Thoughts on cropping?

[AceVentura1986]

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I’ve taken to adding grain to most of my images, the exception being any high ISO images shot on my M9M because it’s natural grain is so beautiful. 

[pico]

2 hours ago, AceVentura1986 said:

I’ve taken to adding grain to most of my images, the exception being any high ISO images shot on my M9M because it’s natural grain is so beautiful. 

'Natural grain' from a digital sensor - that's an emerging term I will have to get used to.

[AceVentura1986]

22 hours ago, pico said:

'Natural grain' from a digital sensor - that's an emerging term I will have to get used to.

Well, it’s really digital noise, not grain. Noise is a product of slightly different read outs of each pixel when compared to its neighboring pixels while grain is actually a physical component of a frame of film.  Now, all that said it can look functionally identical under some circumstances. 

Because the Monochrom cameras do not employ democaising to interpolate luminance and color between neighboring pixels, they do not demonstrate chroma noise at all nor do they demonstrate the feathering that is so common in color sensors. This leaves only the random luminance fluctuations that is manifested as digital noise and, in the case of the Monochrom cameras, looks like random grain. 

At least, that’s how I’ve understood this for years. 

[fotografr]

On 7/10/2019 at 9:52 AM, Peter_S said:

 

Slightly diverging off-topic here - but what software did you use? I use ON1 Resize. The difference between images with the Leica T and M246 upscaled are significant, way more than the pixel count would suggest. But yes, I have done M8 images to 3m wide...but for moderate viewing distances. That 1.5m print from the Monochrom retains almost all details and would not disappoint when inspected closely.

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Crop center, upsized to 150cm width.


 

For the record, the uncropped original is a fantastic image.

[fotografr]

I agree with 99% of what Adan writes in his posts on this forum. I don't completely agree about composition being limited by the camera one is using. I worked for a couple of years with the X-Pan and there were numerous times I ended up chopping off the sides of images to get rid of unwanted details. In my opinion, and in my practice, cropping is initially done in my head, not the camera. If I can't get the composition I want with the camera and lens combination I have, or because I can't quickly enough get to a more advantageous position, I have no problem with cropping in post. The cropped version of Colin's image is vastly superior to the uncropped version. Perhaps it wouldn't hold up for large printing, but it certainly does for internet viewing.

Edited August 19, 2019 by fotografr

[Herr Barnack]

On 6/13/2019 at 1:42 AM, LocalHero1953 said:

I would also much rather frame it right in camera. If I crop a lot, then I usually find myself disappointed with perspective defects. But of course I will crop to extremes if I only have one (wrong) lens with me😉.

What LH said.

Better to zoom with your feet than to habitually rely on "the lazy photographer's zoom lens" (cropping).  Of course, it is not always possible to zoom with your feet - such as when photographing the Grand Canyon - without dire consequences.

Sometimes there is no time to switch lenses or zoom with your feet; those are the times that cropping makes sense; better a cropped image than a missed image.

Habitual cropping seems counterproductive to buying a camera with a high megapixel count sensor.  In my view, it defeats the purpose of having the large sensor.

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2019 by Herr Barnack

[jaapv]

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11 minutes ago, Herr Barnack said:

Habitual cropping seems counterproductive to buying a camera with a high megapixel count sensor.  In my view, it defeats the purpose of having the large sensor.

Not at all. One can use  a high MP camera to limit the quality loss by cropping. Prime example: the Q2.

[AceVentura1986]

Sometimes it’s just unavoidable. For example, if you want the final product to be in anything other than 3:2 aspect ratio, such as a square, 4:5 or 16:9 you have no choice but to crop. Sometimes a subject Just works better in a different aspect ratio. 

[evikne]

Zooming with the feet isn't exactly the same as putting on another lens, because it also changes the perspective. It doesn't always matter, but sometimes it does.

[Ken Abrahams]

 I mostly crop all images after adjusting perspectives. Photoshop is an amazing tool and not anything like the old days when cropping wider in camera was necessary for stock lab print formats. Having said this in regard to film cameras, cropping in camera to the full frame was my main goal in those days for personal work. There was nothing more pleasing to print a full frame image within the standard 10x8 print format. I tend to operate the same way with digital and using the whole sensor of the MM. Digital and especially the MM is not that critical as film and if printing to standardized paper some cropping is required in post.