Do you crop your photos?

[Alan Edward Klein]

Meaning the amount of cropping or what cropping can accomplish?

Both. If you over crop, you can lose too much resolution and get too much grain. Also, cropping can't correct the angle of the shot and the placements of the elements that make up the picture.

 

[Pieter12]

Both. If you over crop, you can lose too much resolution and get too much grain. Also, cropping can't correct the angle of the shot and the placements of the elements that make up the picture.

And if you shoot a large enough format, cropping can give you several pictures from the same negative.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

And if you shoot a large enough format, cropping can give you several pictures from the same negative.

One crop angle is usually the best.

 

[Sirius Glass]

One crop angle is usually the best.

Whatever that means?

 

[snusmumriken]

I think Newman shot mostly 4x5, although he did do some 35. His style was to place the subject in the bottom third of the frame in an environment that reflected who the subject was. But he was smart enough to recognize that for the Stravinsky shot, cropping out the dead space, leaving the subject in the bottom corner made a better composition and made the subject more dominant.

For the record, I do admire his cropping decision for this photo. I was taken by my parents to see Stravinsky conduct Firebird in London in 1965. He was in his 80s, I think. I was only 10, but it remains an indelible memory. You too can watch it online here.

 

[MattKing]

For me, the picture works. But I guess I'll burn in hell for the sin of such wanton and egregious cropping.

I believe that there is a significant body of musical creativity based on the premise that "sinners have more fun".

 

[VinceInMT]

I believe that there is a significant body of musical creativity based on the premise that "sinners have more fun".

As long as you keep your cropping to your photos. Doing that to a dog’s ears is inhumane and, in some quarters, illegal.

 

[L Gebhardt]

As long as you keep your cropping to your photos. Doing that to a dog’s ears is inhumane and, in some quarters, illegal.

That's hopefully something we can all agree on.

 

[chuckroast]

For the record, I do admire his cropping decision for this photo. I was taken by my parents to see Stravinsky conduct Firebird in London in 1965. He was in his 80s, I think. I was only 10, but it remains an indelible memory. You too can watch it online here.

I have a lifelong passion for classical music from Gregorian Chant to Gershwin (who is only arguably a classical composer) but - for whatever reason - I don't much care for Stravinsky's work, and never did. But there's pretty much no question that his work stands as fine art.

It's a reminder that what makes great art has nothing to do with what I like or public taste generally.

 

[snusmumriken]

Thought I'd mention one contemporary photographer - Kit Young - who excels in finding what he wants by enlarging small parts of his negatives. High contrast, lots of gritty grain. I admire his ability to see what he wants in an unpromising negative, and his darkroom skill, but can't decide whether I like the results or not.

https://www.kityoung.co.uk/about
https://www.instagram.com/kityoung135/

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

As long as you keep your cropping to your photos. Doing that to a dog’s ears is inhumane and, in some quarters, illegal.

They docked (not cropped) our mini-poodles tail before we got him. I wonder how people feel about docking photos?

 

[VinceInMT]

They docked (not cropped) our mini-poodles tail before we got him. I wonder how people feel about docking photos?

On dogs that’s as inhumane as ear cropping but I think that in photography it would refer to cutting up the print. Cropping, photographically, could be done when making the print or after. I guess I do a bit of docking when I cut up developed sheet film and reassembled it to make a collage for a cyanotype. No animals were injured in the process (if one overlooks the source of gelatin in the emulsion.)

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

On dogs that’s as inhumane as ear cropping but I think that in photography it would refer to cutting up the print. Cropping, photographically, could be done when making the print or after. I guess I do a bit of docking when I cut up developed sheet film and reassembled it to make a collage for a cyanotype. No animals were injured in the process (if one overlooks the source of gelatin in the emulsion.)

We refused to neuter him which would have been worse. I wonder if you could neuter a photo?

 

[Pieter12]

We refused to neuter him which would have been worse. I wonder if you could neuter a photo?

Happens all the time.

 

[cliveh]

If you are of the Bresson school, you seldom need to crop.

 

[chuckroast]

If you are of the Bresson school, you seldom need to crop.

The dose makes the poison. Extreme cropping to rescue a bad composition often won't work well. Cropping with aesthetic intention is a different matter. So cropping is neither good nor bad, its value is determined contextually.

 

[Don_ih]

Cropping photos is like cropping hair.

Go ahead. I dare you to make sense of that.

 

[Paul Manuell]

Sometimes, yes. Nothing whatsoever wrong in doing so

 

[Pieter12]

Cropping photos is like cropping hair.

Go ahead. I dare you to make sense of that.

More bangs for your buck?

 

[Helios 1984]

More bangs for your buck?

He's looking at you, kid.

 

[Rrrgcy]

The dose makes the poison. Extreme cropping to rescue a bad composition often won't work well. Cropping with aesthetic intention is a different matter. So cropping is neither good nor bad, its value is determined contextually.

Kertesz did quite a bit (lookie them hands of pianist P. Arma portrait in the same article):

A Close Look at André Kertész's Quartet | The Art Institute of Chicago

André Kertész’s image of the Feri Roth string quartet is tiny, but it packs a wallop.

www.artic.edu

Over three years he made ”new compositions and techniques and printed most of his work in the intimate carte postale format.”

Postcard Exchange, anyone?

 

[Daniela]

Cropping photos is like cropping hair.

So, it would best be done when there's a full moon.

Kertesz did quite a bit (lookie them hands of pianist P. Arma portrait in the same article):

A Close Look at André Kertész's Quartet | The Art Institute of Chicago

André Kertész’s image of the Feri Roth string quartet is tiny, but it packs a wallop.

www.artic.edu

Over three years he made ”new compositions and techniques and printed most of his work in the intimate carte postale format.”

Postcard Exchange, anyone?

Thanks for sharing! Photrio postcard exchanges are pretty awesome, so I like to think he would have joined in

 

[warden]

Over three years he made ”new compositions and techniques and printed most of his work in the intimate carte postale format.”

What a great example of taking an average photo (imho) and making it great by the use of creative cropping.