Do you crop your photos?

[Pieter12]

Too much religion, not enough photography.

Amen.

 

[warden]

Too much religion, not enough photography.

Welcome to Photrio. An auspicious start.

 

[DonW]

Too much religion, not enough photography.

So freaking true!! Welcome!!

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I'm lucky with my friends, visitors of my small slide shows and/or pics it seems. They all can handle 2h+ raw slide shows with no transitions and fitting Dark Ambient/Industrial to enhance the themes presented, and literally ask for more!
Have had an occasion when I found a stranger from USA sitting on my couch, thanking for the experience and comparing it to and surpassing galleries he's visited.
Digital amateurs have praised the image quality on several occasions, so I must be doing something right, right?
I guess keeping the camera aimed at various, completely different subjects, being out there in the hunt for composition, light, different films and places, and doing some experimental photography / abstract collages helps to keep things fresh.

And boy do I consolidate my slides - it's a necessity. Been shooting slides exclusively for about a decade now and have kept the total number of slides under 1k for now.
No duplicates, no similar compos in a row. Shit that's aged poorly gets removed to free a valuable slide mount and a place for better, more meaningful one. Only strongest images remain, rest - the absolute majority - gets dropped in a box to be used in experiments/collages or never to be seen again. With some rare regrets here and there.

I'd have to handcuff my guests to their chairs to get them to watch for two hours.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Too much religion, not enough photography.

Hi Wilma. I spent two years in Fuchu outside of Tokyo in the mid-1960s. Welcome to Photrio. Where can we admire your photos?

 

[Vaughn]

Too much religion, not enough photography.

Well, don't agree with that.

Art is as religious of an experience as the worship of any god. YMMD

 

[Sirius Glass]

I'd have to handcuff my guests to their chairs to get them to watch for two hours.

For starters, take better photographs and edit out the boring ones and the poorly composed ones. Sometime those are the same photographs.

 

[Pieter12]

Getting back to the original subject, I think the couple of samples that were posted earlier, the dog photo by Elliott Erwitt and the portrait of Igor Stravinsky by Arnold Newman are excellent examples of the value of cropping. Both images are vastly improved by the process. Not knowing the original circumstances, it is possible that Mr Erwitt did not have a long enough lens or once the camera was at dog-level he could not have gotten closer to the subject, so he ended up having to crop the original. As for the Stravinsky portrait, the amount of time given Mr. Newman may not have allowed him to move around much with his 4x5 camera set-up, and the subject's expression is key to the image. Also, the final cropping to a different aspect ratio makes the composition more dynamic in my opinion. So cropping can definitely improve a photo, and the best composition is not always possible at the time of the shot and is sometimes discovered after inspecting the contact sheet.

 

[Vaughn]

Mr. Newman probably was not too worried about the crop/no-crop issue and took the images with the idea of possibly cropping (thus his negatives were most likely made to be cropped). So as a master photographer it is no wonder that he found a good image to print.

 

[Sirius Glass]

One can always crop as long as the grain size and dispersion permit.

 

[Vaughn]

One can always crop as long as the grain size and dispersion permit.

That is so cool -- first time I have read of an image as being described as a grain dispersion!.

 

[Sirius Glass]

One can always crop as long as the grain size and dispersion permit.

That is so cool -- first time I have read of an image as being described as a grain dispersion!.

No, two separate issues film grain size and light dispersion if one is using the much smaller apertures which is lens dependent. Either or both can effect to largest permissible enlargement size.

 

[Vaughn]

Had me confused -- so you are talking about image quality...less sharp (not due to focus) when closing down to smallest apertures and perhaps not matching other prints and/or not being suitable if needed to enlarged to a greater extent due to cropping.
But the cropping is highly image dependent, which I thought was your point about (grain) dispersion.

 

[WilmaD]

Well, don't agree with that.
Art is as religious of an experience as the worship of any god. YMMD

Generic picture making is not Art, and people should not rule by decree.
Film camera and not cropping has nothing to do with religious dogma, people should not treat it like it does.

 

[Vaughn]

Generic picture making is not Art, and people should not rule by decree.
Film camera and not cropping has nothing to do with religious dogma, people should not treat it like it does.

Ahhhh...but the choice to crop or not crop can be a artistic decision, thus borders on the religious.

 

[Pieter12]

What if you say a little prayer before tripping the shutter? To St. Veronica, of course.

 

[Sirius Glass]

What if you say a little prayer before tripping the shutter? To St. Veronica, of course.

That only works if you have the communication set up in the past. Otherwise improve ones technique.

 

[Pieter12]

That only works if you have the communication set up in the past. Otherwise improve ones technique.

Not sure what you mean by the first sentence. And maybe the prayer is part of one's technique.

 

[Sirius Glass]

That only works if you have the communication set up in the past. Otherwise improve ones technique.

Not sure what you mean by the first sentence. And maybe the prayer is part of one's technique.

Do not expect prayer to work the first time. You have to establish to communication first. Once there is a dialog then prayer would at least have the communication established. Once the communication is established, after that whether or not the prayers are answered is options. YMMV

 

[Pieter12]

Do not expect prayer to work the first time. You have to establish to communication first. Once there is a dialog then prayer would at least have the communication established. Once the communication is established, after that whether or not the prayers are answered is options. YMMV

I assume by dialog, you mean a successful image.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I assume by dialog, you mean a successful image.

Dialog refers to prayer, not camera operation in my statements.

 

[Pieter12]

Dialog refers to prayer, not camera operation in my statements.

I would take it as a sign of such dialog if I were to get a successful photograph as a result of a technique that includes prayer. I wouldn't expect any voices or apparitions.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I would take it as a sign of such dialog if I were to get a successful photograph as a result of a technique that includes prayer. I wouldn't expect any voices or apparitions.

Most of us are interested in results rather than theological dialogs, so I can see your point. I had been addressing the details.

 

[Vaughn]

My god, what have I done???

 

[WilmaD]

Ahhhh...but the choice to crop or not crop can be a artistic decision, thus borders on the religious.

Anything can be an "artistic decision" from socks and underwear worn while making the photograph to which side of the bed to sleep on or meal devouring. What I attempted to suggest is
too much photographic dogma on this website and in these threads ( what is and is not a "real" camera that makes "real" photographs, people are allowed by edict to crop or not) and not enough photography being made, no matter if they be artistic gems or generic snapshots.
Very strange place, one would expect people here a long time to have media in the gallery, but they dispense the edicts?
Crop or no crop Mr. Vaughn don't stop getting up on whatever side of the bed you get up on, wearing whatever socks you wear and meals you eat, I enjoy your impressive photographs.