Have you ever taken a photograph that just didn’t look right? Maybe the scene was too wide, or maybe there were too many distractions in the foreground or too much empty space in the sky. If so, then you may realize that selecting the correct composition for your shot is crucial. Luckily, there is a tool in Adobe Lightroom that may be able to help improve your photo composition. In this blog post I will show you how to use the crop overlay and some of the other helpful composition guides in Lightroom!
How to use the Crop Overlays in Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom’s crop overlay is one of its most powerful features. By using it, you can adjust your composition before editing.
One of the great things about Lightroom’s crop tool is that the editing is non-destructive. You can easily go back and make any corrections along the way. Once you export your images do the changes become permanent.
For those who are unsure about what composition they want, this feature allows you to try different crop options and see how they will affect the images. You can also use it as a creative tool when you want to use a unique aspect ratio.
To change crop overlays, be sure to first select the crop tool (in the panel on the right side, just under the histogram).
Click on the tool tab and then scroll down to crop guide overlay to view all the crop overlay options.
From there, select choose overlay to cycle.
When the pop-up box appears, it will list all the choices available. make sure they are all checked and the click OK.
With the crop tool open, you can cycle through the overlay choices by simply pressing the O button on your keyboard.
You have total control on when the overlays are shown. In the lower left corner, just under the image, you will find the tool overlay tab.
If you select Always the overlay will continue to be displayed over the image. If you select Auto the overlay will only appear when you start to crop.
RULE OF THIRDS
The rule of thirds grid will display nine sections on the image. The main subject of your photo should appear either on one of the lines or at the intersection of any two lines.
You would want the main element to be on either one of the vertical lines (or both) and avoid placing it dead center.
Also, you want the horizon to appear either on the top or on the bottom of the horizontal lines. By doing so, it helps to direct the viewer’s attention on the most important subject of the photo.
You can change the size of the image by clicking on any corner of the overlay.
A hand symbol will appear if you move your mouse over the image. Move the overlay around over the image until you find the composition you prefer. You can do this while keeping the aspect ratio grid locked in place.
You can switch from landscape mode to portrait mode by pressing X.
GOLDEN TRIANGLE
With the golden triangle overlay, the image is divided into triangles. The triangles vary in size and orientation.
The golden triangle represents a way of isolating a subject within a triangle. You can either use this to separate areas in an image or place points of interest in a place where the lines intersect.
This works with photos that have diagonals in the scene. There are different orientations you can cycle through to match with your photo.
DIAGONAL
This is a great overlay to use if you have diagonal subjects you want to align in your photo. This overlay displays diagonal lines that come from each corner at 45degree angles.
In the example below, the streets and buildings in the image closely match up with the diagonal lines in the grid.
GOLDEN RATIO
Nature, art, architecture, and design have all been influenced by the Golden Ratio. Since it appears so frequently in the world around us, it is often called the “divine proportion.” From flowers to humans to galaxies, 1:1.618 is found all over nature.
GOLDEN SPIRAL
It is believed that people subconsciously recognize this pattern. The purpose of the golden spiral is to draw the viewers eye through the frame of the image in a natural and aesthetically pleasing way, while leading to a main focal point in the picture.
There doesn’t necessarily have to be any ‘spiral’ shapes in your image to use this. You want to place the center of the spiral over the most important part of the image where you want to direct the viewer’s eye to. In the example below, the spiral is over the race car.
You can also toggle through different selections in this overlay by pressing shift+O.
GRID
This Grid overlay is designed to show the grid lines on your images in Adobe Lightroom. The grid lines will help you align objects, subjects, and other elements within your frame.
Lightroom’s Grid overlay makes it easy to position any element with precision anywhere on your screen.
The grid overlay can work in conjunction with the transform tab to make your vertical and horizontal lines level.
In this image here, I use the overlay to help me adjust this photo. I use the horizontal lines in the grid to check if the lines are level. I adjusted the photo by rotating it slightly until the horizontal edges matched up with the lines.
CENTER
With this overlay, you can use this to position your subject dead center of your photo.
ASPECTS RATIO
In lightroom, you can choose your photo’s dimensions by using the aspect ratio overlay. You can select between various aspect ratios, such as 4:3, 3:2, and 16:9.
When you use the crop tool in lightroom, you will be able to identify which shape matches your photo, and it will also appear as a reference in the preview window so you can be very sure you have picked the right one.
Plus, if you want to resize your image for online or social media you can choose a custom size that is appropriate for uploading.
Conclusion
In this blog post, we have explored how to use the crop overlay and some of the other helpful composition guides in Lightroom. I hope you find these tips useful!