Do you crop?

[Spanik]

Only sometimes with a digital photo to start with. Never with slides wich are about 95% of what I do.

 

[Clint Troy]

Highlight 1: It's possible to take photography seriously without doing what you describe. I think I'm reasonably serious (and have been for 40+ years)

Highlight 2: Not a good example. Visible corrections are normally a sign of incompetence. Competent photographers' corrections will be invisible.

Do you dodge and burn? Or is that taboo too?

Cheers,

R.

Dear Roger,
I could easily flavourize, accentuate, re-energize and embelish each and every HCB's shots with savant crops. Even his best ones, I, or you, can make them look even better.

I say let's do it!

 

[Sparrow]

Ok, so you love to crop. That's fine. I won't go sarcastic on you. My methods are mine.
And my VF doesn't have to be 100% accurate. I'm not sure why you're making a big deal out of it. My succesful shots are a savant mixture of feelings, specific moment, light, involvement, message and composition.
Who cares if the image is tilted or if a foot is cropped if the other aspects make it a brilliant shot, still?

Have you thought about this?

Let me see ... I'll have to think about that ...

... OK ... post some of your successful shots and I'll let you know

 

[Chris Lange]

I usually print out to the black rebate so I generally don't crop. If I am reinterpreting an image, I might crop later on down the line, but this is very rare, and I print full frame 99% of the time.

If I am printing a body of work where, for example, 10 of 12 images are printed full frame, I will use a piece of cardboard cut to image size, minus 1/4 inch on all sides to burn a sharp, even black border onto the print. This maybe considered verboten by some, but I like consistency.

 

[Michael Markey]

I`m still trying to work out how you flavourize something and what a savant mixture is or a savant crop.

Lost on me I`m afraid.

What do I do ... whatever I think appropriate whenever I thinks its appropriate.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Roger,
I could easily flavourize, accentuate, re-energize and embelish each and every HCB's shots with savant crops. Even his best ones, I, or you, can make them look even better.

I say let's do it!

Sorry, I don't understand. What are 'savant crops'? You do know that (for example) HCB's famous 'puddle jumper' shot is cropped? And that his printers sometimes had to work quite hard to get a good print from his less excellent negatives?

The HCB 'don't crop' instruction applied to the pictures he sent to the editors, as they were already cropped the way he wanted.

Cheers,

R.

 

[DNG]

NO matter what format you shoot, what you think you are recording is less than what you really recorded. Even with LF cameras.

So, when you are ready to print, or crop to a ratio you want. Be it 4x6, 8x10, 11x14 that require cropping from the same image...

So, the real point is: Did you allow enough space to crop to any ratio you need ?

 

[Roger Hicks]

NO matter what format you shoot, what you think you are recording is less than what you really recorded. Even with LF cameras.

So, when you are ready to print, or crop to a ratio you want. Be it 4x6, 8x10, 11x14 that require cropping from the same image...

So, the real point is: Did you allow enough space to crop to any ratio you need ?

I think you'll find that quite a lot depends on the camera.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Sparrow]

I think you'll find that quite a lot depends on the camera.

Cheers,

R.

.. and ones intrinsic laziness ... I would contend

 

[Sparrow]

I`m still trying to work out how you flavourize something and what a savant mixture is or a savant crop.

Lost on me I`m afraid.

What do I do ... whatever I think appropriate whenever I thinks its appropriate.

... I think he may be trying to say one buggers it up with learning and thought ... although I too was lost by the "flavourize" reference, perhaps it's a marketing term, it sound like that sort of thing

 

[Clint Troy]

Sorry, I don't understand. What are 'savant crops'? You do know that (for example) HCB's famous 'puddle jumper' shot is cropped? And that his printers sometimes had to work quite hard to get a good print from his less excellent negatives?

The HCB 'don't crop' instruction applied to the pictures he sent to the editors, as they were already cropped the way he wanted.

Cheers,

R.

The puddle jumper, I'd crop it in panoramic format. 16:4

And you, what would you do with it?

 

[Dirk]

Yes, I'm a cropper. I crop shamelessly and with utter abandon. From HCB to W. Eugene Smith to William Klein, just to name a few, I think I'm in good company.

