Cropping question

[Gavvvvvin]

Is there any way to crop an image in Photoshop so that it can be undone at a later stage?

[ricktas]

not if you crop it and save it as the same file, no. But how about saving it as a different filename, then you always have the original to go back to

[soulman]

You can do this in Lightroom (and, I am guessing, ACR) if you're working on RAW images.

[ricktas]

You can do this in Lightroom (and, I am guessing, ACR) if you're working on RAW images.

yeah, but that is not what the OP asked. And you can do that with any RAW file, in any RAW editor. Your RAW file itself is never changed, only a copy of it is changed ad that is what you work on and save.

[Gavvvvvin]

Ahh I see...I guess I should leave cropping to the end of the workflow then Thankyou!

[Miaow]

As rick said - just crop save as another name and keep the original - if remember what did before cropped no probs

[fillum]

Don't know if this helps Gavvvvv, but you could use a layer to mask out the area you want to crop off. If you fill the layer with the same colour as your PS background it kinda looks cropped. You can then alter the layer if you change your mind, or use multiple layers to compare 'crops' before doing the actual crop at the end.



Cheers.

[soulman]

yeah, but that is not what the OP asked. And you can do that with any RAW file, in any RAW editor. Your RAW file itself is never changed, only a copy of it is changed ad that is what you work on and save.

ACR has been a standard Photoshop plug in since CS1 at least, and many people shoot RAW. It was a genuine attempt to be helpful. I am not familiar with every RAW editor, so I just spoke to what I know. Image adjustments made in Lightroom on RAW files are instructions saved to a database or sidecar XMP file. No image copies are created until an output of some sort - to external editor, plug in, or file export for eg - is required.

I guess I should leave cropping to the end of the workflow then!

FWIW, I like to crop early because I'm not then working on parts of the image that may be ultimately discarded. If there are clipped areas that will be cropped out for example, adjusting levels is hard to do while they're still there. If you really want reversibility you can, as others have suggested, just save copies at strategic points in the processing. You don't have to keep them all once you're finished processing the image if you're concerned about disk space, though I agree it can be handy to keep an original. Or you could shoot RAW, use ACR (or something else) and not have to worry about any of that.

The other thing I find really handy with cropping is to have preset ratios, rather than cropping "freestyle." The oft used ratios - 2:3, 3:4, 4:5, 1:1 - tend to look good and even cinema formats - 16:9, 1:1.85, 1:2.35, 1:2.39 - can work well for some shots.

[ricktas]

Agree with soulman in that cropping early is the way to go. What's the point of spending time editing bits of a photo you are going to crop out at the end of your post processing?