tool, click on the padlock icon to the right.
Once unlocked, you are able to move the crop overlay around your image until you find your desired size. Hitting enter will complete the process and your image will appear in its new aspect ratio.
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