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What do you guys think of cropping?

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bluekite

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Do you think it is best to print out the full sized image of the sensor and get custom framing done or is it better to crop to more standard photographic sizes?

BK
--
There is more happiness in giving than receiving.
 
Cropping is not something I ever plan to do. I like to compose the picture at the time I take it; if I crop it later, it's no longer the picture I took. I have found cropping necessary sometimes when using cameras with 95% coverage viewfinders since there's occasionally an extra surprise around the edges of the final image that I hadn't planned on when composing the shot. The 98% viewfinder coverage of the SD14 has been close enough that I haven't yet felt a need to trim anything away.
 
I am curious about this.

BK
--
There is more happiness in giving than receiving.
 
I crop frequently due to not being able to get close enough while using the DP1 (28mm equiv) - these are mostly snaps and sometimes an occassional happy accident occurs.

However, I have to agree that when I have time to plan for a shot, composing properly before snapping the shutter is a better route - both for our development as photographers and the final image's ability to be enlarged. With a wide angle like the DP1, a third reason could also be the effect you get when close with a wide angle - this may be the effect you want.

As a final note, I don't like the idea of just snapping away hoping that when I get back to the PC, there'll be something good - seems analagous to machine-gun shooting ;)....

--
Mark Turney
Ocala, FL
http://www.markturneyphotography.com
 
I wouldn't even call it cropping when you only cut in either height or width in order to change the aspect ratio. Sometimes 3:2 just isn't the right aspect for a particular photo.

On the other hand, I'd rather take another shot than to crop in both directions ;)
 
bluekite said:
Do you think it is best to print out the full sized image of the sensor and get custom framing done or is it better to crop to more standard photographic sizes?
Click to expand...
Some of the larger frame outlets sell stock digital ratio frames, and the selection is growing quickly. In California Cheap Pete's and Aaron Brothers both offer digital ratio frames, off the shelf. Have you checked online frame shops?

You can also try asking your local frame shop if they can order digital ratio frames. They're available from all major mass-production frame factories, so it's just a matter of prodding your local shop into ordering a few.

Considering the number of photos that are now being printed in digital ratio, it amazes me that so few frame shops offer off-the-shelf digital ratio frames.

If you can't find digital ratio frames, have you considered buying a standard ratio frame, and using a custom cut digital ratio matte? You'll end up with a matte narrower on the shoulders and wider top and bottom, but it doesn't look bad at all.
 
bluekite said:
or is it better to crop
Click to expand...
.... you have decent quality toilet paper! :-P

Oh .... hang on a bit .... think I misread that!

In that case, who said the World was seen in some specific ratio? After all, any lens actually produces a circular image - it's only the camera manufacturer who decides what bit of that to collect, so why should any photographer worth his/her salt be so narrow minded as to be bound by anything as regards shape/ratio/why?

--
Zone8

The photograph isolates and perpetuates a moment of time: an important and revealing moment, or an unimportant and meaningless one, depending upon the photographer's understanding of his subject and mastery of his process. -Edward Weston
http://www.photosnowdonia.co.uk/ZPS
 
Zone8 wrote:

Some of us are uncreative people with absolutely no imagination. I find I can compose shots that please me whether shooting square format, 4:3, 3:2, or 16:9, but when looking through the viewfinder, I can't get my brain to look past the image I see and envision part of it not being there. It's one of the reasons I've never cared for rangefinder cameras--yes, I see the framelines, but I find all that stuff visible in the viewfinder window that's not actually going to show up in the picture too distracting to let me make a good composition.
 
Henri Cartier-Bresson felt that cropping was a lie - that one should crop using the camera not the enlarger. Of course HCB did not process or print his own work his technicians did. He felt that after he snapped the shutter he was finished. In his later years he, however, backed off the dogma to some extent.

HCB developed a following of dedicated disciples who preached the gospel according to HCB and in the 60's and 70's it took on the status of a religious movement. Like all disciples - they intensified the dogma of their master and in fact the disciples of HCB would take a file to the negative carrier they used to print and file the opening larger so that a little of the film base around the image showed and would print black. You could tell an image by a disciple of HCB because it had an irregular black outline around the image. There was never an HCB image to my knowledge printed with a black border from a filed out negative carrier.

Of course the arguments for doing this were more emotional than logical having more to do with dogma than artistic interpretation. Some images are not meant to be viewed in a 2:3 aspect ratio and taking the image is only a part of the process in producing the final image. I expect HCB felt the way he did because he had not taste for producing the final print - only the negative.

