Do You Crop to Standard Sizes or Best Looking Size?

[TomHeaven]

Do you leave your photos full size, or only crop them to standard sizes, so your customers always get a photo that fully fills the standard size papers, even if that aspect ratio is not the best looking, or leaves some undesirable or suboptimal thing in the photo?

Or do you crop to what looks best, without regard to standard sizes?

If you crop to what looks best, do your clients feel like they got "cheated" if a photo is smaller than the standard size they bought, or the standard size paper has some white space because you cropped the image?

Do you have any issues or get complaints regarding custom cropped photos destined to be matted and framed because custom made mats must then be used?

How do you address pricing on custom cropped sizes versus pricing for standard paper sizes?

 

[hotdog321]

I shoot for editorial publications, so I crop to make the image look best. In addition, editorial layout people are frequently pleased to receive a long horizontal or long vertical to help with the page design.

 

[artistguy]

If you're looking to make money from prints it's worth looking at it from a reverse engineering aspect.

Find a quality but value for money provider of frames and mounts (Mats) and select a few 'standard sizes' so you know the cost, then shoot to be able to print at the size required to match the aspect and size of the mounts/mats. It will save a lot of post production cropping and the cost of bespoke framing and mounting for most clients.

 

[Shockeyy]

I always crop to what looks best.....to me anyway.
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[Gato Amarillo]

What kind of clients?

For retail (portrait, wedding, etc) I usually crop to standard mat and frame sizes to simplify ordering and framing. I keep this in mind when shooting and frame within a squarish area, roughly to 8x10 proportions.

Editorial and advertising clients vary, but most prefer a somewhat loose framing that they can crop for themselves. Some editorial clients will accept and respect the photographer's crop, some won't.

For exhibitions or print sales I do whatever pleases me and fits the photo. But because I've been doing this a long time and because I use a camera with a 4:3 sensor most of my photos fit gracefully into standard mat proportions.

Gato

--
After 40 years of Canon and Nikon I'm now using a camera named after my toaster.

Silver Mirage Gallery:
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[PenguinPhotoCo]

4x6, 5x7, 8x10 are "standard" print sizes yet none are the same crop...so what is 'standard' to you?

For weddings I may crop, but always to 4x6 for the proofs, then as needed for what's ordered.

for seniors usually 5x7 for proofs, but not always - depends on the shot and how it crops best, artistically. I try to leave room for the other version - wallets are 5x7 and need room for the die cut anyway and few if any portrait prints are 4x6 - 8x10 crop (16x20, etc or 5x7/11x14 is close).

sports is always 5x7 although a few printed items are 8x10 many are cropped tighter and odd like buttons (round) for example.

Brides get files everyone else buys prints or albums and such so I do the cropping to fit what's ordered and that's built into the price of the product/print.
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Learn the science. Practice the art.

 

[BAK]

I often just send uncropped digital files to editorial and commercial clients.

Sometimes I crop the digital file if I think the client might crop it badly.

For othershots, inclduing portraits, I'll often float the image.

In the old days, I'd sometimes file out the negative holder and print full frame 6x9 images (from35mm) floating on an 8x10 sheet of paper, making a final print that was esy to frame.

With Photoshop and special frameing and border software, it's easy to make great looking pictures on paper sizes for which frames are esily available.

I still find it hard to locate good 2:3 frames and mats in 6x9, 10x15, 8x12, 12x18.
sizes

 

[Ron Kruger]

I rarely crop anymore, but instead try to compose accordingly at time of capture to preserve the maximum IQ of submitted images. My agency prefers and suggests no cropping. Magazines and newspapers prefer to do their own cropping according to format and useage. I submit original sizes to give them more options. Sometimes they don't crop the way I think it should be done, but that's their perogative. As long as they send the check, I don't care.

Whenever I do crop, it is always at standard sizes, because--well--it is standard and easier and cheaper for everyone to reproduce based upon traditional framing practices.
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In the end, the only things that matter are the people we help and the people we hurt. http://pa.photoshelter.com/user/ronkruger

 

[calson]

It depends. For the formals and group shots I use the D3's 5:4 crop mode so there is zero cropping for an 8x10 which is a time saver. For albums I crop to maximize impact with the image as I use loose framing during the day to provide more options later. Along the same lines I have learned to shoot both verticals and horizontals at key moments as there are different uses and looks for both.

 

[TomHeaven]

4x6, 5x7, 8x10 are "standard" print sizes yet none are the same crop...so what is 'standard' to you?

This is part of the issue I'm asking about. Besides whatever crop looks best to you, the photographer, artistically, without regard for aspect ratio; there is not only "one standard crop", but several, depending on what size the customer wants.

Does anybody crop artistically and then try explaining to a customer why a standard size print then has an oversized white border on one side of them? In practice this is probably a hard sell. I know some customers have thought they were getting "gipped" or "shorted" when a photo didn't cover the whole print surface because the photographer cropped out something, even though the composition was truly better with the photographers recommended crop.

 

[markhayphotography]

IF I crop, it is usually just to straighten an image. I like to think my compositions are created through the viewfinder for the most part. It is partly for this reason that all of my images are provided in the 2x3 aspect ratio (translating to 4x6, 6x9, 8x12, etc.).

The other reason I stick to 2x3 is that I think it is easier (IMO) for the client to crop that ratio down to 5x7 or 8x10. I tend to account for that by leaving a little space on each end.

 

[PenguinPhotoCo]

for weddings I leave the proofs as 4x6 ratio and crop per print or per image for the album as needed, trying to keep the composition as original as possible. I of course shoot with this in mind.

For seniors and portrait clients I usually show 5x7 proofs - easier to crop an 8x10 out of a 5x7 than vice versa and wallets are 5x7 so I try (and don't often succeed...) as shooting for the wallet - meaning, I (should) leave a lot of space around the edges for the die cut...if not I end up stretching edges, cloning, etc...for free as it's my mistake. Seniors aren't offered 4x6 (only 4x5) so it's not an issue on that end.
--
Learn the science. Practice the art.