 

[gns]

Yes, I'm a cropper. I crop shamelessly and with utter abandon. From HCB to W. Eugene Smith to William Klein, just to name a few, I think I'm in good company.

There have been great photographers throughout history on either side of this. Since it is hard to argue with results, that alone should silence anyone who either proclaims one way is better or who criticizes another's methods.

 

[gho]

I'd be curious to find out how many anti croppers are comfortable using a zoom lens?

Cool idea! Personally I do crop very seldom, getting the framing right in camera is part of the fun for me. Zoom lens? Well, they are ok, but mostly I use fixed lens.

 

[Fraser]

No.
All my prints have the black border. They are optimal.
I simply don't print if the shot is not good enough "but could be better if I cropped it".
That, to me, is a terrible failure.

I can understand the digital shooters that have millioms of files in their computer and only share a few photos on the net. Their images die instantly as soon as they post them. They look at them once and they end up in the black hole of their
Hard drive.
My photography, on the other hand, is taken very seriously. Each and every one of my best shots is printed on 16x20 or 20x24 fb paper. Never cropped. Selenium toned. Washed for 2 hours.
These photographs are all good for the highest standard exhibitions anywhere.
My film and darkroom work is light years on top of digital imagery that has no value except the short thrill it brings once posted in web forums.

Maybe some people write poems with a Caran d'ache on the finest paper and then use correction fluid at will. But me, once I capture the scene with my eyes and finger, it's done. If it's good, it goes to print. If it needs to be cropped and modified and recropped yeaes later, It's simply a failure. A shot that I missed.

You are very confident😉

 

[Souljer]

Hi,

I do not like to crop and find it more fun and rewarding to move around and look for the best composition in the frame and try to use the whole frame as much as possible.
Then I shoot.

Back in the day when processing meant it was more common to get prints of each frame rather than a CD, I used to review my prints and look for what I liked, did not like, and how to make them better. Sometimes what I did not like was at the edges of the frames.

Now I watch for these things before I fire. I'll try to simply get closer or change lenses if needed. I like composing in camera but sometimes it's not possible to do so correctly. I might be too far away or whatever so there will be a lot of wasted space or unwanted elements in the frame. I consider a lot of post-processing in order to repair or save an image to mean the photo is a failure. I might crop if I need the image but will make a note-to-self to do better next time.

That's for most of the photography I'm interested in. Sometimes you have to, as said, for web requirements, etc. That's different.

 

[Roger Hicks]

The puddle jumper, I'd crop it in panoramic format. 16:4

And you, what would you do with it?

Not my photo. I'd leave it and trust the photographer (who had access to the whole photo). My pictures... Well, I'll trust my instincts, as HCB trusted his.

But that's the point. I'll trust my instincts -- not a predetermined stance.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Clint Troy]

Not my photo. I'd leave it and trust the photographer (who had access to the whole photo). My pictures... Well, I'll trust my instincts, as HCB trusted his.

But that's the point. I'll trust my instincts -- not a predetermined stance.

Cheers,

R.

Now this is insane! We are actually almost saying the same thing.
I trust my instincts when shooting. And then print the whole image.

 

[NicoM]

I try to compose perfectly in the camera but I crop if necessary.

 

[DNG]

I think you'll find that quite a lot depends on the camera.

Cheers,

R.

.. and ones intrinsic laziness ... I would contend

With some maybe... But most cameras are not to a standard print ratio...

The options I state, may not be mine own workflow, but, just options that are obvious possibilities when you think about what the finished print size may be... Not all of us have multiple Formats to work with, so, because of that, a knowledge of how to frame your subject for the final print size in your camera is somewhat important to know, else, later, your subject will not fit the print ratio you may need to crop it to....

But, Let me say now, that I crop pretty tight "In-Camera".. I have 2 formats I use.... 4:3 (OMD E-M5), that is better for 8x10, 16x20 for example...But, I can use the 3:2 also.. better for 11x14, 20x30. I also use 3:2 on my 35mm SLR... (Fixed ratio 😛), which is OK, because I make 11x14 with 35mm film anyway.