Cropping and Street Photography

[Pieter12]

A mediocre photo that wasn't edited is still a mediocre photo.

Bravo!

 

[Luckless]

Cropping is cheating.

yeah, some ladies feel attacked when I say that. And I don’t care.

So any photographer not using a full 360 camera is a damn dirty cheater eh?

Cropping isn't cheating. It's hard work. Calling hard work cheating is what amateurs do to alleviate themselves of the threat of having to do hard work. Embrace the hard work. Embrace the idea of struggling at every step to make each photo the best it possibly can be. Don't cop out and get lazy and blame it on some made up sense of pride or purity. A mediocre photo that wasn't edited is still a mediocre photo. A great photo that was heavily edited is still a great photo. There's no shame in the crop, but there is shame in letting a great photo slip by because you were too lazy or proud to take it all the way.

Cropping for print is just as valid of a tool as cropping for capture - I aim to make the best composition that I can in-camera to allow for the largest and most consistent contact prints, but I still try to consider what I'm capturing for use with an enlarger and potential crop/aspect ratio adjustment in mind.

I rather capture a little more than needed on my film, and allow for precision clean up after the fact than walk away with a flawed image that is harder to adjust.

Far easier to get rid of what you decide you don't need than to attempt to add what you want but wasn't captured in the first place...

 

[CMoore]

Cropping is cheating.

yeah, some ladies feel attacked when I say that. And I don’t care.

I hate to break the news to some of you girls, but ALL photography is "Cheating" (whatever the F that means).
REAL Men paint the scene.....like God intended.

 

[Vaughn]

A decisive moment type of street photo with my Rolleiflex, San Fransisco, about 1999 (8x8 RA4 print -- only cropped by the negative carrier). Handheld and while influenced by years of LF work, it is the camera I learned photography with.

Some images are strong because they have images within images within images in a single print...and some are strong for the opposite reason.

 

[wiltw]

Rarely is it that, for your given camera location and the lens FL that you have available to you, that the scene PERFECTLY fills your frame with NO DISTRACTING ELEMENTS contained within the frame, So you end up cropping the whole frame or you CHANGE the aspect ratio of the shot, from the 1.5:1 to perhaps 1.4:1 or 1.3:1 to trim off the distraction at the edge of the frame.

And sometimes, if the 1.5:1 original aspect ratio managed to NOT capture any distracting elements, when you go to print the shot on 11:14 or whatever precut print size, you are FORCED to crop to fit the easel on the enlarger base!

Cropping is an inherent element to making a good photograph. It may not always be necessary to use, but there is nothing wrong in using it.

 

[Vaughn]

Rarely is it that, for your given camera location and the lens FL that you have available to you, that the scene PERFECTLY fills your frame with NO DISTRACTING ELEMENTS contained within the frame, ...

Happens every time I make a successful image, but then I carefully choose a camera location and FL that perfectly fills my frame and will help me to express what I wish to express..or else I move on and find a place to stick the camera where it does.. We all work differently. In my compositions, the edges and corners are as important as the center of the image, if not more. The edges and corners define the center. Every branch heading to a corner is as important as the arrangement of tonalities throughout the image. Even the film rebate is part of the image.

An incredible number of incredible images constantly surrounds us. I already have more negatives than I will print in my lifetime...enough to keep me busy even if I never pick up a camera again. But that sounds incredibly boring, so I keep photographing and learning instead of just printing and learning. I do not need to crop to find more incredible images than I will have time to print, and I don't...as well as not burning nor dodging, but that is a horse of a different tonality.

 

[Pieter12]

Happens every time I make a successful image, but then I carefully choose a camera location and FL that perfectly fills my frame and will help me to express what I wish to express..or else I move on and find a place to stick the camera where it does.. We all work differently. In my compositions, the edges and corners are as important as the center of the image, if not more. The edges and corners define the center. Every branch heading to a corner is as important as the arrangement of tonalities throughout the image. Even the film rebate is part of the image.

An incredible number of incredible images constantly surrounds us. I already have more negatives than I will print in my lifetime...enough to keep me busy even if I never pick up a camera again. But that sounds incredibly boring, so I keep photographing and learning instead of just printing and learning. I do not need to crop to find more incredible images than I will have time to print, and I don't...as well as not burning nor dodging, but that is a horse of a different tonality.

Have we forgotten this is about "street photography"?

 

[Vaughn]

No, but it also caught a tangent to cropping in general. I provided a street image or two earlier...both medium format and large format (5x7). And if you look at the image of the 5x7 platinum print I shared earlier, you will see an unconscience nod to one of the earliest, if not the first, 'street photography' image to include a person (Paris 1838).

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/cropping-and-street-photography.172596/page-2#post-2246228

Historical image: Second image of slide show: https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/the-history-of-street-photography/

 

[logan2z]

Have we forgotten this is about "street photography"?

It appears we have. My original post wasn't talking about urban or natural landscapes where you have considerable time to think/compose, I was referring to candid street shots of fluid scenes like this one:

 

[CMoore]

It appears we have. My original post wasn't talking about urban or natural landscapes where you have considerable time to think/compose, I was referring to candid street shots of fluid scenes like this one:

Yes... Thank You

 

[Deleted member 88956]

It appears we have. My original post wasn't talking about urban or natural landscapes where you have considerable time to think/compose, I was referring to candid street shots of fluid scenes like this one:

And you are still not convinced cropping in street is OK?

