Crop scanned photos and Polaroids in Lightroom Classic
A box of family photographs rarely comes in one size. Cut Corners can batch crop and straighten individual photo scans with white or cream borders, keeping each picture's own aspect ratio. Use Archive scan mode for photo prints.
Cut Corners is built for batch cropping film scans in Lightroom Classic. Archive scan mode adds a workflow for digitized prints: Polaroids and other instant photos with light frames, old color and black-and-white photographs, square snapshots, and mixed portrait and landscape prints.
What kind of photo scans work?
Use one photo per scan, with a visible light margin on all four sides of the picture. The margin can be white scanner bed, the print's cream paper border, or both. Color and black-and-white prints can share a batch, and rounded corners or faded colors are supported when the picture boundary remains visible.
Archive mode finds each picture's edges directly. A square print stays square; a portrait or panoramic photo keeps its detected shape. You do not need to select a film-format ratio for the batch. Scans with ambiguous boundaries are skipped and labeled for review.
How to batch crop scanned photos
- Install Cut Corners in Lightroom Classic, then import the original scans into your catalog. Keep the full print and scanner margin visible in the source file.
- Select the photo scans in the Library and open Library → Plug-in Extras → Cut Corners: Auto-crop film frames.
- Under Scan type, choose Archive scan (white border, any aspect). The film-format menu and film-only detection settings are disabled for this mode.
- Open Settings & Preview… and check a few different print sizes. Adjust Crop inset for a tighter crop or Keep border for an even margin around the picture.
- Use Dry run to check detection without applying crops, then run the batch when the previews look right.
- Review the results in Develop and check any labeled scans. Crops are editable Lightroom settings; one Undo reverts the batch, and your original files remain intact.
Cropping Polaroid scans and wide paper borders
For a scan of an instant photo, Archive mode targets the picture inside the light paper frame. A wide frame can make that picture much smaller than the full scan. In Settings & Preview…, lower Min frame area if the picture occupies less than the default 64% of the scan. Increase Edge band when its corners sit farther from the scan edges.
For a wide-border print, Min frame area: 0.50 and Edge band: 0.20 are starting points to try in the preview. Adjust them to your scans, then save a profile to reuse the setup.
Choose how much of the border to keep
- Picture only: leave Keep border at zero. Crop inset trims slightly inside the detected picture to help exclude the edge.
- An even paper margin: increase Keep border. It adds a uniform margin outside the detected picture and overrides Crop inset.
- The original instant-photo frame: use Lightroom's Crop tool to position the edges around the full paper print. This lets you retain an asymmetric Polaroid frame, captions, or handwritten dates along its wider lower edge.
Questions about cropping photo scans
Can it separate several photos on one flatbed scan?
Cut Corners expects one picture per file. Scan prints individually, or separate a sheet of multiple photos into individual files before using Archive mode. You can then select those files and crop them as one batch.
Does it restore faded photos or remove scratches?
Archive mode handles cropping and straightening. Continue with your Lightroom edits or restoration tools for faded color, dust, and scratches after reviewing the crop.
Does it work offline, and is it included in the trial?
Yes. Detection runs locally, and your scans stay on your computer. Archive mode and film cropping share the same free 30-image trial and one-time $24.99 license. Dry runs do not count toward the trial. Requires Lightroom Classic 6 or newer on macOS or Windows.
Download Cut Corners to try it on your own scans, or get help with a difficult photo scan.