Cropping for Composition in ACR

Lesson Info

Cropping for Composition in ACR

So if we open up our first example image here. And this image is already kinda pre-staged, and pre-baked for us to have all of the settings already set for us, so now we're just really just talking about cropping for this instance. And cropping entails not just the constraints of the image, but also cropping is also related to the straightening of that image too. So we have to keep that in mind, that when we straighten our image, we're actually cropping things as well. So the crop tools that you're gonna find in Adobe Camera Raw are essentially gonna be your straighten tool and then your crop tool. And just like every tool in Photoshop, if you ever see a little drop down little angle there, that little triangle underneath that crop tool, that means there's more information there for you. So if you click and hold on that, this is gonna give you a bunch of different things that you can use when you're cropping your image. So you have the ability to show your overlay, you have the ability...

to set a custom crop, or if you're doing a one to one, a square crop, or a two to three, or a three to four, or if maybe you have a print size, a very specific print size that you know you're gonna print to, you can use this custom button and you can change this to a a crop ratio of something like 20 by let's say, 24. Press okay. And that is gonna set you up with a crop that is set up to 20 by 24. Notice how when I clicked and dragged here, if I click and drag from the top, it's constraining that to a 20 by 24 crop. So that's helping me out when it comes to the print process of how I would crop this for print in Adobe Camera Raw. But if I click and hold on here, and let's just make this normal. Normal will allow us to not constrain it at all, and not have anything that's going to affect the size of the crop. So now if I click and hold here, I now get a free form crop where I can crop wherever I want, and not concern myself too much with the constrained property there. So if I go ahead and click and hold on here, and so we see the show overlay, and we turn that off, that's gonna turn on and off the rule of thirds overlay that you get inside there. Because the rule of thirds is the one overlay they do give you here, I would just go ahead and keep it on, 'cause it does help when you're making your adjustments. The next thing is the crop as the straighten tool, in cropping. So if we click on the straightening tool I can see that back here that this is probably the straight part of my landscape, so I'll click right here, and over to here, and that will straighten my image. But you notice just how when I hopped into cropping, what happened when I hopped into cropping? It made a little overlay outside of the border of my image that's gray. And that gray space is telling me what's gonna be pulled out, cropped out, and not exist anymore. So if I commit to this, Adobe Camera Raw is gonna throw that information out. Not throw it out. It's gonna be there still. So if I press enter, and then go into the crop tool again, it's gonna show me exactly what it did. So it doesn't throw it out, it's temporary. And it's actually saved within your xmp sidecar file. That little sidecar file that you get in Camera Raw. So that data is still saved, it's not deleting it, it's not getting rid of it, it's still being saved right there within your xmp documentation for that file. But, we lose that outer area in the image. And as it stands now, Adobe Camera Raw doesn't allow you to go outside of the confounds of this crop, unlike Photoshop, which does, we'll talk about the benefits of Photoshop cropping in a minute. So if it tried to pull this up and make it give me a little bit more, it won't do it, because it's staying within the confines of the image, it doesn't wanna give me anything outside of it, because if Camera Raw did that, it'd be giving me data that doesn't exist outside the image. Camera Raw doesn't know how to handle that. So it just says, this is what you get. This is the crop that you get. So if I press enter, and I commit to this, that's the crop that I'm gonna have for this photograph. It won't forever be that way, 'cause I can always go back in here and I can change this crop to a one to one, or whatever crop that I would see fit. That's actually a pretty good one to one right there, look at that. So I press okay, and that would be where I would leave it with that. But, Photoshop has a lot more capabilities for cropping than Adobe Camera Raw does. So, typically if I'm gonna do something in Adobe Camera Raw it might be just straightening the image, and doing a very mild straighten. But there are times when I straighten that image and it's cutting off really important data. And if that's the case, I'm gonna do that in Photoshop because I have some fill tools that can fill in some of the area around it, so that if I am cropping out and I do have some transparency on the outside, I can fill in those areas. Where you cannot do that in Adobe Camera Raw. So that's the basics of cropping in Adobe Camera Raw.

