How to crop correctly

Do anyone know of an article or tutorials on the correct approach to cropping. Or does any one have any advice.

I just saw 2 almost identical photos by 2 different photographers and what struck me was the difference their cropping made.

At the top of this forum is a Sticky post about Tutorials. Inside is one on Cropping: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=34567


Since this is the Post Processing forum I automatically assumed that you were asking concerning post-processing. If you're interested more in compositional cropping check in Talk About Photography there's a Sticky about Tips & Tutorials. Inside is one for Landscape Composition: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=41328

But it's not just about Landscapes, but more of an artist's tutorial on composition. Well worth a look. Buried inside that thread is another link which is worth a look: http://photoinf.com/

That's the art in photography - seeing the different possibilities and then employing the tools in a creative ways to capture what you see.

No doubt! We just had a meet in Boston - 15 of us got together. Over in Urban we're comparing variations of many shots and the post-processing employed to get the final product. It's very interesting.

The bottom link is brillant. I dont normally crop my photos as I dont do a lot of printing (I dont think they are good enought yet).Thanks for the links.

PS if I learn correct composition wont have to crop

Not exactly. The best composition for most images isn't the 3:2 ratio that most SLRs produce. Sometimes it's very long and narrow, sometimes it's more nearly square.

Cropping is done for other purposes, too, such as to fit a certain print size (such as 8 x 10) or by newpaper & magazine editors to fit the available space.

Pretty much any famous photograph you can think of has been cropped from its original composition.

But learning about composition is invaluable, because if you have a vision for the final crop when you take the picture, you can compose the shot with that in mind. Cropping less of the original image means saving more detail.

I just want to subscribe to this thread.. Personally, I have cropped to bring the main feature to the center front as much as possible. Kinda like getting the junk out of the trunk.

[QUOTE=Curtis N]Pretty much any famous photograph you can think of has been cropped from its original composition./quote]

Why? Are they taking out "unwanted" space or objects. Is it part of focusing "our" attention on the detail the wish us to see.

Cropping is removing something you dont want (unless to resize) do we do that when we look through the view finder?

If there is something I see in the view finder I change position or focal length till its gone, or as a newbie do I need to change my thinking?

PS I dont have that final "vision" my brain dont work that way. I know when I have got what I want after I have got it

Besides the aspect ratio issue I mentioned earlier, there are a multitude of situations that may lead to a less-than-perfect composition. Sometimes we can't get as close as we would like, or don't have a long-enough lens. Sometimes we're so focused on capturing a moment or an expression that we don't notice everything else that might be in the frame. Sometimes, things happen so fast that there's simply no time to ponder the artistically superior composition before we shoot.

Think about the US Marines raising the flag over Iwo Jima. How much time do you think Joe Rosenthal had to ponder how much sky, how much rubble, how much mountainside, etc. to get in his viewfinder?

I admit to being pretty lousy at composition. I can't look at a scene and envision the image like some people can. But I can improve most of my shots by moving in one or more of the edges later.

Im learningt to see and to understand forground middle and background.

The more I learn the more I realsise the less I know but I think my photos are getting better

I agree with Curtis. Sometimes you have to crop just to obtain the correct aspect ratio for printing. More importantly though, you don't always have the time nor the lens to obtain a perfectly composed picture. In those instances, capturing a less than perfectly composed picture is better than no picture at all. Thank goodness for the digital darkroom!

Read about the "rule of thirds". Use your cropping to get the subject on one of the crossover points. When you see the differences of NOT having the subject in the centre you will see what makes the difference between a nice photo and a great image.

We all crop at some time or another to improve the composition of our images.