Is there any way to crop an image in Photoshop so that it can be undone at a later stage?
Is there any way to crop an image in Photoshop so that it can be undone at a later stage?
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
"It is one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like, it is another thing to make a portrait of who they are" - Paul Caponigro
Constructive Critique of my photographs is always appreciated
Nikon, etc!
RICK
My Photography
You can do this in Lightroom (and, I am guessing, ACR) if you're working on RAW images.
Ahh I see...I guess I should leave cropping to the end of the workflow then Thankyou!
As rick said - just crop save as another name and keep the original - if remember what did before cropped no probs
Last edited by Miaow; 10-02-2010 at 4:57pm. Reason: edited
Cat (aka Cathy) - Another Canon user - 400D, 18-55,75-300mm Kit Lens,50mm f1.8, Tamron 90mm f2.8 Macro, Sigma 28-70 f2.8-4 DG, Tripod and a willingness to learn
Software used: PhotoImpact, Irfanview and a lot of plugins
We don't make a photograph just with a camera, we bring to the act of photography all the books we have read, the movies we have seen, the music we have heard, the people we have loved. - Ansel Adams
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.
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.
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.
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?