How often do you crop?

Nobody is talking about a lifetime limitation.

I had a commercial studio for quite sometime and did nothing but crop my pictures to meet customers/art directors demands. That was completely all right.

When my D200 was new I kept 'shaving' unwanted edges of images which I could not see through the non 100% covering viewfinder. It took me a while to adjust and be able to anticipate the extra territory I was getting on my sensor.

That classroom exercise taught me the value of a proper composition. Without one, in my personal view, all you are doing in the darkroom or in photoshop is salvage work.

For me, the most creative part of photography is done in the early stages up to the shutter release moment and that is where I put most of my effort, time and creativity. I take the greatest satisfaction from an image when I get things right in first place and have very little left to do in photoshop.

I can understand how others find a larger creative role in post-processing. What amazes me is that there are some who are willing to sacrifice their original compositions and crop just for the sake of matching their paper size.