Cropping your pictures

[Suicidenote]

I was just wondering what aspect people are cropping their pictures to. I am in the habit of always cropping to 4 x 6, as if I were going to print them, even if I'm going to just put them on the web. I know that sometimes they would look better cropped square or some arbitrary size, but I always try to shoot with printing in mind and always crop them like that, even if the picture suffers because of it.

[narlus]

good question. i used to be pretty arbitrary, but i took some advice from René about maintaining a standard (at least for the set). so now, i default to 2:3 ratio, unless it really doesn't work for the image.

one follow-on question i have: for tight crops, is that normally achieved in-camera (by zoom or proximity w/ a prime), or after the fact in photoshop?

[Palladium]

5x7's ;)

[bmoguy]

good question. i used to be pretty arbitrary, but i took some advice from René about maintaining a standard (at least for the set). so now, i default to 2:3 ratio, unless it really doesn't work for the image.

one follow-on question i have: for tight crops, is that normally achieved in-camera (by zoom or proximity w/ a prime), or after the fact in photoshop?

I was totally arbitrary until somebody here suggested standard ratios, so now I try 2:3 first, 4:5 next, and if that doesn't look right 1:1. Made sense to me.

As for the tight crops, I always try to get as tight as possible. But I'm also starting to learn that tighter isn't always better (in terms of photo composition :D), and that a little space can add to the shot.

[Suicidenote]

one follow-on question i have: for tight crops, is that normally achieved in-camera (by zoom or proximity w/ a prime), or after the fact in photoshop?

When I started I used to have to crop everything after the fact in photoshop. I am finding that now as I get more experience I do much less cropping afterwards.

I always try to frame exactly how I want the final picture to look, except in the case that the performers are moving quickly, I shoot wide so I don't cut of heads, arms, headstocks, etc... then I crop those down afterwards.

[bacchanal]

Since I have primes only I end up cropping a bit more than I would otherwise. It isn't always possible to 'zoom with the feet' after all. I generally stick to a 2:3 ratio, but once in awhile I'll do a 1:1. Sometimes I'll frame a shot with cropping in mind if I know I can't get close enough.

[thelightofsound]

i keep everything 2:3

[iamskew]

5x7 usually

[Metalphotographer]

Almost always 2x3, the same way it comes out of the camera seems to be appropriate for me :)

[René Damkot]

2:3 almost exclusively.
Sometimes I crop to another ratio, for example a 'panorama' shot. Then I just use what looks best, since it's likely to be a single shot.
If I have a series, I always crop them to the same ratio...

[blackshadow]

It varies for each shot - I'm a big fan of the 10x12 and 8x10 but also use the 2:3 ratio quite frequently and rarely I use a 1:1 ratio (square)

[PhotoMonger]

Wow, I usueally crop the picture to whatever custom size looks best but after reading this post I might try using standard sizes. I'm still new to PP, so I'll take whatever I an get.
Thanks for the POLL

[kmb]

I'd say statistics of my images would look like this (the order):

1. 2:3
2. 1:1
3. Panoramas
(and no other options).

I really like creative panoramas (by "panorama" I mean that the longer dimension is significantly "more" longer than the longer dimension in 3:2, comparatively), here are two of my recent favorites:

http://kuvat.huumakuva.net/albums/userpics/10002/_MG_3240b.jpg

http://kuvat.huumakuva.net/albums/userpics/10002/_MG_1926.jpg

[mikeivan]

The only prints I make are 8 X 10 or borderless 8.5 X 11 so I crop most of my shots to those dimensions. I bet I crop over 90% of my keepers. It seems I am almost never "close enough".

[kmb]

It seems I am almost never "close enough".

I have two rationale for not being able to be "close enough" a good composition (e.g. why I have to do cropping in pp):
1) Since I can do it in PP, I rather spend my (limited) brain power for other things when I shoot (I try to shoot a bit "too" wide to allow some room for choosing the compoisiton when cropping in PP). Most important of those "other things" is trying to catch an especially interesting moment.
2) There is just one sensitive enough focus point in my 5D - the middle one. So when the performer is jumping around, I have to keep the center focus point at a place where I want the focus to be. Results into extremely crappy compositions more often than not :)

[bacchanal]

I have two rationale for not being able to be "close enough" a good composition (e.g. why I have to do cropping in pp):
1) Since I can do it in PP, I rather spend my (limited) brain power for other things when I shoot (I try to shoot a bit "too" wide to allow some room for choosing the compoisiton when cropping in PP). Most important of those "other things" is trying to catch an especially interesting moment.
2) There is just one sensitive enough focus point in my 5D - the middle one. So when the performer is jumping around, I have to keep the center focus point at a place where I want the focus to be. Results into extremely crappy compositions more often than not :)

Yeah, I end up doing the same thing too. I'm still using 'One Shot' plus half shutter AF/AE lock (CF 4=0) then recompose. Sometimes I just don't have time to recompose. AE doesn't matter so much as I'm always shooting manual anyway.

[René Damkot]

I often 'back up a little' so I can for instance straighten an image somewhat in PS....
Off course, the position of the AF fields is another reason :rolleyes: