Photoshop crop tool

I've had CS3 for a long time and have always cropped my images by setting the parameters to 2" height x 3" width and leaving the resolution box blank. Just recently I discovered the preset crop options and when I select 2x3 with 300 ppi and crop the image the pixel dimensions of the cropped photo is a lot less.

Is one way better than the other?

You mustn't crop AT ALL.

http://www.damiensymon​ds.net …09/cropping-tutorial.html

Interesting read, thanks.

I've always just sent my edited photos to the lab to be printed but if I'm reading the article correctly it says I should crop to the size of the image I'm printing with resolution of 300 ppi.

Just curious why you say not to crop. If I'm photographing BIF or the moon for instance and the subject is still far away why shouldn't I crop to have it fill more of the frame?

Never crop during editing ever. Exactly as the article says.

Only crop for output, yes, which is where you'd zoom in on the moon if desired.

But in that case, be very wary of this: http://www.damiensymon​ds.net …ressively-can-i-crop.html

Damo77 wrote in post #18225125
You mustn't crop AT ALL.l

Damo77 wrote in post #18225163
Never crop during editing ever. Exactly as the article says.

Only crop for output, yes, which is where you'd zoom in on the moon if desired.

To me these cautions only make sense when the crops are destructive. Unchecking Delete Cropped Pixels allows for both second thoughts on the crop and the luxury of seeing edit results only in the selected areas of the exposure.

Since I do something like 97.5% of my image editing exclusively in LR, with RAW files, I also routinely apply my crops for composition at the same time, since I also use LR as my main image viewing application. If I have to send a file off to PS for additional processing, or to add some other "artistic effects" I will send to PS before I crop, or in the case of an "artistic effect" I will create a VC and remove the crop to send the image to PS. I then ally the crop to the PSD file back in LR, or if it was from a VC I may even copy the crop across from the original version. This way, if I need to change the aspect ratio for some different output need, such as fitting to a desired paper size, I have all of the pixels still to call on.

Of course the point is that in LR cropping is not really cropping, just a serving suggestion.

Alan