Do you Crop ?

[Findus]

After my 50mm useage question, I have a follow-up, do you crop your photographs, either digital-, or wet development process ?

If not; what is your reasoning for this

If yes; what makes you decide to crop, and do you use specific photographic rules for this ?

Does cropping generally enhance the purpose of photography ?

[stunsworth]

Yes I crop to improve the composition. Not everything fits into a rigid 3x2 view of the world.

[stnami]

Sure do! but due to the lack of rain I may not get a crop in at all this season.....

[hm1912]

I definitely do (in the darkroom -- no digital camera), for purely compositional reasons that were not possible to achieve when I took the photo. In my case, being the amateur that I am, it is usually to get rid of clutter in the margins of the photo.

[Findus]

OK might of phrased the question wrong, I crop too, minimally but I do at times.

But I allways try and look for the perfect in frame composure upon taking the photograph, I personally find uncropped 50mm (the only lenght I shoot) gives the most satisfactory results, often crop look unnatural, but this is very subjective ....

I always try not to crop - and I definitely do not crop out of size 3:2 or 6x6. Photographing to me is to compose a scene through the viewfinder before making the picture. It is like painting: a painter wouldn't paint a picture and then cut off parts of the linen.
One only learns to compose a picture if he is limited to the sizes - that's my opinion to that.

Greetings, Astrid

[stunsworth]

Astrid, but then again a painter wouldn't always paint using the same sized canvas ;-)

Steve

some do, some don't ... but anyway they know before beginning, how they are going to fill the canvas.

[bill]

Of course.

1. To improve composition - generally by "tightening up", or by correcting my habitual 1.5 degree lean to the right.

2. To "find" other images within the one I have taken.

Regards,

Bill

[hm1912]

A painter, however, might not paint on the whole of the canvas. So far, at least, I find that the only times I do crop are on architectural shots when I was physically unable to get the composition I wanted when I took the photograph.

[george]

Yes. I did in the darkroom and I do on the computer.

Why? To get the results I want.

[erl]

If I see an image in the world before me, I perceive it as a total composition which includes boundaries. Those boundaries frequently assume different dimensions. My range of cameras, whilst varied, often don't exactly match the subject proportinally. In such cases, either I compromise the perceived subject shape, or use the camera to 'best fit' the picture and crop afterwards to regain the perceived image.

Cropping in the camera, by the above theory, is a compromise. Cropping in the darkroom or on the computer allows retention of image integrity as perceived.

This all assumes that the photographer decides the composition rather than the equipment.

Just another POV.

Cheers,
Erl

[lct]

Originally Posted by Michaela

Do you Crop?

Yes i do but i prefer the 'Scale' tool of Photoshop Elements generally.

[phybron]

I crop when I have to for compositional reasons, but more often to get different size ratios for prints on deviantART.

[cbretteville]

Yes, and why not? I know HCB supposedly didn't, byt then he didn't do anything after rewinding the exposed film.

- Carl

[square_one]

Sure - because you can in the required enlargement process. You want the true challenge of unforgiving croplessness? Do large format contact prints.

On HCB: Yeah. I understand he left the developing and printing to others, and his standing orders were probably to print full-frame, but I'll bet that more than once he leaned over the shoulder of his favorite printer-person and said, "Maybe we just take out zat telephone pole along zee right edge."

[leicaflex]

80% no..I prefer a natural framing of my lens, when printing ( from the enlarger to the easel) the usual 10mm framing lines on the photo or full frame.
20% because :
1) it was impossible to frame the image correctly at the time
2) I was simply not paying attention to the framing
3) salvage the good part of a " once in a lifetime shot

Cheers, JRM

[peter_n]

What George said. Yes and for the same reason. To get the result I want.

[robert_parker]

Whilst cropping can be the last refuge of the scoundrel - 'if you crop enough, you'll find a good picture in there somewhere..' or 'get in close - it'll make a good alternative to having to worry about composition..' in reality cropping is as valid a post production technique as any other (eg printing on a certain paper, or printing a litytle darker or lighter for effect) and is as valid a form of artistic interpretation, too. It's the final picture as offered, not as shot, that counts.

[Dan States]

You are on the east bank of the Mississippi. You are carrying your m6 and 35mm lens. On the other side you spy Elvis and Hitler, each naked, sunbathing. Elvis is rubbing sun lotion on Amelia Earhart's back. Do you shoot and crop or pass on the photo?