Each image is different. Clearly one should minimize the amount of cropping to maintain image quality but changing the aspect ratio is a viable tool in the presentation of the final image. Clearly one should not use cropping as a "poor man's zoom" legs work better for that purpose. When I am shooting 35 mm which I do very seldom any longer - I fill the short dimension and if I have to crop it is only in the long dimension. One of the beauties of the square format is it gives you all sorts of flexibility without the necessity of changing the camera from horizontal to vertical.

Photography is an art form which photographic media is used to express the photographer. The control of the aspect ratio is a variable to be used in this expression. Letting the artificial size of the frame in a camera dictate the aspect ratio of the final image is giving up that control. It might work if you only take images of objects that "flow and communicate" in a 2:3 aspect ratio.

--
Truman
http://www.pbase.com/tprevatt

 
This is an interesting toptic really. :) I don't have much to add though but I very much feel that IF I crop, then I'll go either for the current size (but smaller) or I'll go for square. But I hardly ever crop to be honest. Sometimes I straighten a shot and that's also a way of cropping as you lose some but.. well, when the next Foveon sensor comes out with lots more MP's then I will probably be more prone to crop.

--
Carl @ Rytterfalk.com (Göteborg, Sweden)
http://www.rytterfalk.com
Proud Foveon user. Using Sigma SD and DP cameras.
 
Zone8 said:
In that case, who said the World was seen in some specific ratio? After all, any lens actually produces a circular image - it's only the camera manufacturer who decides what bit of that to collect, so why should any photographer worth his/her salt be so narrow minded as to be bound by anything as regards shape/ratio/why?

--
Click to expand...
I agree with you 110%. It's your photo, do what you want with it!

--
Neil
http://thewarmland.com/
 
bluekite said:
Do you think it is best to print out the full sized image of the sensor and get custom framing done or is it better to crop to more standard photographic sizes?
Click to expand...
If the image supports cropping, there's nothing wrong with changing the aspect ratio. Sometimes I take shots intending to crop to a 16:9 format for example to get a wide scope.

But, the problem is for a more similar aspect ratio is that you are used to framing for the aspect ratio you have, so often the image is weaker if you crop one edge slightly.

You can find some frames in the native Sigma aspect ratio if you look. But it's true 8x10 is way more common. Perhaps you could get some kind of thin tape to mask out an 8x10 end line on the LCD for use in framing if you had a shot you thought you might want just a simple 8x10 of.

--
---> Kendall
http://InsideAperture.com
http://www.pbase.com/kgelner
http://www.pbase.com/sigmadslr/user_home
 
First, I think we should all acknowledge that cropping is definitely a personal choice. It's your image, do with it as you please; there is no "right" or 'wrong". Personally, I crop all the time - and not necessarily to standard sizes. I try to visualize and capture each subject in the best possible way but when I get home and open up the image and see things different I'm have no compunction about chopping away. Too much sky? Snip. Wires in the shot? Zip. Too much foreground? Gone. I paid good money for my digital camera and post-processing software so that I would have more flexibility so why would I constrain myself to some (perhaps?) outdated film parameters? But, as I said at the beginning, it's a personal choice and I love to see the way different people treat their shots...
--
Keith...

Look at the picture, not the pixels...
http://www.lkeithr.zenfolio.com
 
Rytterfalk said:
This is an interesting toptic really. :) I don't have much to add though but I very much feel that IF I crop, then I'll go either for the current size (but smaller) or I'll go for square. But I hardly ever crop to be honest. Sometimes I straighten a shot and that's also a way of cropping as you lose some but.. well, when the next Foveon sensor comes out with lots more MP's then I will probably be more prone to crop.

--
Carl @ Rytterfalk.com (Göteborg, Sweden)
http://www.rytterfalk.com
Proud Foveon user. Using Sigma SD and DP cameras.
Click to expand...
I'm the opposite, I'll crop a shot however it's been years since I've bothered to straighten a shot. I just take more time to compose now, and do my best to straighten the camera.
--
The masterpiece is created by the artist, not the camera.
http://bcscenicwonder.com/blog3/

http://www.bcscenicwonder.com

http://studiostu.bcscenicwonder.com/
 
Every image has its own ideal crop and you do what is best for a strong image.
bluekite said:
Do you think it is best to print out the full sized image of the sensor and get custom framing done or is it better to crop to more standard photographic sizes?

BK
--
There is more happiness in giving than receiving.
Click to expand...
--
Galleries and website: http://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/mainindex.htm
 
DMillier said:
Every image has its own ideal crop and you do what is best for a strong image.
Click to expand...
I agree. Cropping is just another technique in the artistic process. Whether it's done inside or outside of the camera doesn't matter.
 
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