Do you crop your photos?

Pieter12 · Jul 7, 2023

Almost all the series of photos I make is the same aspect ratio: square. But I might shoot different cameras out of necessity and will crop square in my mind even if the viewfinder ratio is not. And even then, I might end up cropping a small amount in the enlarger to fine-one the composition. Unlike a painter who can sit back and study a sketch or painting in progress for hours on end, I only have a limited time to compose in camera. Lighting changes, things move, small details can be overlooked. I could change my mind after seeing a work print. Refinements are sometimes necessary for the final print.

Vaughn · Jul 7, 2023

Pieter12 said:
Not to criticize it, but that's kind of the definition of principle. Different strokes, ya know.

Not really...

Definition from Webster (a matter of principle).... a situation that requires something be done a certain way because one believes it is the only right way.

The definition usually assumes some moral reason for the principle. Avoiding cropping is just the way I work -- I do not consider it the "only right way" to work.

I also do not burn or dodge -- gasp!

Sirius Glass · Jul 7, 2023

Vaughn said:
Not really...

Definition from Webster (a matter of principle).... a situation that requires something be done a certain way because one believes it is the only right way.

The definition usually assumes some moral reason for the principle. Avoiding cropping is just the way I work -- I do not consider it the "only right way" to work.

I also do not burn or dodge -- gasp!

It is rare that there is only one solution for a problem in photography, engineering, chemistry, math et al.

faberryman · Jul 7, 2023

Pieter12 said:
Not to criticize it, but that's kind of the definition of principle. Different strokes, ya know.

Why do you want to elevate a working method to a principle?

Speaking of definitions:

cropping (gerund or present participle):

1) a species of scavenger hunt conducted by some photographers in the darkroom to see if they can find anything remotely considered a good composition in a negative they previously made

2) origin of the phrase "fix it in post"

Roger Thoms · Jul 7, 2023

Vaughn said:
Exactly.

I hope this full frame(s) platinum/palladium print is not too boring!

Always liked this image!

Roger

Sirius Glass · Jul 7, 2023

HBC would not allow his photographs to be cropped, do would the crop everything crowd loudly proclaim the HBC was a lousy photographer. Those that do take photographs composed in the viewfinder; those that can't, crop.

mshchem · Jul 7, 2023

Very very common for professional/commercial photographers to include a gray card and color card in the corner of a photo, cropped out after evaluated.

Pieter12 · Jul 7, 2023

faberryman said:
Why do you want to elevate a working method to a principle?

Because many think of not cropping as such: a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning.

Pieter12 · Jul 7, 2023

Vaughn said:
Not really...

Definition from Webster (a matter of principle).... a situation that requires something be done a certain way because one believes it is the only right way.

The definition usually assumes some moral reason for the principle. Avoiding cropping is just the way I work -- I do not consider it the "only right way" to work.

I also do not burn or dodge -- gasp!

Several folks have said they would rather not take the photo than crop it. That borders on requiring something be done a certain way because one believes it is the only right way.

faberryman · Jul 7, 2023

Pieter12 said:
Because many think of not cropping as such: a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning.

How did you arrive at the conclusion that "many" no croppers think that way? Why not "some", "a few", or "one lone wolf howling in the wilderness"?

How does your proposition differ from the proposition that many think that cropping as such is: a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning.

There are a lot of compositions out in the world. Most scenes have more than one composition. One guy looks left; one guy looks right; one guy looks up; one guy looks down; one guy fits a wide angle lens; one guy fits a normal lens; one guy fits a bellows and macro lens; one guy says nothing to see here and moves along; and one guy doesn't know what he wants and decides to figure it out when he get back to the darkroom. So many choices. Everybody gets to pick the compositions he wants, either in the viewfinder or on the easel. How egalitarian.

Sirius Glass · Jul 7, 2023

Pieter12 said:
Several folks have said they would rather not take the photo than crop it. That borders on requiring something be done a certain way because one believes it is the only right way.

