Do you crop?

[PG07]

As a pro do you crop your work in pp to get a better composition or do you take them right out of the camera without cropping because you are good(most of the time;) ) ?

Thanks

[michael_]

no hard and fast rule, if the shot needs a crop then do it, i took some shots over the weekend, only place i could do it i knew i would have a pole in the image but wanted that shot, so cropped it out in pp.

[rabidcow]

I crop the snot out of my pictures.

[mcmadkat]

If someone wants a 10x8 you have no choice but too crop.

That's why I don't do 10x8", its 9x6" or 12x8".

[Desertraptor]

Crop in camera as much as possible. Make the most of the pixels at hand.

[PhotosGuy]

If someone wants a 10x8 you have no choice but too crop. True, so I usually print 8X12 & 12X18. After shooting slides for decades, I tent to crop too tight in the cam & have to force myself to loosen up a bit... when I remember to.

[notapro]

Frame it well as much as possible. Crop when it's impossible to frame it the way I want, or when I goof.

[Tandem]

I don't fear the crop.

My sports shots are almost always cropped since I use prime lenses and center-point focus. I've seen amateur sports shooters (mostly parents) that never crop and their photos are horrible and without vision.

My other shots are cropped whenever cropping will improve the composition.

[Julio]

I always crop to 8X10 for display, then to whatever size I want to print: wallets, 4X6, 5X7, or 11X14. And like the other poster stated, sometimes I crop "the snot out of them". I have no problems with cropping a pic., that's why I always upgrade to more megapixels if I can afford it.

[Curtis N]

90% of my shots are cropped before they ever see the light of day, even when the output aspect ratio matches the original.
Probably half get straightened, too.

[fordmondeo]

I crop the snot out of my pictures.

I wish I could have put it as well as that!

[taygull]

Crop in camera as much as possible. Make the most of the pixels at hand.

Wrong answer!

What happens if you frame that shot perfect but the client wants an 8x10?

So say you take a shot of the bride and groom in portrait mode and you fill the frame..you've got no chance of giving them an 8x10 without digitally having to ad something to the shot.

If you crop in camera to an 4:5 ratio with your eye then you can get any aspect ratio you want for your client.

[notapro]

You can't actually crop in camera. You frame in camera.

Framing as best you can in camera, I assume, would include planning for eventualities such as rather predictable 8x10 orders.

[taygull]

You can't actually crop in camera. You frame in camera.



Tomato - Tomato

[sfaust]

After being constrained to film and slides for decades, and now shooting 16mp mostly, and up to 39mp on occasion, I now shoot loose and crop as needed. If I were shooting 6mp and going for 20x30 prints, I'd frame it in camera much tighter.

[taygull]

After being constrained to film and slides for decades, and now shooting 16mp mostly, and up to 39mp on occasion, I now shoot loose and crop as needed. If I were shooting 6mp and going for 20x30 prints, I'd frame it in camera much tighter.

But most images purchased are not 20x30........heck most 8x10's or smaller.

If you shoot to get a 2:3 ratio then you are dead when your client wants a simple 8x10 or a 24x30...it is a fact.

[Mike R]

I find that the average person who purchases a sports photo form me, of their kid, want the familiar size of 5x7 , 8x10 or 11x14. So that is what I now offer. So I have to crop each photo ordered for the size wanted.

[taygull]

I find that the average person who purchases a sports photo form me, of their kid, want the familiar size of 5x7 , 8x10 or 11x14. So that is what I now offer. So I have to crop each photo ordered for the size wanted.

Or you shoot to so you can proof an 4:5 aspect ratio, put it online and when they buy the size they want there is minimal loss of the image if done right.

[Mike R]

Or you shoot to so you can proof an 4:5 aspect ratio, put it online and when they buy the size they want there is minimal loss of the image if done right.

I only have low res images displayed on line with minimal editing, When a print is ordered I edit it before uploading to the lab. This saves me time from editing every image and I only have to be concerned with the ones that sell.

[taygull]

I only have low res images displayed on line with minimal editing, When a print is ordered I edit it before uploading to the lab. This saves me time from editing every image and I only have to be concerned with the ones that sell.

As you grow as a photographer or you shoot an event that has thousands of images you can't take the time to edit every single one that sells.

What you need to be able to do is create a product that will sell itself and you do not have to fulfill the order, you let the lab do it.

What you want is the client to be able to order the image and get whatever size they want and them not loose any important part of the image.

I've done this where I shot thousands of images at a dance and then posted them online. I had orders for 3 months and I only had to do one initial edit including the crop. I've had images as large as 24x30 and as small as 4x6 from the same event. I only made one edit and it was on the initial upload.

I'm going to post and example in a new thread in a couple of minutes. I'll link the new thread to it here.

[Mike R]

As you grow as a photographer or you shoot an event that has thousands of images you can't take the time to edit every single one that sells.

What you need to be able to do is create a product that will sell itself and you do not have to fulfill the order, you let the lab do it.

What you want is the client to be able to order the image and get whatever size they want and them not loose any important part of the image.

