When to straighten: When do you straighten a photo - during RAW editing or after? I use Elements 14 and can do it either way. Regardless of when I do it I end up with photo dimensions...

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

When do you straighten a photo - during RAW editing or after? I use Elements 14 and can do it either way. Regardless of when I do it I end up with photo dimensions that are not the same as the original. My D7000 native format is 4x6. Should I resize it to a 4x6 ratio or just crop it to that? Thanks in advance for the advise.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

The little bit of straightening that I do is done in ACR. I set the image size parameters and use the leveling tool to align horizontal or vertical lines. Parallax is handled in PS.
--Bob

gvarner wrote:

When do you straighten a photo - during RAW editing or after? I use Elements 14 and can do it either way. Regardless of when I do it I end up with photo dimensions that are not the same as the original. My D7000 native format is 4x6. Should I resize it to a 4x6 ratio or just crop it to that? Thanks in advance for the advise.

LarryFB Loc: Depends where our RV is parked

With the software I am familar with, when you straighten a photo, the photo is actually rotated so lines that are supposed to be horizontal are really horizontal. That means that you will have four triangular areas, one on each edge of the photo. Those areas need to be cropped out. If you are going to print a 4X6 that crop to that ratio, if you are going to print a different size, crop to the ratio that you are going to print. If you aren't going to print it, don't worry about what you crop to. If instead you are going to put it on a Digital Picture Frame, you should crop it to what the frame size is. Also, any time you crop, you lose the pixels that you crop out; but don't worry about losing a few pixels, you camera still has plenty of pixels to make a decent print,

4 X 6 is not a format, it is an aspect ratio. Would you believe that 2X3, 4X6, 6X9, 8X12 are all the same aspect ratio.

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

Since I don't do photos for printing I don't get into the print dimensions that are designed for paper sizes. I straighten and crop to fit my idea of the final shot. Most of the time I will crop and straighten first so that any other work is done on the part that will be kept. I do use PS and rarely LR so PS will do a content aware fill on any blank edges due to the straighten.

SalvageDiver Loc: Huntington Beach CA

Hi,

When you crop you always end up with less pixels. If I understand your question correctly, you should crop to your 'desired' image or print ratio. If you only resize but to a different image ratio, you could risk distorting your image.

When do I crop? ... it depends. When there's a clear horizon or other features that are naturally straight, I will usually crop right away. However, if there is something bothering me or I see a better composition as I edit I may crop in the middle or at the end. In any of the cases, the image quality isn't affected by the order of the crop. Some PP may be affected, such as vignetting, if I crop to late in my edit.

For myself, the final image ratio is based on the final composition and its final resting place, i.e. a 4x6 slot in a photo album or a standard sized picture frame.

Mike

gvarner wrote:

When do you straighten a photo - during RAW editing or after? I use Elements 14 and can do it either way. Regardless of when I do it I end up with photo dimensions that are not the same as the original. My D7000 native format is 4x6. Should I resize it to a 4x6 ratio or just crop it to that? Thanks in advance for the advise.

PhotoKurtz Loc: Carterville, IL

I usually straighten first (click the content Aware box so it fills automatically) and then do final crop when everything else is complete... Unless something really distracting is messing up the view. If so, I will re-crop at the end of the process to have the frame I like best. Hardly ever do I use given aspect ratios. If something goes to the printer they print full frame and I cut the mat or frame to match.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

gvarner wrote:

When do you straighten a photo - during RAW editing or after? I use Elements 14 and can do it either way. Regardless of when I do it I end up with photo dimensions that are not the same as the original. My D7000 native format is 4x6. Should I resize it to a 4x6 ratio or just crop it to that? Thanks in advance for the advise.

I do everything as early as possible, like a crop, or anything like that. I did never straightened a photo, but I would do that just as early. Then do sharpening as the last, so it is sharpened to the final size!

CO

Here is an editing road map for the Nikon Capture NX-2 software. Straightening is in phase 4.

Phase 1: RAW adjustments
• White Balance Adjustments
• Exposure Control
• Global Contrast / Tone Curve
• Color Mode / Picture Control Mode
• Highlight & Shadow Recovery
• Vignette Control
• Disabling in-camera sharpening

Phase 2: Global Adjustments to Light and Color
• Setting Black Point / White Point
• Global Brightness Contrast (Levels & Curves)
• Global Color (LCH Editor)
• Noise Reduction (when necessary)

Phase 3: Local Adjustments
• Color (Hue / Saturation)
• Contrast/Brightness
• Noise Reduction (depending on the image)
• Special Effects (softening skin, etc.)
• Dust Removal

Phase 4: Final Adjustments
• Capture Sharpening (removes the effects of the camera’s anti-aliasing filter)
• Creative Sharpening: (sharpening or blurring a portion of the image for a creative effect)
• Straightening (because horizons should be level)
• Creative Cropping (e.g. panoramic crops)

Phase 5: Output Adjustments
• Cropping and Resizing
• Soft Proofing
• Output Sharpening (Sharpening to optimize the printing image or web image)

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I disagree with his roadmap.
--Bob

CO wrote:

Photographer Jason O'dell wrote two manuals for us... (show quote)

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I do "straightening" first; I cannot trust horizontal lines as a guide, so I use gravity as my guide and force true vertical lines to be vertical.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

gvarner wrote:

When do you straighten a photo - during RAW editing or after? I use Elements 14 and can do it either way. Regardless of when I do it I end up with photo dimensions that are not the same as the original. My D7000 native format is 4x6. Should I resize it to a 4x6 ratio or just crop it to that? Thanks in advance for the advise.

There are many things that go into the decision when to crop. But most of the time I crop and straighten first while in ACR and I also make all my photo adjustments there too. If the image needs to be edited further, usually because I'm going to composite or perhaps there's a lot of pixel editing needed then I transfer to PS or in your case Elements has it's editing module.

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

LarryFB wrote:

With the software I am familar with, when you stra... (show quote)

And would you also believe that "Plate" sizes are---------------------2X2.5, 4X5, 3X4.5, 8X10 and are also the same aspect ratio? Which means that to crop to that standard you will lose 17% of your DSLR MPXs, i.e. 20mpx reduces to 16.6mpx.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

gvarner wrote:

When do you straighten a photo - during RAW editing or after? I use Elements 14 and can do it either way. Regardless of when I do it I end up with photo dimensions that are not the same as the original. My D7000 native format is 4x6. Should I resize it to a 4x6 ratio or just crop it to that? Thanks in advance for the advise.

I do all editing in raw, starting with cropping and straightening. Then I save it as a JPEG if I plan to post or send it.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

It's the first thing I do after the image is transferred into Elements. No point editing what you are going to chop afterwards. Once straightened and edited I might then crop further if I feel it warrants it.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

gvarner wrote:

When do you straighten a photo - during RAW editing or after? I use Elements 14 and can do it either way. Regardless of when I do it I end up with photo dimensions that are not the same as the original. My D7000 native format is 4x6. Should I resize it to a 4x6 ratio or just crop it to that? Thanks in advance for the advise.

On my D500 I have a grid overlay for straightening, it works extremely well. I have yet to us PP for that since buying the D500.