How Often Do You Crop?

depending on how I intend to print/display, a 2x3 can be cropped to 16:9 and 21:9 often. Sometimes, verticals skewed and needs correction, so crop. Camera not level, so crop.

Shooting fast pace activities slightly wider to have a buffer? Sure, on occasion.

Focal length limited crops, hardly ever.

I print myself. With the price of printers being where they are at why not and I would;t trust that part of the process to anyone else. I am usually making a change or two after I make my first print anyway. A backlit image (monitor) doesn't always look the same as a print. Also usually 12 X 18 on 13 X 19 paper. I also cut my own mats.

Wilt wrote in post #18225710
...and then for THIS particular practice, you have to find a commercial outfit that will print the photo to fit their standard size that works with a matte with 3:2 cutout.
For example, I had a landscape shot which THEY trimmed off the top and bottom from the image on the print. I had to wrestle with them over the phone to print the horizontal portion of the image to fit the long dimension of the 14x17" paper, leaving white space at the top and bottom.

I always resize the actual image file to have any borders I want so that the final image is exactly the size they are printing, complete with the borders where I want them and as thick as I want them. However I also print my own images and cut my own mats, so it is lot less of a concern for me these days.

airfrogusmc wrote in post #18225713
I print myself. With the price of printers being where they are at why not and I would;t trust that part of the process to anyone else. I am usually making a change or two after I make my first print anyway. A backlit image (monitor) doesn't always look the same as a print. Also usually 12 X 18 on 13 X 19 paper. I also cut my own mats.

Not all of us can afford the expense of a large format printer, with at most only 13x19" because of a Canon bundle offer!
So you have to go to a commercial service to get 30x40" prints, or even 16x24".

TeamSpeed wrote in post #18225721
I always resize the actual image file to have any borders I want so that the final image is exactly the size they are printing, complete with the borders where I want them and as thick as I want them. However I also print my own images and cut my own mats, so it is lot less of a concern for me these days.

I now do the same as well...but that first 11x30" was a learning experience.
In the preceding post I already commented about not being able to print all your own prints.

Wilt wrote in post #18225723
Not all of us can afford the expense of a large format printer, with at most only 13x19" because of a Canon bundle offer!
So you have to go to a commercial service to get 30x40" prints, or even 16x24".

Personally I've always liked WHCC, but I'm still more a hobby shooter with some occasional paid shoots.

Pretty much all the time. I like 4:3 aspect, so a bit always gets cropped. The "excess" coverage gives me some framing latitude.

Wilt wrote in post #18225724
I now do the same as well...but that first 11x30" was a learning experience.
In the preceding post I already commented about not being able to print all your own prints.

Sure with larger prints, or specialized medium, then I would make sure to size and border the image files so that the service provider doesn't have to do anything aspect ratio-wise. I have been liking the larger metal prints, they are coming out pretty nicely.

I crop just about every photo to some degree. Many of my compositions end up as squares; I haven't figured out why, but if that's what looks best, I go with it.

FreeSoul1987 wrote in post #18225725
Personally I've always liked WHCC, but I'm still more a hobby shooter with some occasional paid shoots.

I just had chat with WHCC, and just like the other vendor I have used, if I had an image area of about 3000 x 10000 pixels, and wanted them to print it on a 20" x 30" standard size paper, they would prefer I fill in the top and bottom area with white (blank) and submit a 6660 x 10000 pixel file to them.

For those that might not be sure how to do this, here are 2 quick screen shots in Photoshop. First, I crop with the dimension I want at the DPI I want. Then I resize the canvas to the final print's height * DPI and width * DPI using the canvas resizing option.

To sum up: it seems that how often people crop depends on (1) what they shoot, (2) whether they make prints, and (3) whether they have wives.

I crop frequently. The reasons are manifold.

I think it provides a great reservoir for creativity.

Also other reasons mentioned here apply to me too:
- live events shooting
- perspective adjustments
- adapting to standard print sizes (when I want to hang a series of images)
- cropping for reach (e.g. wildlife, street)

But most fun is cropping for creativity. I often sit in my armchair of an evening and edit images just for the fun of it. Making alternative edits from one image, even making two images from one shot occasionally. I find it more fun than just hanging "final" edits on the wall.

PS.: no wives involved in the making/editing of my photographs

I mostly bird/wildlife & do airshow photography.....I therefore crop almost every image.

Wilt wrote in post #18225753
I just had chat with WHCC, and just like the other vendor I have used, if I had an image area of about 3000 x 10000 pixels, and wanted them to print it on a 20" x 30" standard size paper, they would prefer I fill in the top and bottom area with white (blank) and submit a 6660 x 10000 pixel file to them.

Wilt can you not get any panoramic aspect ratios from your lab? I ask because both of the Pro labs that I use, mostly DS Colour labs, but also Whitewall, both offer panoramic format prints. For example for C-Type prints from DSCL they offer prints up to 12" wide on the basic machines, so as standard you can order 24/30/32/34/36×12 prints, as well as 28×11. I'm pretty sure the 28×11 is also printed on 12" paper, and may or may not need cropping by you. I've had them do a 24×12 for me in the past, and it came out really well. The only problem is getting it framed, as it needs a custom frame/mat to look the best.

Personally I usually stick to 3:2 for my images if I am posting them online, but I am also happy to use other ratios, including custom ones if it makes sense. I usually print at 16×12, since I can get OK plain wood frames at 20×16 complete with a mat for 16×12 for only £7.50 each. They used to be glass fronted, but are now perspex. With the cheap frame, and the prints only costing £1.20 each, including our 20% VAT sales tax, plus £4.50 standard delivery, which is usually next day including saturdays, even on my disability benefit I can afford to have plenty of framed prints on the wall. For many of my aviation subjects I am often focal length limited, even at 600mm, I would need a 900mm lens to come close to filling the APS-C frame for a lot of my shots. So yes I do need to crop a lot of images.

Alan