Change ASPECT RATIO & Boost the Impact of a Photo (VIDEO)

In the next five minutes you’ll learn why and how changing the aspect ratio of your photo is a quick-easy-way to strengthen its impact on the viewer. The five-minute tutorial from the Better Pics YouTube channel explains how to get the job done with precision using an oft-ignored feature in Lightroom’s Crop tool.

Instructor Damien is founder of the popular channel and a globe-trotting pro based in Australia. He explains the concept of aspect ratio like this: “It’s the ratio of the long side of your image to the short side of the image.” In other words, the overall shape of your shot.

You may be wondering why Lightroom is necessary because most digital camera’s feature built-in aspect ratios like 4:3, 3.2 and 16.9. The problem is that these options can be far too limiting depending upon the image at hand and the look you want to create.

This is where Lightroom’s Aspect Ratio feature saves the day. Damien opens a nice landscape image shot at his default 3:2 ratio. He goes to Lightroom’s Crop tool panel, where you’ll see Aspect Ratio at the top. A dropdown menu then appears with a long list of options.

The image on your screen changes accordingly as you click on each of the crops in the list, including a square shape for use with social media posts. The key option for this discussion, however, the one called “Custom.”
As Damien says, “this give you the flexibility to click and drag to create any shape that you want, like an extreme panorama, a super skinny vertical, or whatever it may be.” There’s also a window where you can manually input numerical values for both width and height,

Damien walks you everything necessary so that you don’t limit the shape of your images with standard defaults. Be sure to check out the Better Pics YouTube channel for more helpful how-to videos

And don’t miss the tutorial we featured earlier from another very popular instructor who demonstrates how to take advantage of Adobe’s “premium” color grading presets to create awe-inspiring photographs in an instant.