Class Description

Lessons

1. Bootcamp Introduction
2. The Bridge Interface
3. Setting up Bridge
4. Overview of Bridge
5. Practical Application of Bridge
6. Introduction to Raw Editing
7. Setting up ACR Preferences & Interface
8. Global Tools Part 1
9. Global Tools Part 2
10. Local Tools
11. Introduction to the Photoshop Interface
12. Toolbars, Menus and Windows
13. Setup and Interface
14. Adobe Libraries
15. Saving Files
16. Introduction to Cropping
17. Cropping for Composition in ACR
18. Cropping for Composition in Photoshop
19. Cropping for the Subject in Post
20. Cropping for Print
21. Perspective Cropping in Photoshop
22. Introduction to Layers
23. Vector & Raster Layers Basics
24. Adjustment Layers in Photoshop
25. Organizing and Managing Layers
26. Introduction to Layer Tools and Blend Modes
27. Screen and Multiply and Overlay
28. Soft Light Blend Mode
29. Color and Luminosity Blend Modes
30. Color Burn and Color Dodge Blend Modes
31. Introduction to Layer Styles
32. Practical Application: Layer Tools
33. Introduction to Masks and Brushes
34. Brush Basics
35. Custom Brushes
36. Brush Mask: Vignettes
37. Brush Mask: Curves Dodge & Burn
38. Brush Mask: Hue & Saturation
39. Mask Groups
40. Clipping Masks
41. Masking in Adobe Camera Raw
42. Practical Applications: Masks
43. Introduction to Selections
44. Basic Selection Tools
45. The Pen Tool
46. Masks from Selections
47. Selecting Subjects and Masking
48. Color Range Mask
49. Luminosity Masks Basics
50. Introduction to Cleanup Tools
51. Adobe Camera Raw
52. Healing and Spot Healing Brush
53. The Clone Stamp Tool
54. The Patch Tool
55. Content Aware Move Tool
56. Content Aware Fill
57. Custom Cleanup Selections
58. Introduction to Shapes and Text
59. Text Basics
60. Shape Basics
61. Adding Text to Pictures
62. Custom Water Marks
63. Introduction to Smart Objects
64. Smart Object Basics
65. Smart Objects and Filters
66. Smart Objects and Image Transformation
67. Smart Objects and Album Layouts
68. Smart Objects and Composites
69. Introduction to Image Transforming
70. ACR and Lens Correction
71. Photoshop and Lens Correction
72. The Warp Tool
73. Perspective Transformations
74. Introduction to Actions in Photoshop
75. Introduction to the Actions Panel Interface
76. Making Your First Action
77. Modifying Actions After You Record Them
78. Adding Stops to Actions
79. Conditional Actions
80. Actions that Communicate
81. Introduction to Filters
82. ACR as a Filter
83. Helpful Artistic Filters
84. Helpful Practical Filters
85. Sharpening with Filters
86. Rendering Trees
87. The Oil Paint and Add Noise Filters
88. Introduction to Editing Video
89. Timeline for Video
90. Cropping Video
91. Adjustment Layers and Video
92. Building Lookup Tables
93. Layers, Masking Video & Working with Type
94. ACR to Edit Video
95. Animated Gifs
96. Introduction to Creative Effects
97. Black, White, and Monochrome
98. Matte and Cinematic Effects
99. Gradient Maps and Solid Color Grades
100. Gradients
101. Glow and Haze
102. Introduction to Natural Retouching
103. Brightening Teeth
104. Clean Up with the Clone Stamp Tool
105. Cleaning and Brightening Eyes
106. Advanced Clean Up Techniques
107. Introduction to Portrait Workflow & Bridge Organization
108. ACR for Portraits Pre-Edits
109. Portrait Workflow Techniques
110. Introduction to Landscape Workflow & Bridge Organization
111. Landscape Workflow Techniques
112. Introduction to Compositing & Bridge
113. Composite Workflow Techniques
114. Landscape Composite Projects
115. Bonus: Rothko and Workspace
116. Bonus: Adding Textures to Photos
117. Bonus: The Mask (Extras)
118. Bonus: The Color Range Mask in ACR