Some of the most iconic photographs of the century are actually cropped versions

jim_jm said:
As a counterpoint to this, Arnold Newman had no qualms about cropping his images - quite severely in some cases. Like the famous portrait of Igor Stravinsky http://arnoldnewmanarchive.com/media-gallery/detail/58/316 , and Marilyn Monroe http://arnoldnewmanarchive.com/media-gallery/detail/58/333 .

Definitely not a cr@p photographer.

If I think a photo is cr@p when I'm taking it, I don't. Saves film and money. :D
Click to expand...

Well you could argue that a great photographer had taken the photo directly like it was after he cropped it.
 
jim_jm said:
As a counterpoint to this, Arnold Newman had no qualms about cropping his images - quite severely in some cases. Like the famous portrait of Igor Stravinsky http://arnoldnewmanarchive.com/media-gallery/detail/58/316 , and Marilyn Monroe http://arnoldnewmanarchive.com/media-gallery/detail/58/333 .

Definitely not a cr@p photographer.

If I think a photo is cr@p when I'm taking it, I don't. Saves film and money. :D
Click to expand...


thank you. I remembered that Stavinsky photo but not the names. When i first saw that photo years back, it 'legitimized" cropping as a tool, IMO. I also vaguely remember that the original is noticeably rotated from the "final" image.
 
There's a school of thought that your photos will be stronger if you have some idea what you're doing when you taking the photo, rather than trying to turn your random failures into gold in the darkroom. That's where the no-crop idea comes from
 
I used to crop all the time. Much easier to make a nice frame.

Now, to me a crop means I missed my frame.

It's a good challenge, make a good image with the full frame. :)

Overall a lame article which is just a rip-off of the peta-pixel article which is not much itself. More than not, I preferred the uncropped shot LOL
 
As was said above, it's in the same ballpark as the belief that photos contain some kind of absolute truth, or indeed should do. Or that there is some kind of originality, or objectivity in a captured image. There clearly isn't:

https://www.crunchyspaces.com/content/photography-truth-reality-objectivity/

I suppose another argument is around keeping the aspect ratio and this I tend to go along with (for the most part). Not because I think it's wrong to do otherwise, but mainly because I tend to like the familiarity of the traditional formats.

I did know an artist who used to put his artwork in frames of all sorts of shapes (circles, curly edges and so on) and many people found it quite confronting for some reason.
 
Over the years here the cropping discussion has cropped (ha ha) up quite regularly. :p
 
Are rangefinder framelines 100% accurate vs SLRs? I have always assumed photos taken with Leica Ms and the likes are meant to be cropped.
 
Just goes to show how cynical photography has become. :)

I mean, we watch olympic gymnastics on TV. Why not allow editing of the footage, cut out the mistakes? Then let the judges decide from that?

The edited routine is just as valid as the uncut original, right?

I always read Henri Cartier-Bresson was vehemently opposed to cropping. Not true?

Ok, what did he know? ;)

He also was appalled at people like me taking pictures of rocks. LOL

I told him in dream the other night: "listen HCB, these are uncropped rocks!"
 
it easily can be seen why crops, for the samples shown, make sense. On some they even had been planned when shooting or were inevitable, e.g the square vinyl cover pics taken on non square mediums.
imo they don't make a case against composing the final frame in the viewfinder. with digital it is easier to crop though, and I plan to take that more into account.
of course they do make a case that cropping may enhance, specially photos taken fast in action or when a super long, a longer tele would have been required.
 
back alley said:
there is a school of thought that says an image should not be cropped but kept the same as it was coming out of the camera.
Click to expand...

Then, an out of focus shot should be left out of focus. An unloved horizon left tilted, on and on. How silly! Schools of thought are that way I guess.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Cropping, film V digital, rangefinder V SLR, Leica V the rest, etc etc.

These subjects all need their own forum where original thought is unimportant and the best answers are cut and pasted! :)
 
The sgt. Pepper picture isn't the picture used in on the album either - it looks like a behind the scene kind of picture.

Nothing wrong with cropping, if done intelligently. Not a discussion. It is a good thing to try to get the picture at once - it improves your composition. But it isn't necessary - just crop when it improves the picture.
 
uhoh7 said:
Just goes to show how cynical photography has become. :)

I mean, we watch olympic gymnastics on TV. Why not allow editing of the footage, cut out the mistakes? Then let the judges decide from that?

The edited routine is just as valid as the uncut original, right?

I always read Henri Cartier-Bresson was vehemently opposed to cropping. Not true?

Ok, what did he know? ;)

He also was appalled at people like me taking pictures of rocks. LOL

I told him in dream the other night: "listen HCB, these are uncropped rocks!"
Click to expand...
Totally untrue. His famous "puddle jumper" is in fact heavily cropped. What he didn't want was other people cropping his pictures -- as will be easily understood by anyone who has ever had a picture butchered to suit a layout.

Also, he was not averse to building myths around himself, and plenty of others have built further on those myths -- such as the utterly nonsensical idea that he only ever used 50mm lenses.

Cheers,

R.
 
To a painter the eye is the lens, should a painter be criticized for not painting his or hers entire field of view? No,a painter is allowed to "crop" in addition to subtract and add as the artistic inclination seems fit. Does painter even strive for exact reproduction of the scene? The lens, the eye of the photographer throws a CIRCLE of light. We choose to crop the image from the get go in to a image with right angles. The square format fits the image circle best, but is not the most common format. Why? Because photographers choose to start their photograph with a chossen "crop". A photographer should be free to express his or her image as how it was precived before or after the image was captured. Cropping is no differant than choosing a different developing time for the film, a different grade of paper to print it with or dodging/burning while exposing the paper. Toning the print or not? All in the creation of an image. M8, crops every image, should you use it?
Carl
 
Spanik said:
As Shiro says, very obviously 3 different photos.

I never crop. Very difficult to do with slides. The photo as it was taken stands. If it is crap, it was crap when taken. All the rest is just making purses out of sow's ears.
Click to expand...

i saw a documentary on ansel adams where his son gave an hour long tour of his dads hunongous editing space. in fact it was bigger than most peoples houses. his most 'iconic' photos were subject to multi stage, multi day editing. there is no debate here. there is fact, then there is fantasy. feelings about not wanting facts to be facts dont change facts, republican party philososophy to the contrary notwithstanding. enjoy continued debate knowing it will not change a thing. all your favorites, all the icons, all of them edit.
 
In my view framing is the most difficult photography skill. And cropping being another form of framing, requires a certain level of skill in framing.

But there is one major difference between framing in real time and cropping. In real-time-framing time is of the essence, while in cropping, there is no time limit. This means a photographer who begins to rely on cropping, might have his work suffer from a lack of spontaneity. And secondly since he crops by what he thinks is a good photograph, he only manages to recycle instead of actually engage in the difficult and creative task of framing in real time.

Cropping should be just another tool for those exceptional cases not as the norm... And of course when people crop they should respect the aspect ratio!
 
Ansel's moon over half dome was taken with a 250mm sonnar on a 6X6 format Hasselblad. It's cropped, so it's crap?? Really, let artists create art.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom