Expand or crop a product photo for a new aspect ratio
Crop stays inside the picture and is free. Expand paints new scene beyond it.
Quick Answer
Two tools in Refine change the frame of a finished photo. Crop cuts it down to a new shape, free and instant, and is right when the product has room around it. Expand grows the scene beyond the edges so the product keeps its size, and is priced like a generation at the size the expansion needs: 1, 2 or 3 credits at 1K, 2K or 4K. Both save the result as a new version, so the original is never lost.
Crop or Expand: which one
Crop
Free- The product has space around it and you want less of it
- You need a square listing image from a landscape shot
- You want a tighter composition or a free shape
- Instant, no model call, unlimited
Expand
From 1 credit- The product already fills the frame and cropping would cut it
- You need a wide banner or a tall story from a square shot
- You want the same scene to continue, not a different one
- Priced like a generation at the size it needs
The usual case is a square product shot that has to become a 16:9 hero banner for the store and a 9:16 story for Instagram. Cropping a square to 16:9 throws away the top and bottom third and often the product with them. Expand keeps the whole product at the same scale and paints more counter, more wall, more light on either side, so the three formats look like three frames from the same shoot.
How to expand a photo
Open the photo in Refine
From the gallery, open the finished photo and switch to Refine. Both tools work on any version of the photo, so you can expand a shot you already relit or recoloured.
Pick Expand and a format
Choose the target ratio: 16:9 for a banner, 9:16 for a story, 4:5 for a feed post, or any of the ten Lume supports. Picking a ratio sets the output size that keeps the product at the scale it has now, and the price shows on the Apply button.
Check the size and the price
The Output row names the size the expansion needs and what it costs. You can step down to a cheaper, smaller size if the detail does not matter for this use, or up to a bigger one if your plan allows it.
Apply, compare, keep or step back
The new scene is painted beyond the old edges, matching surface, light and shadow. Hold to see the original. The result is a new version; the square original is still there if you need it.
What Expand costs, and why the size moves
Every Lume render comes out at a fixed size per ratio: roughly 1K, 2K or 4K on the long side. When you expand a photo, the product has to fit inside that frame at its current scale, and a wide frame needs more pixels to hold a product of the same size than a square one does. So picking the format also picks the smallest output size that keeps the product at its own scale, and the edit is charged at that size:
| Output size | Credits | Plan |
|---|---|---|
| 1K | 1 | Every plan |
| 2K | 2 | Every plan when the expansion needs it |
| 4K | 3 | Every plan when the expansion needs it |
The size the expansion needs is never locked by your plan: a Free account can expand to 2K if that is what holds the product. Going bigger than that is an upscale, and that follows the plan's resolution limit. You can also step down to the cheaper size; the guide under the Output row says what you give up. Refine edits are not refundable, so start at the cheaper size while you are deciding on the composition.
What to expect from the painted area
Expand continues the scene that is there: the same surface, the same wall, the same direction of light. It does well with studio backdrops, counters, tables and soft gradients. It is weaker where the edge of the photo cuts through something specific, such as text on a sign, a pattern with a strict repeat, or a second product, because it has to invent what continues. If the photo has a hard edge like that, crop a little first, then expand. And if the goal is a different scene rather than more of this one, use New background instead; Expand is for more of the same.
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