Looking at street from another perspective, when you notice something worth recording, do you see the entire surroundings worthy of it? More than likely there was just a part, often very small part, of what your eye could see that caught your attention. You snap it based on position you happened to be in at that moment with lens angle you had mounted and ... wound up catching quite a bit beyond the point of interest.

Did it matter to you , or did you in fact notice, at that moment that on top of seeing the catfight you were after ... a dog was adoring a tree in a far distance or in a corner of the frame? Going further, did you think that catfight contestants got into it because of that dog? If in the end it played well into the scene you leave it in, if it did not, you crop it out.

It is possible to shoot street with tight tolerance in framing, I'd say it is not often advisable to do so, as it will lead to a lot of memorable shots lost or never taken. For an image to highlight a moment, it needs to be "clean" enough to stop viewers from seeing detail that destroys the message.

I think it is a silly argument that street photography either includes everything that was in the finder or image is no longer valid.

 

[Vaughn]

...I think it is a silly argument that street photography either includes everything that was in the finder or image is no longer valid.

I agree -- and possibly not even using a finder. Many flavors of street photography; use the film and equipment that works best for you in a way that does the same.

For me, printing full-frame (with rebate) is cool and shows the power of film in a different way. It can help illuminate the connections between the artist, their tools, and the image as part of the over-all work. Certainly it is not the only way, nor is it required for an image to be 'valid'.

If I were to undertake a project using the type of street photography that the logan2z is referring to, most likely my main camera would be a Rolleicord and I would print full-frame, possibly platinum prints direct from the negs...but that is just the way I rock and roll.

 

[awty]

But I'd bet you are not taking candid "street photographs" with those cameras.

Alfred Stieglitz did as did many others.
Your only handicap when making a picture should be your imagination.

 

[reddesert]

I hate to break the news to some of you girls, but ALL photography is "Cheating" (whatever the F that means).
REAL Men paint the scene.....like God intended.

 

[reddesert]

Cropping is cheating.

yeah, some ladies feel attacked when I say that. And I don’t care.

I hate to break the news to some of you girls, but ALL photography is "Cheating" (whatever the F that means).
REAL Men paint the scene.....like God intended.

Even when it's a joke, using "ladies" and "girls" as terms of abuse to massage one's insecurities about toughness is tedious. Stop it. We aren't in an 80s high school movie any more.

 

[Charles Escott-New]

Many years ago I found myself cropping most of my photos to give them impact and fill the frame. I felt disappointed that I couldn,t do better in camera. I was following orthodox advice and using a 35 or 50 as a standard lens. Since then I have used a short telephoto as my normal lens and feel this is right for me. At this moment I have a 50 on the crop sensor camera next to me, giving me that 75mm look. Regards, Charles.

 

[Pieter12]

Alfred Stieglitz did

He didn't have many options...

 

[NB23]

Another neat trick is to use a 75mm lens on a Leica that doesn’t have 75mm frame lines. Using the 50 frame lines with a 75mm lens usually gives nice surprises

Many years ago I found myself cropping most of my photos to give them impact and fill the frame. I felt disappointed that I couldn,t do better in camera. I was following orthodox advice and using a 35 or 50 as a standard lens. Since then I have used a short telephoto as my normal lens and feel this is right for me. At this moment I have a 50 on the crop sensor camera next to me, giving me that 75mm look. Regards, Charles.

 

[JBrunner]

Photography is cropping. So you crop some more. The end is the point. How you get there is irrelevant, as in almost nobody cares, and those do are students of technique or simply fools.

 

[Vaughn]

Nice to know that you care enough to post 30+ words...student or fool?

I figure I am a lot of each...

 

[JBrunner]

Nice to know that you care enough to post 30+ words...student or fool?

I figure I am a lot of each...

Lucid observation. I am in your debt.

 

[Charles Escott-New]

Another neat trick is to use a 75mm lens on a Leica that doesn’t have 75mm frame lines. Using the 50 frame lines with a 75mm lens usually gives nice surprises

Excellent, Mr. NB23, that is a really good idea. Thank you, Charles.

 

[CMoore]

Photography is cropping. So you crop some more. The end is the point. How you get there is irrelevant, as in almost nobody cares, and those do are students of technique or simply fools.

Yours is a timely post.
Above you are a couple members who talk about solving their cropping "problems" by using a longer lens.
THAT of course opens the (stupid) rabbit-hole of "wisdom" that states....... "If your pictures are not good enough, you are not close enough"
It would seem these guys are also "cheating"

Funny how most people agree that using film or digital is irrelevant and so is which camera you choose.
But cropping seems to be a demon all its own.

 

[Charles Escott-New]

Yours is a timely post.
Above you are a couple members who talk about solving their cropping "problems" by using a longer lens.
THAT of course opens the (stupid) rabbit-hole of "wisdom" that states....... "If your pictures are not good enough, you are not close enough"
It would seem these guys are also "cheating"

Funny how most people agree that using film or digital is irrelevant and so is which camera you choose.
But cropping seems to be a demon all its own.

Mr. Moore, I enjoyed reading your post. As a disabled man if I got close enough I might take the subject out with my walking frame !. Charles.

 

[CMoore]

Mr. Moore, I enjoyed reading your post. As a disabled man if I got close enough I might take the subject out with my walking frame !. Charles.

Well now..... THAT is funny.