I've done this where I shot thousands of images at a dance and then posted them online. I had orders for 3 months and I only had to do one initial edit including the crop. I've had images as large as 24x30 and as small as 4x6 from the same event. I only made one edit and it was on the initial upload.

I'm going to post and example in a new thread in a couple of minutes. I'll link the new thread to it here.

It makes a lot of sense. My concern is about the potential for theft. As you can tell I still have a lot to learn about selling.

[S.Horton]

Sports: shoot tight, crop tighter

Anything else - Loose, then crop, often I'm not even thinking about it, only exposure / overall light-in-the-camera with subject; I'm not experienced enough to think more than that while shooting.

:eek:

[taygull]

It makes a lot of sense. My concern is about the potential for theft. As you can tell I still have a lot to learn about selling.

Here is the "tutorial" on shooting for the sale later.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=4059494#post4059494




Don't worry about theft as long as you use an on-line service like www.printroom.com (http://www.printroom.com). You can watermark your images with proof on them.

I think it is also important to understand theft is part of the game we are in. I work for a magazine and I can say we actually budget and build into our rates the fact that some clients will never pay us or they will go out of business.

My point is you must plan for losses and expect that you will have them. Do everything you can...within reason but it is not worth risking your current clients in order to protect one image from being stolen.

Besides the way you crop has nothing to do with the "stealability" of your images.

[Mike R]

Here is the "tutorial" on shooting for the sale later.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=4059494#post4059494




Don't worry about theft as long as you use an on-line service like www.printroom.com (http://www.printroom.com). You can watermark your images with proof on them.

I think it is also important to understand theft is part of the game we are in. I work for a magazine and I can say we actually budget and build into our rates the fact that some clients will never pay us or they will go out of business.

My point is you must plan for losses and expect that you will have them. Do everything you can...within reason but it is not worth risking your current clients in order to protect one image from being stolen.

Besides the way you crop has nothing to do with the "stealability" of your images.

Thanks for the link and advice.

[Picture North Carolina]

I always try to compose the shot in the camera, but crop when needed. The vision one has in mind doesn't always fit the aspect ratio / format of the frame / viewfinder.

[blackshadow]

Crop when needed in PP to bring out the best in the shot.

I am thinking some people are confusing cropping with cloning in this thread.

[taygull]

Crop when needed in PP to bring out the best in the shot.

I am thinking some people are confusing cropping with cloning in this thread.

I see cloning as having nothing to do with this thread....follow the link in my post above.

[blackshadow]

I crop the snot out of my pictures.

d'oh! I was thinking snot removal when I first read this!

[sfaust]

But most images purchased are not 20x30........heck most 8x10's or smaller.

If you shoot to get a 2:3 ratio then you are dead when your client wants a simple 8x10 or a 24x30...it is a fact.

I don't sell photographic prints at all, since all my work goes to magazines or for printed materials. But I'm still quite aware that large prints bring in more profits :)

My point wasn't about a particular size. It was more related to cropping in general and how its good to shoot loose and allow for all sorts of cropping. Rather than shoot tight and lock yourself in to specific crops or print sizes. But when shooting low mega pixel images, you have to be tight since you can't crop as freely since you need all the resolution you can get for the larger image sizes.

Its the same reason we shot medium format for magazines since it was so much larger that the cropping possibilities were much better than on 35mm. While you don't need a 16MP camera to make a decent 11x14 print, it does allow you to crop it quite a bit and still retain image quality.

Basically, I shoot loose when I do have the extra pixels so I can fit in any aspect ratio, rather than picking any specific one.

d'oh! I was thinking snot removal when I first read this!

:) :)

[airfrogusmc]

As a pro do you crop your work in pp to get a better composition or do you take them right out of the camera without cropping because you are good(most of the time;) ) ?

Thanks

I try to shoot for FF but sometimes things need a crop. I crop if it makes the final image better. If now I leave it full. I have a 5D and the view finder doesn't give me 100% close but not 100% so sometimes there are things at the edges that I couldn't see when I captured.

[airfrogusmc]

I don't sell photographic prints at all, since all my work goes to magazines or for printed materials. But I'm still quite aware that large prints bring in more profits :)

My point wasn't about a particular size. It was more related to cropping in general and how its good to shoot loose and allow for all sorts of cropping. Rather than shoot tight and lock yourself in to specific crops or print sizes. But when shooting low mega pixel images, you have to be tight since you can't crop as freely since you need all the resolution you can get for the larger image sizes.

Its the same reason we shot medium format for magazines since it was so much larger that the cropping possibilities were much better than on 35mm. While you don't need a 16MP camera to make a decent 11x14 print, it does allow you to crop it quite a bit and still retain image quality.

Basically, I shoot loose when I do have the extra pixels so I can fit in any aspect ratio, rather than picking any specific one.



:) :)

Like you said it sometimes depends on who you are shooting for (art director/designer) whether they need room to be able to fit the image into a page layout. You sometimes don't know the dimensions when you're shooting. In the old days shooting medium format of large format if the art director was at the shoot he would already know the dimensions of the image so you could draw a crop guide on a thin clear piece of clear plastic for med format or draw on the ground glass how it proportioned.