Crop and Straighten photos

Last updated on Aug 5, 2026

Learn how to crop a photo, adjust aspect ratio, rotate, and straighten photos in Lightroom Classic.

Adobe Lightroom Classic deeplink

Try it in Adobe Lightroom Classic
Get in-app help, tips, and learn resources within Lightroom Classic

Crop a photo

Open a photo in the Develop module, and then select Crop

Drag a crop handle to set the crop boundary, and then drag the corner handles to adjust both image width and height.

To crop your photo with focus and precision, you can do the following:

  • Zoom in on the photo while cropping to make a precise selection. 
  • Right-click the photo, and then select an opacity percentage under Crop Mask to control how visible the area outside your crop boundary appears while you're cropping.

In the Crop & Straighten section from the Crop panel, do the following to reframe and correct the alignment of a photo:

  • Aspect Ratio: Choose a fixed ratio to constrain the crop, or enter a custom ratio. Lightroom Classic stores up to five custom crop ratios. If you create more than that, the older ones drop off the list.
  • Lock icon: Lock the current aspect ratio so the crop resizes proportionally, or unlock it to resize freely without constraint.
  • Angle: Adjust the slider to manually rotate the image. 
  • Auto: Straighten the image automatically.
  • Constrain to image: Keep the crop bounding box within the image area. Constrain to Image is applicable only when you apply Lens Corrections or the Transform tool to an image. 
Note

Constrain to Image is applicable only when you apply Lens Corrections or Transform tools to an image. 

The image of a temple is framed with a crop box and an overlay grid. Tool options such as aspect ratio, angle, and overlay visibility are visible in the right panel.
Select the Crop features to crop and straighten the image.

Select Close to crop the image.

Rotate or flip a photo in the Develop module

  • To rotate a photo in 90-degree increments, select Photo > Rotate Left. The photo rotates clockwise or counterclockwise around its center point.
  • To flip a photo horizontally, select Photo > Flip Horizontal
  • To flip a photo vertically, select Photo > Flip Vertical.
Tip

You can now see a checkerboard pattern (only in the develop view when GPU is enabled) in transparent areas while using the Crop and Transform tool, making them easier to spot.