In Lightroom you can restrict your crops to be a specific aspect ratio, such as 5×7, 8×10, or the same aspect ratio as your original.  To do so, select the crop tool from the toolbar (R), click on the double up/down arrow next to the padlock to reveal the aspect menu, and choose your desired proportions.  If what you want isn’t listed, choose Enter Custom…, and specify.  Selecting “Original” will constrain any crop you do to the same proportions as the original.

Cropping Proportionally

Now you can drag inward the edges or corners of the crop frame to adjust your crop.  To move your crop, click in the center of the crop frame and drag the image to reposition within the frame.

Let’s say you have a horizontal image, and you want 4×5 proportions … but you want a vertical crop (5×4).   The method of dragging in from the edges of the image doesn’t allow you to switch from horizontal to vertical.  You could create a custom setting 5×4.  But there is an easier way:  click on the crop frame tool, click in your image and drag to draw out a vertical frame.  Then fine tune the size by dragging the edges and repositioning as necessary.

To go back to unrestricted cropping, click on the padlock to unlock it.

Note that cropping this way doesn’t determine how big your image will be, just the proportion of width to height.  How big it is will be determined by what size you set in the Export or Print Dialog.

To go back to unrestricted cropping, click on the padlock to unlock it.

Thanks to a student from Thursday night for suggesting this topic!