I have never hear of such a thing. Do you have a source?

snusmumriken · Jul 7, 2023

There’s probably something wrong with my wiring, but it maddens me when the photos in a book are all different shapes.

cliveh · Jul 7, 2023

If you can compose with any format of your choice, why crop. Perhaps some of those who don't consider alternative distances and angles need to crop. Cameras don't compose, people do.

faberryman · Jul 7, 2023

snusmumriken said:
There’s probably something wrong with my wiring, but it maddens me when the photos in a book are all different shapes.

Especially the ones bled to the edge of the page and the ones with creases down the center of them.

Pieter12 · Jul 7, 2023

Sirius Glass said:
I have never hear of such a thing. Do you have a source?

You.

Pieter12 · Jul 7, 2023

cliveh said:
If you can compose with any format of your choice, why crop. Perhaps some of those who don't consider alternative distances and angles need to crop. Cameras don't compose, people do.

Try using an 8x10 view camera for an interior shot of a car in motion.

L Gebhardt · Jul 7, 2023

cliveh said:
If you can compose with any format of your choice, why crop. Perhaps some of those who don't consider alternative distances and angles need to crop. Cameras don't compose, people do.

Every photo is cropped just by the size of the film and magnification of the lens. Sometimes some extra information is recorded on the film that is unwanted since the film is the wrong size for the photo and it can't be excluded in camera since cameras don't have adjustable internal masks. This is removed when printing.

cliveh · Jul 7, 2023

Pieter12 said:
Try using an 8x10 view camera for an interior shot of a car in motion.

Well, I wouldn't. 35mm would be a better option.

Sirius Glass · Jul 7, 2023

Pieter12 said:
You.

Then you quoted me incorrectly. And I am one, not many.

Pieter12 · Jul 7, 2023

faberryman said:
How did you arrive at the conclusion that "many" no croppers think that way? Why not "some" or "a few"?

How does your proposition differ from the proposition that many think that cropping as such is: a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning.

There are a lot of compositions out in the world. Most scenes have more than one composition. Everybody gets to pick the compositions he wants, either in the viewfinder or on the easel.

Because I have yet to read/hear about anyone who ecourages the cropping of most images rather than those who seem to have strong opinions about cropping, such as the one stated in post #451: "For some photographers if it is not full frame, it is just not an image they are interested in. Not a bad image. Not a good image. They may not be interested in what others call a "good cropped photo". Of course one would forego something one is not interested in...film is too expensive to waste on what others consider good photos."

Pieter12 · Jul 7, 2023

Sirius Glass said:
Then you quoted me incorrectly. And I am one, not many.

Sometimes you seem like many. The anti-croppers voices are louder here.

Pieter12 · Jul 7, 2023

cliveh said:
Well, I wouldn't. 35mm would be a better option.

But you wouldn't have the ratio of 8x10 and have to crop.

L Gebhardt · Jul 7, 2023

Reasons why I crop in the darkroom:

* the film aspect ratio is wrong for what I envisioned when I composed the shot
* I only had a lens slightly wider than the image I envisioned when I composed and moving closer changed the composition or was impossible
* I am using a classic rangefinder with parallax or other framing issues and I left a bit of extra space to crop off the image I wanted
* I noticed an image inside the image I thought was worthy of printing on it's own. No problem with large format
* some unnoticed detail is able to be removed without affecting the integrity of the image. For example the bed of the camera when shooting in the dark with a slow wide angle lens.

The only one I don't like is salvaging an image from a mistake which only works sometimes and never feels right.

Sirius Glass · Jul 7, 2023

Pieter12 said:
Sometimes you seem like many. The anti-croppers voices are louder here.

Well thank you for noting that we are just superior. <<wink>> <<wink>> <<nudge>> <<nudge>>

chuckroast · Jul 7, 2023

Sirius Glass said:
Well thank you for noting that we are just superior. <<wink>> <<wink>> <<nudge>> <<nudge>>

It occurs to me ... when you share this view, does that make one a sharecropper?

<Runs away laughing madly...>

Do you crop your photos?

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