Today’s Question: I often need to switch from landscape to portrait in the crop tool in Lightroom [or Photoshop]. Is there an easy quick way to do that?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes! You can rotate the orientation of the crop box in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw by pressing the “X” key on the keyboard.
More Detail: Many photographers (myself included) find that they periodically want to rotate the crop box by 90 degrees, such as to rotate a horizontal crop box to a vertical orientation.
When working with the Crop tool within either Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw, pressing the “X” key on the keyboard will rotate the orientation of the crop box between landscape and portrait. If you have selected a fixed aspect ratio for that crop, that aspect ratio will be retained. If you have not selected a fixed aspect ratio, whatever aspect ratio your current custom crop represents will be retained.