Where to crop? (maybe naive question)

[davidedric]

Hi,

I use PSE9 for PP, and Qimage for printing. I generally crop early in PSE so that I can see the image that I am going to work with before doing any other PP that I need (no point in recovering highlights that I'm not going to use for example). However, I read in the forums that some folks crop in Qimage before printing.

Does it make any difference to the final image which way round I do it?

Dave

[DanK]

I don't know whether PSE 9 has nondestructive cropping (which hides but does not delete the cropped pixels). PS now has it with CS6, and LR has always had it. IMHO, I would be reluctant to crop until the end if PSE has only destructive cropping. You could make a copy to play with crops, but I would keep the entire image until the end and create a cropped copy of the edited one, so that you can go back.

[Black Pearl]

I crop early on for the same reason. Can't see the point in working on an area that will removed also if you apply a grad or vignette it won't look right if you crop a bit of it off.

Out of curiosity why don't you print in PSE9?

[arith]

I crop pretty late and resize at the same time. Using a relatively unknown application that makes life easier and resizes using Mitchell interpolation.

So it's ACR then Topaz DeNoise5, Topaz InFocus, Topaz Detail, Helicon Filter perspective, Helicon Filter clone or touch up, Helicon Filter crop and resize, then PSE10 layers ect.

I never felt the need to sharpen or use contrast, it always looks ok to me.

[Black Pearl]

Basic workflow:

ACR (all major adjusting, noise control on the rare times its needed, straighten, crop) - PS5 (the odd Nik plug-in if I want a processed looking image) - possibly a bit of dodge/burn/clone - resize (never interpolate as I either print with an inkjet or the minilab at work and neither need it) - save as - print.

The crop in ACR is destructive on the open image but has no effect on the RAW file itself and I find it very helpful to see exactly what shape and balance I want the shot to have early on....it can have big impact on the following processing.

[davidedric]

Thanks guys,

I don't know whether PSE 9 has nondestructive cropping

I think there are a couple of ways of doing non destructive cropping in PSE 9. You can open any image using the PSE 9 RAW editor. I tend to do this because I find the PSE RAW tools very nice to use. I think, though, if you then open the image in PSE proper, any further processing is destructive. Alternatively, you can always create a layer. However, since I always work on a copy of the original, I don't worry too much if I mess up.

Out of curiosity why don't you print in PSE9?

Because I think I get better prints! I can allow Qimage to use the correct profile for my printer, inks and paper (and so with a calibrated monitor get a good match between screen and print), and to carry out processing and "print sharpening". I'm happy with the results, anyway. I haven't tried producing prints any larger than A4.

Dave

[davidedric]

BTW I often don't shoot in RAW.

Mostly because I like to shoot wildlife, and the rather slow buffer on my Canon 600D means I could miss shots, but also because I haven't found many images that I can't get the way I want with JPEG out of the camera/

[colorbits]

I shoot RAW and most of the times straighten/crop are the first things I do if image needs it.

[xpatUSA]

Does it make any difference to the final image which way round I do it?

Dave

Theoretically no, if you're referring to image quality. But if you've slaved all day on a fancy border, then there would be a difference ;-). Also it's best to use your image leveling tool before cropping, I find.

Sigma Photo Pro still doesn't have a crop function, so that forces the use of cropping after the fact in another application.