Noob question: How do you know when to crop?

Again, a noob to photography, and only 4 days new to macro, so please forgive me if this is a really stupid question. I took some shots today that I think are pretty good (for me). I have a good bit of background in the photo, and I wanted to see more detail on the subject, so I did a heavy crop. The subject still looks good to me, but I'm kind of missing the coolness of the background.

Do you guys usually crop your pics? ...and how do you know when to crop? Is having the subject as big as possible the main goal for you (as long as it's clear)?

Here are a couple examples of what I'm talking about. The un-cropped are totally untouched jpegs, while the crops are converted RAW's and minor touch-ups in DPP.

#1: Uncropped

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Steve, you are coming along fine. A couple of things I try to do, is to always try to include the eyes, and always have them in focus, and dont crop to where you loose sharpness in them.

Also, unless you are wanting to just document a species, I like to have them facing in toward the middle of the frame. Beyond that, paring the image down to only things which add, rather than take away from the subject. And this really needs to start back in conceptualing the shot, before you press the shutter button.

Cropping (and framing) can improve the composition, so, I crop often. But I'm curious about any recommended practice.

I seldom crop, unless there is something I specifically want to show, or if I have some artifact that ruins a shot (blown highlights on one small part of the capture for example).

Edit, in your case the crops work well.

I think you've been spot on in each of your conversions

I tend to crop any extra dead space like any other photo. Leave some breathing room but keep the subject the main focus. You seem to have the hang of it. I would give the wasp a little more head and foot space in the crop, the sides are ok though. I just make sure I leave a size perspective if possible and a good background. Welcome to the macro world!

I tend to only do marginal cropping to improve the composition if needed.
For example in most of your shots the bug is rather central in the frame, I would probably crop these to give them more space in the direction they are looking and therefore take them off center.
Obviously if you can it's always better to get the magnification and or composition you want without cropping but that is not always possible with macro shooting.

Brian v.

That's a great example exsposure spot on sharpness very good crops are good it's down to you as what to include in the shot ,some like to see the full enviroment where the bug lives ,here you have done both and it works well ,keep up the good work

Thanks guys!!! Some great info & suggestions!