Crop at the begining or the end ?

In terms of IQ yes it is as sharpening is "edge contrast" and better to have the work on the final edit.

However in programs like Lightroom which are non destructive, then it makes no difference as all processing is always applied the same order no matter which order you make your edits. Everything is updated after very edit.

In terms of processing speed and workflow time however it is better to leave sharpening and Noise reduction switched off until your last edit in Lightroom as they are both processor intensive and slow workflow down.

As for cropping I usually crop early on.

Depends. Seems no difference at most of time.

Wow thanks everyone. I use photoshop 7 and as someone has already said for wildlife getting close enough not needing to crop is not always possible.I. took some pics of a Bullfinch and did all the necessary edits and then cropped last, and when I looked at the final image ,the lighting looked wrong.Think I will try to crop first.I have been doing all the other edits in the order they are in the program ie top to bottom and sharpening last

Thanks again everyone

Graham

I crop first so I can focus on the image I want without distraction. Post-processing on the cropped image can also be slightly different to the techniques you would use on the entire image, so cropping as a first step makes it easier to decide on the approach that best suits the final image. As in most things, though, I suspect it's down to personal preference. Like others, I sharpen as a last step.

I'm another who would usually crop early on, just after any rotation if that's needed.
Leaving the cropping till the end can meen I end up wasting time removing dust specks etc on parts of theimage that are just going to be dumped.

There have been a few occations when I've tried multiple crops, and with those its best to get the rest done first. (Wouldn't be an issue if I had lightroom).