Crop question

dlscott56

I was reading Shay's explanation of the 10:4 crop ratio in another thread and it made me wonder about cropping in general.

Do most people set their crop tool to a crop ratio? Trying to match the standard print sizes to their photographs composition? Or, do you always crop for composition only and worry about re-cropping, if necessary, later on for printing.

Just curious.

pathfinder

There are proabably as many different opinions about this as anything else in photography. Particularly 35mm ( 2 x 3 or 24x36 ) format.

Standard print sized tended to be 4x5, 8x10, 16x20, rather than 8x12, 10x15, 16x24. Because film and paper came in those ratios. 2 1/4 square shooters either shot square images or cropped one border or the other routinely. 35mm format - 2x3 - is neither square nor does it fit 4x5 ratio images without cropping.

Thus, if the image allows, and works with a 4x5 ratio, I tend to crop to that format. Yes, I give a up a few pixels if I do that. Big deal, I got lots of pixels these days. I did that in 35mm film also. But I do not feel compelled to that if the image demands an different format. I go with the image first, but most of my images will accept 4x5 ratios. I crop a fair amount 13x9 now too - fits an HDTV pretty good. Ultimately the destination of the image will determine what it needs.

There are the die hard full framers who swear they never crop their 35mm format image. Good for them. There are tons of pros who crop as needed so I do not feel like a second class citizen for cropping as I choose.

Your milage may vary, and the warranty expires when you leave the room.:D

ShepsMom

Good question, i have never thought of that before. I always crop for composition, may be i should consider other options.

jdryan3

I try and stay at 2:3 - and have no problem going to 1:1 or 4:5 if it fits the image. I started working with 6:1 and 9:1 as pano sizes a couple weeks ago. Then I saw Shay's post and started looking for 5:4 'opportunities' Friday night.

I really, really, REALLY try to stay in those 'standard' aspects/ratios. It is just easier to get frames and mats in those sizes. I don't frame or sell enough to do custom crops. It is just too expensive. Ironically one of my favorite images I purchased and had matted and framed is 24x20 (or 6:5)

LiquidAir

For snappy shots, I try to stick to 3:2 because my family likes to order 4x6 prints. For more arty stuff, I generally try to keep it to one of these:

1:1
5:4
4:3
3:2
16:9
2:1
5:2 (Shay's 10:4)

If those fail me, I'll crop to the composition.

dlscott56

Thanks everyone.

It's interesting to know what other, more experienced, photographers like all of you do with this. I haven't made very many prints of my photographs. Most of what I do is for family related activities, I just post them on my SmugMug site for everyone to look at.

I'm trying more and more to become a better photographer and I think it would be important to make some decisions about this since printing could become an issue later on. That's assuming I'll take some worth hanging up of course !

I'm optimistic though