How to make consistent crops

[ryan_d]

I have a guest ion that seems pretty trivial but am having a hard time figuring out how to solve. I am using RPP to process my RAWs into JPGs. I usually create two to three files: two colors and a black and white. Once I export the JPGs I open them in Pixelmator (I'm on a Mac, by the way) to crop. My problem is that I want each image to be cropped the exact same. Right now I keep the first image open while cropping the subsequents and flip back and forth between the two until each looks about the same. I feel that there should be an easier way to do this but am drawing a blank. Does anyone have any suggestions? The applications I have at my disposal are Pixelmator, Aperture and Preview.

 

[Dan]

I'm not familiar with the programs you use but Aperture should be very similar in regards to controlling a crop as Lightroom (which I do use). In LR, you can select any number of files simultaneously in the develop module, apply a crop to one, then synchronize that crop to the other selected files. Easy peasy.

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

... guest ion ...

Damn these automatic spelling correction programs!

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

If I understand right, you're going to combine these three files? Could you combine the three images, then crop the combined image later??

Or, if it's different and each file is going to create a different image, then put all three in layers in Photoshop, crop the whole stack, then render each of the layers independently into an output file.

 

[ryan_d]

If I understand right, you're going to combine these three files? Could you combine the three images, then crop the combined image later??

Or, if it's different and each file is going to create a different image, then put all three in layers in Photoshop, crop the whole stack, then render each of the layers independently into an output file.

Not quite. Below are three versions of the same photo. The original RAW file wasn't framed properly so, once I was done converting them to JPG with Raw Photo Processor, I took them into my image editing app to crop them. I wanted the crops to be identical; the only thing different between the photos should be the color. They look close but I had to switch between each photo back and forth to make sure they looked correct.

I hope I explained it correctly. It's late and I can't sleep. Thanks for all the help, it looks like LR might be the best solution.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rdonahue/7559377662/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rdonahue/7559378500/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rdonahue/7559379580/in/photostream/

 

[rxmd]

Using the tools at hand, you should be able to open all three images in Pixelmator, copy them into one single picture as different layers, crop them all at once, and then re-export the layers into individual files again.

If you line them up in the different layers identically, the cropped output files will be identical, too.

 

[ryan_d]

Using the tools at hand, you should be able to open all three images in Pixelmator, copy them into one single picture as different layers, crop them all at once, and then re-export the layers into individual files again.

If you line them up in the different layers identically, the cropped output files will be identical, too.

Ahh, this sounds like it would work. I'll dig into it tonight. Thanks.