Crop shield - settings you use

I can't vote because I've never really checked. It's whatever the program decides it to be. I have no idea what that is though.

nrowensby wrote in post #13018826
Your first post says nothing about this being research for a new image editing software option... it says, "Crop shield - settings you use" even in the linked thread's OP you just explain what "Crop Shield" is and asks what settings people use.

Kept it shorter to up the chance of it being read. Remedied.

I'd suggest that if your first choice was "I don't know -- I've never messed with it." that you may get a more indivative response!

tonylong wrote in post #13019457
I'd suggest that if your first choice was "I don't know -- I've never messed with it." that you may get a more indivative response!

Or atleast tell us what the defaults are in each program...

tonylong wrote in post #13019457
I'd suggest that if your first choice was "I don't know -- I've never messed with it." that you may get a more indivative response!

Heh, not really something I wanted. Wanted people to either not vote, or nudge them into finding out

nrowensby wrote in post #13019608
Or atleast tell us what the defaults are in each program...

Jonta wrote in post #12897114
Defaults:
Adobe Photoshop: 75%
GIMP: 50%
Picasa: 38%

Hm?

Just out of curiosity, why is this important? Are there values that are better or worse? I'm just asking to see if I'm missing out on something.

Where is the I don't care because it doesn't matter button? I just set my crop tool on the corner where I wish to crop and go....I don't use a shield.

gjl711: That's what I'm trying to find out

Woolburr: Then this poll is not for you, unless that makes your choice "I chose - 0% (no darker)"

tim wrote in post #12899722
I use pieces of cardboard help up to my monitor.

Ah....but is your cardboard calibrated as well as your monitor.

Ask a dozen different users what they use and you can very well get a dozen different answers because it can be user defined in CS5 to any color you want at any opacity percentage. I don't see the value in having all those "I chose" options when it should have read something to the effect of do you want system fixed options, ie. you would have a few fixed colors and opacity levels or do you want it totally flexible in a user defined environment.

A new image editing program, good luck with that against what is already available.

Jonta wrote in post #13024924
Heh, not really something I wanted. Wanted people to either not vote, or nudge them into finding out Hm?

Well, I do my cropping in a Raw processor, mostly Lightroom, occasionally DPP, and only very occasionally in Adobe Camera Raw.

Now in Lightroom the only "way" I see of changing your "crop shield" is by going into one of the "Lights Out" (LO) display modes -- click the L key and you will cycle through Normal and then two LO modes. In "normal" your crop shield is, well, whatever -- maybe similar to the Photoshop default, I don't know. The first LO setting darkens everything -- the "shield" is a very dark gray. In the second LO mode everything but the working cropped preview turns black.

In other words, LR users can't give a meaningful poll answer, unless you really want us all just arbitratily clicking the "Default 0" option.

DPP has, interestingly enough, a slider for the opacity of the shield in the actual trimming tool window. I guess I had seen it but never messed with it. It's there, it works, but has no actual value shown, so a DPP user can't choose one of the poll answers unless you provide meaningful choices.

Camera Raw has the same Raw processing "engine" that Lightroom has, but as far as I can tell does not have the Lights Out feature. At least in my older CS3 version, hitting the "L" key gave me a surprise -- it rotated an image by 90 degrees, meaning I needed to click it three more times!

Now, for reference, I do have Photoshop CS3 and occasionally open it for one reason or another. But, the only time I recall cropping an image in PS in recent years was when I was working on a project involving multiple images (HDR, blended, Panorama and collage-type projects typically need cropping). So, I can either do that in Photoshop or do it to the "finished" tiff/psd/jpeg in Lightroom. I think I've done both, although it's been quite a while.

And, I'm one of those (I've never messed with it because I've never wanted or needed something other than the default" type of folks. I understand that for some people it could be useful to either darken or lighten it and so they may see some meaning/relevance to the poll, but for those of us who genuinely don't care, well if there is not a choice reflecting that we may chat a bit but likely won't post a choice since nothing really seems to apply to us.

FYI, I did look in Photoshop and, yeah, even though I virtually never use the crop tool, I did note that the Opacity was set to the 75% setting, the default which I've never actually looked at.

ssim wrote in post #13025969
Ask a dozen different users what they use and you can very well get a dozen different answers because it can be user defined in CS5 to any color you want at any opacity percentage.

Only going to support black here. I doubt very much that a significant portion of users use anything but black, and only know of the option in APS and APS Extended. Also: The idea is to have One Opacity To Rule Them All™, and if any colour but black were chosen, one would almost certainly run into the problem of the image having a similar colour to the crop shield.

Having "I chose" vs "Program default" gives an indication of whether people mind a lot. "I chose" weighs more heavily than the latter.

Also: If you ask users, they'll always tend to say that they want choice, even if they don't need it. They want to keep their options open.

Short from a study:
1: Users asked to pick functions a CD-player/radio should have, out of a list of 21. Average: 19 were picked.
2: Users asked if they wanted a CD-player/radio with 21 functions, or with 7 functions. Most picked the one with 21. After two weeks, they got the offer of switching to the one with 7. Most, if not all, did.

Why thank you! I have a cunning plan.

tonylong wrote in post #13025992
Now in Lightroom the only "way" I see of changing your "crop shield" is by going into one of the "Lights Out" (LO) display modes -- click the L key and you will cycle through Normal and then two LO modes. In "normal" your crop shield is, well, whatever -- maybe similar to the Photoshop default, I don't know. The first LO setting darkens everything -- the "shield" is a very dark gray. In the second LO mode everything but the working cropped preview turns black.

In other words, LR users can't give a meaningful poll answer, unless you really want us all just arbitratily clicking the "Default 0" option.

Hm, hadn't thought of that. Haven't used LR you see. I'd suggest "I chose" and then whatever the user uses the most.

Hm, found some screenshots of it, and see what you mean. But I do thing I've provided the most meaningful choices, a DPP-user would have to guess at the percentage range.

Or did you have more meaningful choices in mind?

Thanks for a great answer!