24 MP from an entry level DSLR

Both you guys have shown good reasons why you need cropping, and why it's dismissive for someone to say 'you should be capable of getting the shot right the first time'. These are not kids blowing out candles on a cake. (And I like shots like that too, I'm a dad.)

Sometimes cropping is necessary because it is not possible to get close enough to the subject, for reasons of safety or practicality. Sometimes it's necessary because we can't afford $2000 for a tele or zoom lens that has the reach and f-speed to 'get the shot right the first time' without cropping.

In my case, shooting rodeo action, sometimes it's a challenge to get the shot right at all. Other times I find within the shot I took that the real story does not take up as much of the image as it should, and I crop to extract that really good image from the middle of the 'pretty good' one.

Post processing is not just adjusting saturation or contrast or sharpening - it is where you start with an image and get from it the best one you can, and that sometimes involves the use of cropping.